This program brought to you in part by the Erika Lewis Endowment Fund.

-Coming up next, Mojave... [cheers and applause] ...is taking on the Southeast Career Technical Academy.

[cheers and applause] -This is Varsity Quiz!

[crashing sound] ♪♪♪ [cheers and applause] (Nathan Tannenbaum) Hello and welcome to the 55th season of Varsity Quiz.

We've got the best and the brightest high school students matching wits in this academic competition.

Now, we want to make sure you know there are two separate Varsity Quiz leagues in each season's competition.

Tonight the road to the Blue League Championship continues as Mojave is taking on the Southeast Career Technical Academy.

So we started with 10 schools in the Blue League in two divisions.

Here we are at the second of our two Semifinal matches.

Once we've crowned a Blue League champion, we'll move on to the Silver League.

But we want to meet tonight's players.

For Mojave, undefeated in their Blue League division, their starters are Ethan.

Hey, Ethan.

There's Jayden.

What's up?

There's Jenna.

Hi, Jenna.

And Alan.

And the coaches for Mojave, Sarah Moore and Jason Bates.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mojave High School!

[applause] Okay.

Now we move on to the Southeast Career Technical Academy, which is SECTA.

It's easier to say.

They did a great job in their division.

Let's meet their starters.

There's Chris.

Hey, Chris.

There's Isabelle.

Hi, Isabelle.

There's Shay.

Hi, Shay.

And then there's Kimberly.

And the coach for SECTA, Isabel Buckner.

So there are 25 questions in this first round with each correct answer worth 5 points.

Students, you ready?

Let's play Varsity Quiz.

In 2012, which European Mediterranean country faced a financial crisis that led to international bailouts partly due to his failure-- And we're gonna go with Mojave, Alan: Greece -Correct.

Points on the board.

Let's move on to Question 2.

What's the name of the tiny sacs in the lungs where gas exchange occurs?

That's Mojave, Jenna: Alveoli -Correct.

The music video for which 2022 song by the Imagine Dragons featured a young boy in Ukraine who had endured months of shelling?

[bell chimes, time expires] -No answer?

You guys follow the Imagine Dragons?

The song is called "Crushed."

No points.

We move on to the next question.

Meaning to merge separate segments into one, what word is used in meteorology to refer to the process in which water droplets in clouds collide and join together?

SECTA, Chris: Precipitation -Incorrect.

[bell chimes, time expires] -We were looking for coalescence.

Next question.

What's the first name of the English poet whose famous wife not only wrote the classic Frankenstein but also edited his work?

-Mojave, Jenna: Percy -Correct.

Next is a calculation question, students.

A swimming pool is 30 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 2 meters deep.

What is its volume?

Let me repeat.

Swimming pool 30 meters long, 15 meters wide, 2 meters deep.

What is the volume?

And that's Mojave, Alan: 900 cubic meters -Correct.

Next question.

In Syria, a multi-sided type of this kind of war erupted in 2012 with at least six factions fighting for control of the country-- We'll go with Mojave, Ethan: civil war -Correct.

What technology allows for the transfer of data between two devices via touch?

SECTA, Chris: Bluetooth -Incorrect.

[bell chimes, time expires] -We were looking for NFC, near-field communication.

Next question.

In medicine or oceanography, what word is used for the condition of not having enough oxygen needed for the system?

[bell chimes, time expire] -Hypoxia.

Next question.

Which President who wasn't involved in the shady dealings of the Secretary of the Interior and that Teapot Dome scandal did appear to be completely out of touch with what was happening in his own administration?

Mojave, Ethan: Richard Nixon -Incorrect.

[bell chimes, time expires] -President Warren G. Harding.

Next question.

Who's considered the father of modern philosophy, famously saying, "I think, therefore I am"?

-And that's Mojave, Jenna: René Descartes -Correct.

All dogs are quadrupeds.

All quadrupeds have four legs.

So therefore, all dogs have four legs.

