Alex Trebek Scholarship

[Jeffreygallup]

I have just started
the Alex Trebek scholarship. It's a tribute to Alex, of course, for his perfect hosting of Jeopardy! these many years. It is intended to reward Jeopardy! values - curiosity, broad knowledge, love of learning. It targets high school seniors who demonstrate these qualities.

I asked Rocky Schmidt via e-mail about the plan to name the scholarship for Alex, and he responded that Alex was fine with it.

I had intended to make a competition part of the scholarship process, but the coronavirus has put this aspect on hold. In partnership with a local high school here in Phoenix, I hope to be able to award the three initial scholarships this school year anyway.

If we do get to a competition format, I will want to ask Board members to suggest via PM worthy clues/responses, particularly in pop culture, where I am many decades too old to be au courant (and have no desire to immerse myself in video games, pop songs, or celebrity cults).

I am looking forward to getting this scholarship up and going.

[kablamfan11]

Awesome Job! I would like to do the same thing for my High School & College.

[Jeffreygallup]

Shouldn't be hard. Most high schools and colleges would probably be glad to accept scholarship money from wherever. (Well, perhaps not from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein.) Just establish that partnership.

Oddly, my school district was reluctant to accept money directly when a competition was involved. (What? a competitive scholarship?! How bizarre!) So I would have had to pay the awardees directly rather than through the district.

In terms of a competition, I envisioned perhaps a 50 question test similar to what is done online or at in-person auditions, administered at the school. Google slides with a 15-second delay gives a good imitation. I thought of having the top three scorers play a game to determine the amount of their award. A site called Jeopardylabs lets you create various games you could use.

Because no in-person tests can take place this school year, we have had to forgo the competition this time around.

Good luck!

[kablamfan11]

I'll do that for my high school & college.