- And welcome to the studios of WCMU Public Media.

This is it, our Season 21 Grand Championship match.

It's between Interlochen Arts Academy and White Cloud, and that is coming up next.

(dynamic music) Hello again, everyone.

I'm David Nicholas, and welcome to our championship game for Season 21.

It's between Interlochen Arts Academy and White Cloud.

At the end of this game, our winner will be crowned the champions of our 16-team single elimination tournament.

Top teams from "Quiz Central" will qualify for the NAQT High School National Championship Tournament.

Let's get to our big game today.

The first round is the Maroon and Gold Rush.

Teams will have two minutes to answer as many tossup questions as they can.

If a team answers incorrectly, the opposing school has the opportunity to answer that question.

Teams may not consult during this round.

Players do receive a one-second penalty if they ring in before a tossup question has been read completely.

That'll be indicated by an orange light above their name.

Answers, as always, worth 10 points a piece, no deduction for incorrect answers.

All ready, players?

It's our championship.

Here comes your first question.

What tissue in which companion cells provide energy to cells called sieve tube elements transports sugars away from leaves to the rest of the plant?

(buzzer dinging) - Xylem.

- [David] Incorrect, White Cloud with the steel.

- Phloem.

- [David] That is correct.

During the Russian Civil War, the Red Army fought an anti-communist military coalition named for what other color?

- White.

- [David] That is correct.

Tossup for both.

What explorer who met with Zamorin of Calicut in 1498 rounded the Cape of Good Horn to become the first modern European to reach India by sea.

(buzzer dinging) - de Gama.

- [David] Correct.

The organic compound toluene is made by replacing one of the hydrogen atoms in benzene with what functional group whose formula is CH3?

- Carbonate.

- [David] Incorrect.

Interlochen for the steel.

- Alcohols.

- [David] Also incorrect.

Tossup for both teams.

What region whose Salvation Islands was once home to a penal colony at Devil's Island is a European territory in South America governed from Cayenne?

(buzzer dinging) We'll go on to the next question.

The monocle-wearing Eustace Tilley is the mascot of what American literary and news magazine that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2025?

- "The New Yorker."

- [David] "The New Yorker "is correct.

Tossup for both.

What site where the mythical python guarded the Omphalos at the center of the world was a home of the Pythia oracle at the Temple of Apollo?

- Delphi.

- Correct.

Get to the close of that round.

Let's check the questions that were missed.

The organic compound that we were looking for was methyl.

The region with the Salvation Islands, we were looking for a French Guinea.

Interlochen grabs an early 40-to-10 lead.

And before we start our next round, let's take a moment to learn about our students competing today.

First, we say hello to the students from Interlochen Arts Academy.

My name is Oliver Chun.

I'm a senior at Interlochen and I play guitar.

- My name is Sebastian and I'm a senior and I do creative writing at Interlochen.

My name is Jimmy, I'm a junior, and I study composition at Interlochen.

- My name is Alex, I'm a junior, and I'm a writer and librettist at Interlochen.

- Thank you, Interlochen.

Appreciate you being here.

Now let's say hello to the students from White Cloud.

- Hi, I'm Charlotte.

I'm a senior, I run cross-country and throw in track, I'm the section leader for the flutes, and I love chocolate.

- Hello, my name is Liam Puvy.

I am a senior at White Cloud High School.

I play varsity football, varsity track, varsity quiz bowl, and I lift weights.

- My name is Brian Loveless, I go a White Cloud high school.

I do band, quiz bowl and chess, and I also love chocolate.

- Hi, my name is Mason Delamere.

I'm a sophomore at White Cloud High School.

I do football, basketball and track, and I also love chocolate.

- Thank you to you students as well.

Thanks to all of our students for being here.

It's a big achievement to get to the championship round.

We're glad you're all with us.

The next round on "Quiz Central" is the kickoff round, a round that includes a combination of tossup and bonus questions.

The team that correctly answers the tossup gets the opportunity for a single bonus question.

There's no stealing on those bonuses.

And after a bonus, we'll go back to a tossup for both teams.

Players receive the one-second penalty if they ring in before the tossup question has been read completely.

Buzzers ready.

Let's get started with your first question.

Conflict between farmers and merchants helped provoke what 1786 uprising in Western Massachusetts that partly motivated the Constitutional Convention?

(buzzer dinging) - Shays'.

- [David] That is correct.

Bonus now for White Cloud.

What island, which in 1969 was occupied by activists from the American Indian Movement, was the site of a federal prison in San Francisco Bay.

- Alcatraz.

- Alcatraz.

- Alcatraz.

- [David] Correct on the bonus.

Back to a tossup for both.

What collection of the sayings and approvals of Muhammad is used as a major source of Islamic law and theology alongside the Quran?

(buzzer dinging) - The Talmud.

- [David] Incorrect.

Interlochen for the steel.

Go on to the next tossup question.

What substance whose composition may be measured with a DFT gauge or Zahn cup is sold under such brands as Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams?

- Tobacco.

- Little louder, please.

- Paint.

The bonus question now for Interlochen, a 2025 mass shooting targeted the Manhattan headquarters of what organization which a gunman blamed for causing his CTE condition?