So when you have a conclusion from two related premises, you have a what?

Mojave, Ethan: Correlation -Incorrect.

[bell chimes, time expires] -Fancy word, syllogism.

Next question.

What's the name of the fairy king in A Midsummer Night's Dream?

Mojave, Jenna: Oberon -Correct.

Which specialized type of astronomy is the study of the universe as a whole?

Mojave, Jenna: Cosmology -Correct.

What ancient civilization is known for the creation of the "Epic of Gilgamesh"?

That's Mojave, Alan: Sumeria -Can we take that?

[confers with judges] -Correct.

Next is a calculation question, students.

A car averages 27 miles per gallon.

If gas costs $4.04 per gallon, which of the following is closest to how much the gas would cost for this car to travel 2,727 typical miles?

I'll repeat.

The car averages 27 miles a gallon.

If gas cost $4.04 a gallon, which of the following is closest to how much the gas would cost for the car to travel 2,727 typical miles?

[bell chimes, time expires] -No answer.

We were going for $408.04.

Next question.

What was the name of the policy aimed at preventing the spread of communism during the Cold War?

[bell chimes, time expires] -They called that containment.

Next question.

Since we cannot recreate all resources that we use on the planet, for some materials we are experiencing a rarity.

What synonym of "rarity" is used to describe this issue?

Mojave, Jenna: Scarcity -Yes.

Next question.

Who was the founder of the Standard Oil Company and one of the wealthiest individuals in American history?

Mojave, Ethan: John D. Rockefeller -Correct.

What is the process of cold water rising from the deep ocean called?

SECTA, Shay: Evaporation -No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -It's called upwelling.

Who wrote Go Set a Watchman?

[bell chimes, times expires] -Harper Lee.

Juba is the capital and largest city of which-- And that's Mojave, Ethan: South Sudan -Yes.

What's the two-word medical term for your eardrum?

[bell chimes, time expires] -Oh, you'll never forget this.

The tympanic membrane.

Next question.

Dilma Rousseff was the first woman to serve as president of which democratic South American country from 2011 until an impeachment in 2016 in a case that closed in 2022 with no evidence of a wrongdoing?

SECTA, Chris: Rio -Pardon me?

-Rio.

-No.

Mojave, Ethan: Colombia -No.

It's Brazil.

Next question.

What is the longest river in Europe?

Mojave, Alan: The Danube -No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -It's the Volga.

Well, kids, that is the end of our first round.

Give it up for both of these teams here.

[applause] -But before we move on, we're going to learn a little bit more about our players.

And we're going to start with Mojave.

We've got 10th grader Ethan over here.

Hey, Ethan.

-Hello.

-It says right here that you are a dual sport athlete.

What are those sports?

-Football and track.

-Excellent.

What event do you do in track?

-Throwing.

Shot put, discus.

-Excellent.

What position do you play?

-In football?

-Yeah.

-Defensive line.

-Awesome.

I hope you guys had a great year.

And track hasn't started yet, right?

-No.

We're just starting intramurals.

-Well, good luck with that.

And good luck here on Varsity Quiz.

Thanks, Ethan.

Here's 10th grader Jayden.

Hey, Jayden.

-Hello.

-Nice to see you here.

It says here that you're in a thing called DECA.

I just want to make sure folks know what that is.

What is DECA?

So mainly I just say that DECA is an extension to business and marketing.

It provides a lot of opportunities for young kids to grow and expand their knowledge on more business-type things.

-Wonderful!

Good luck with that, and good luck on Varsity Quiz.

Thanks, Jayden.

Next is Jenna.

Hi, Jenna.

-Hi.

-It says here you've been participating in a sport since you were nine years old.

-Yes, archery.

-Wow!

How do you do with archery?

Are you good?

-Maybe.

-Keep it up.

Good luck with the archery, and good luck on Varsity Quiz.

Thanks, Jenna.

Here's 11th grader Alan.

Hey, Alan.

-Hello.

-This says that you are a collector of something.

What do you collect?

-I collect coins.

My oldest coin is a Persian coin from 257 B.C., and my newest one is one that I got in the Toronto Airport.

It's a loonie.

-Wow!

So where do you keep that old one?

-In a box.

[laughter] -All right.

Thanks.

Hey, that's the kids from Mojave High School!

Nice to meet you guys.

[cheers and applause] -Now let's meet our players from SECTA, the Southeast Career Technical Academy.

We start with 12th grader Chris.

Hey, Chris.

-Hi.

-This says that you've been doing something for eight years.

What have you been doing?

-I've been cooking for eight years.

-So you're a chef?

-Yes.

-Are you working somewhere?

-No.

But I do work at the restaurant at SECTA.

-Okay.

Oh, that's right.

-Yes.

-Good luck.

It says you want to open a restaurant.

-I'd love to.

-Good luck, and good luck on Varsity Quiz.

Thanks, Chris.

Here's 11th grader Isabelle.

Hi, Isabelle.

-Hi.

-This says that you also participate in archery.

-I do.

-How long you've been doing that?

-I've done it on and off for quite a few years.

-And this says that you're kind of doing very well.

What was your percentage here?

-I got top 4% in the state.

-That's wonderful.

You and Isabelle need to get together and do some archery.

You and Jenna, that is.

Thanks, Isabelle.

Here's 10th grader Shay.

Hi, Shay.

-Hi, Nathan.

-Nice to see you.

It says here you have been singing for a while.

-I have.

I did choir from 6th grade to 8th grade, and now I do choir with my church.

-That's wonderful.

What voice do you sing?

-I'm a Soprano I.

-Okay.

Well good luck with the choirs, and good luck here with Varsity Quiz.

Thanks, Shay.

And here's 12th grader Kimberly.

Hi, Kimberly.

-Hello.

-This says you play some instruments.

-Oh, yeah.

-What do you play?

-I play trumpet, trombone, some baritone, some saxophone I'm learning, and some piano.

And I'm learning guitar right now.

-Wow!

Is there a band program at SECTA?

-No.

I just do it on my own time.

-Good for you.

Good luck with the music and Varsity Quiz.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's the Southeast Career Technical Academy!

[applause] -Our Bonus Round is coming right up.

[crashing sound] -Now the score going into Round 2: Mojave has 60 points.

SECTA has zero.

We'll see what happens here.

Before we get going, I wanted to introduce our new player for Mojave, James.

Hey, James.

-How you doing?

-Welcome aboard.

And SECTA is keeping their same players.

So in this Bonus Round, each of 10 possible questions is worth 5 points.

If a team has a correct answer, they're gonna get two additional bonus questions.

Each of those is worth 5 points.

And we do allow team conferring on those bonus questions.

10 seconds allowed before we ask for the captain's response.

Now, this round is timed at six minutes, and that time starts as I start this question: During what war did Molly Pitcher serve?

SECTA, Chris: World War I -No.

Mojave, Alan: World War II -No.

The American Revolution.

Next question for both teams.

What scary creature may leave marks on your neck?

And that's SECTA, Isabelle: Vampire -Yes.

Bonus questions now for SECTA only about vampires: First, which vampire is the subject of a novel by Bram Stoker; second, which vampire is the subject of a novel by Anne Rice?

You have 10 seconds.

[student deliberate] -Captain?

-Dracula and Twilight.

-Dracula is correct.

The Anne Rice novel is called Lestat.

So you get some bonus points but not all.

And now this question for both teams: Name the polyatomic ion with a chemical formula NH4 and an oxidation state of +1.

[bell chimes, time expires] -Ammonium.

Next question for both teams.

A baseball player caught between the bases has gotten himself into a what?

SECTA, Shay: Rut -No.

Mojave, Alan: Pickle -Yes.

Bonus questions now for Mojave only about baseball: First, who replaced Joe DiMaggio as the New York Yankees' center fielder; second, what kind of pitch did Hall of Famer Willie Stargell call "a butterfly with hiccups"?

You have 10 seconds.

[students deliberate] -Captain?

-For the first, Babe Ruth; for the second, curveball.

-Both are incorrect.

The first answer is Mickey Mantle, and the second is knuckleball.

No bonus points.

Now this question for both teams: Give the name of the country that used to be the eastern portion of the former Czechoslovakia.

-That's Mojave, Alan: Slovakia -Correct.

Bonus questions now for Mojave only about relatively new countries: First, the Crimean Peninsula is found there; second, this small nation is found 400 miles northwest of Darwin, Australia.

You have 10 seconds.

[students deliberate] -Captain?

-For the first, Russia; for the second, Timor-Leste.

-I think those are both incorrect.

For sure, the first one is incorrect.

The first one is Ukraine, and the second one we were looking for East Timor.

So no bonus points.

Next question for both teams: What company is represented by the stock symbol GM?

Mojave, Ethan: General Motors -Correct.

Bonus questions now for Mojave only about stock symbols: First, what company uses WMT as their stock symbol; second, what company uses AAPL as their stock symbol?

Ten seconds.

[students deliberate] -Captain?

-For the first, Walmart; for the second, Apple.

-Both are correct.

You got bonus points.

Now this question for both teams: What war with Danish, Bohemian, and Swedish phases started as a religious war in the year 161?

SECTA, Chris: The Crusades -Pardon me?

-Crusades.

-No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -It was the Thirty Years War.

Next question for both teams: Ken Kesey, the author of which well-known novel with a "one" in the title?

[bell chimes, time expires] -It was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Great book.

Next question.

Of odd, even, or neither, which word describes the cosine function?

Mojave, Alan: Odd -No.

SECTA, Shay: Neither -Sorry, that's incorrect.

Yeah, we were looking for even.

So no points there, and we move on to the next question.

Name the state with the following rivers mainly running through: Calcasieu River and Bayou Lafourche.

Mojave, Ethan: Louisiana -Correct.

Bonus questions where you name the state after we give you the names of rivers mainly running through that state: First, Snake River and Boise River; second, Raritan River and Passaic River.

You have 10 seconds.

[students deliberate] -Captain?

-For the first, Washington; for the second, Nevada.

-Both are incorrect.

The first is Idaho, and the second one is New Jersey.

And those are all the questions that we have, so that is the end of Round 2.

But before we go, we want to take a moment to simply say thank you to the Kiwanis Club of Las Vegas.

They provide all kinds of help for the in-school competitions that lead up to where we are today, here at Vegas PBS.

And also, a shout out to the staff and the leadership of the Clark County School District Student Activities department.

They coordinate every step of the program from early in the school year all the way to the championships.

Speed Round coming up.

[crashing sound] -Score going into Round 3: Mojave has 90 points.

SECTA has 10.

Anything can happen in this third round.

We have a couple of new players for Mojave.

We say hello to Fabian.

Hi, Fabian.

Nice to have you here.

And there's Jacob.

Hey, Jacob.

And SECTA, you all look very familiar.

So in this Speed Round, we have 30 possible questions.

Correct answers, again, worth 5 points.

This round is timed at six minutes, so we get to as many questions as we can.

If we get to all 30 before the six minutes is up, the match would still be over and we'll find out who won.

So let's get started.

The capital of Indonesia began moving to the island of Borneo in 20-- And that is Mojave, Fabian: Jakarta -Correct.

Which country has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites with 58, including the Amalfi Coast?

-That's Mojave, Jenna: Italy -Correct.

What type of conflict is used in almost all of Jean Craighead George's books?

SECTA, Shay: Self to self -No.

Mojave, Alan: Man versus self -No.

Man versus nature.

Next question.

What's the formula for the diatomic molecule hydrogen bromide?

[bell chimes, time expires] -Not big on the chemistry?

HBr.

Next question.

What's the title of Toni Morrison's novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988?

Mojave, Jenna: The Bluest Eye -No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -It was Beloved.

Next question.

What applied science involves the use of technology to save lives in medical situations?

[bell chimes, time expires] It's called biotechnology.

Next question.

Who wrote the opera Carmen, featuring the famous "Habanera"?

Mojave, Jenna: Bizet -Yes, Bizet.

We'll take that.

Which space agency successfully landed the rover Curiosity on Mars-- Mojave, Fabian: NASA -Yes.

Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, an artificial intelligence company that makes which bot?

SECTA, Chris: ChatGPT -Yes.

Which Shakespeare comedy includes the line, "All the world's a stage"?

That's SECTA, Shay: The Tempest -No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -It's As You Like It.

Next question.

Oregon has the most waterfalls in the US with the largest falling in the river gorge of what river?

SECTA, Shay: The Rogue River -No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -The Columbia.

What allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho about finding one's treasure in life was first published in Portuguese in 1988?

Mojave, Jenna: The Alchemist -That's correct.

In the field of technology, what does the acronym RAM stand for?

That's Mojave, Jacob: Random Access Memory -Yes.

Rising 4 kilometers above sea level with another 5 kilometers below the surface, the largest volcano in the world presses down another 8 kilometers below the Pacific ocean floor.

[bell chimes, time expires] -The Mauna Loa volcano.

Genomics is the scientific study of what?

Mojave, Jacob: Genes -I don't think we can take that.

SECTA, Chris: Genetics -No.

We were looking for the human genome.

Next question.

From the Romance languages for "to love," what word refers to someone who chooses to pursue an activity because they love it rather than for profit?

SECTA, Shay: Bestir -No.

Mojave, Jacob: Passion -No.

Amateur.

Next question.

Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz are credited with developing which branch of mathematics, with the former getting most of the credit?

Mojave, Alan: Physics -No.

SECTA, Isabelle: Engineering -No.

Calculus.

What's the currency of Japan?

SECTA, Shay: Yen -Correct.

War and Peace is a novel about which war?

Mojave, Alan: The Napoleonic Wars.

-Yes.

Who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during those Brexit negotiations and beyond?

SECTA, Shay: Boris Johnson -No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -Theresa May.

Next question.

What ancient Greek philosopher is known for his method of questioning and his teachings on ethics and governance?

SECTA, Shay: Socrates -Yes.

What does the computer acronym BIOS stand for?

[bell chimes, time expires] -It's your Basic Input/Output System.

Which American author of The Road and No Country for Old Men died in 2023 at the age of 90?

[bell chimes, time expires] -Cormac McCarthy.

Next question.

Which scientist was the first woman to get a Nobel Prize and the first-- Mojave, Fabian: Marie Curie -Yes.

The monetary policy of a nation is adopted to either control the short-term interest rate, to control inflation, or to control the supply of what?

Mojave, Alan: New currency -I don't think we can take that.

[confers with judges] -Shout it out, Alan.

-New currency.

-Nope.

SECTA, Isabelle: Economy -No.

We were just looking for a simple word, money.

Next question.

Permineralization causes fossils when water rich in what works through the sediment where fragments lay?

SECTA, Shay: Iodine -No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -Minerals, period.

Minerals.

Which American poet wrote the poem "The Waste Land"?

SECTA, Chris: Edgar Allan Poe -No.

[bell chimes, time expires] -T.S.

Eliot.

We're out of time.

Let's find out who won.

[crashing sound] -Final score tonight: Mojave, 130 points, to Southeast Career Technical Academy's 25.

-We want to say thank you to both teams for an excellent match.

[applause] -And congratulations to Mojave for the win!

So Mojave will be facing the Del Sol Academy for the championship of the Blue League.

We hope you'll tune in for another exciting night of Varsity Quiz right here on Vegas PBS.

Good night.

♪♪♪