- Organization?

- Health insurance company.

- Oh yeah, United Healthcare.

- United Healthcare.

Oh.

- Incorrect.

Tossup for both schools.

What 1965 song whose working title was "Scrambled Eggs" is a widely covered Beatles song about a time when, "All my troubles seemed so far away?"

(bell dinging) - "Yesterday."

- [David] That is correct.

Bonus question now for Interlochen.

Shor's algorithm for factorization is carried out by what devices which use entangled qubits to quickly perform calculations?

- Quantum.

- Quantum computers.

- Quantum computers.

- [David] Correct also on the bonus.

Tossup now for both.

What compound is made in the Monsanto and Cativa process has an address glacial form as the formula CH3COOH and is an acid found in vinegar?

(buzzer dinging) - Ethanol.

- [David] Ethanol is incorrect.

Do we have White Cloud for a guess?

- Acetic.

- [David] Correct.

And the bonus now to White Cloud.

Ulysses S. Grant held office during an economic panic in what year that triggered the Long Depression and helped undercut support for reconstruction?

- Gimme the year.

- Try '77, 1877.

- 1877?

1877.

- [David] Incorrect.

Back to a tossup for both.

What saint whose retrial was ordered by Callixtus III claimed to have divine visions before leading the French early on in the Hundred Years' War?

(buzzer dinging) - Joan of Ark.

- [David] Joan of Ark is correct.

And the bonus for you now.

A trial concerning destroyed evidence from a helicopter crash began in 2025 against Matt Wright, an Australian known for wrangling what big predators?

- Crocodiles.

- Crocodiles.

- Crocodiles.

- [David] Correct there.

Tossup for both teams.

What art movement whose name was coined by Lawrence Alloway is exemplified by the re-appropriations of comic books painted by Roy Lichtenstein?

(buzzer dinging) - Pop art.

- [David] Pop Art is correct.

And the bonus to Interlochen.

What character lives on a farm with his cousin Mose has his stapler placed in jello by Jim and is a salesman- - Dwight Schrute.

- played by Rainn Wilson in "The Office?"

- Dwight Schrute.

- [David] Correct.

- [David] Tossup question again.

Dynaho and others flee a plague that breaks out in the 14th-century Florence at the start of what collection of 100 stories written by Giovanni, excuse me, Giovanni Cabancho?

- "The Decameron."

- [David] Correct, and a bonus to you.

- It's always "The Decameron."

- [David] What French philosopher described an overly stiff waiter to illustrate the concept of bad faith in being and nothingness, a work of existentialism?

- Descartes.

- Descartes.

- Descartes.

- No.

- Descartes is incorrect as a bonus.

That's the close of round two.

Checking the question review now.

The collection of the sayings and approvals from Muhammad, we were looking for the Hadiths.

The 2025 mass shooting targeted the Manhattan headquarters of the NFL, the National Football League.

Ulysses Grant held office during the economic panic of 1873.

The French philosopher we were looking for was the Jean Paul Sartre.

And at the close of that round, Interlochen leads 120 to 40 for White Cloud.

And our next round today is the Perfect 10.

In the Perfect 10, you'll have 60 seconds to answer questions from a choice of clues to three categories.

The opposing team then has 30 seconds to answer any unasked, incorrect or skipped questions.

You can consult through the entire round, and we take those answers then from the captain.

The team that's trailing gets the first choice to pick a clue to a category.

White Cloud, we come to you first for the first part of this Perfect 10.

The category choices Generally French, Border Battle or Monthly Meeting.

Again Generally French, Border Battle or Monthly Meeting.

- It's gonna be French generals.

You would think, it's gonna be something-- - Yeah, but we don't know that many French generals.

- The first one, that could be paintings maybe.

- You wanna do?

- I don't know.

- Do it.

- What do you think we're doing, Generally French?

- 'Cause Border Battles could be like Mexican-American.

- What do you think?

- I don't know.

- And what's your choice?

- Generally French.

- [David] Generally French is the pick.

The clue, Napoleon.

Answer the following about Emperor Napoleon I. White Cloud, you're 60 seconds on the clock.

Your Perfect 10 with this category begins with this.

Became emperor of this European country in 1804.

- France.

France.

- [David] Beheaded king who was that country's previous monarch.

- Louis XVI.

- Louis XVI.

- [David] Island where he was born.

- Sicily.

- Sicily.

- Sicily.

- [David] Final battle after returning from Elba.

- Waterloo.

- Waterloo.

- [David] Died in exile on this island.

- Saint Teresa?

- Saint Helen.

- Saint Helen.

- [David] First wife divorced because she did not bear him an heir.

- Who?

- I don't know.

- Pass, pass.

- Who?

- Pass.

- Pass.

- [David] His brother whom he named King of Spain.

- Who?

- Phillip.

- Phillip.

- [David] Became first consul in the Coup of the 18th of this month.

- 18th of June.

- June.

- June.

- [David] The 1805 Battle of the Three Emperors that names a Paris train station.

- Auschwitz.

- Auschwitz.

- [David] We will count that.

All right, that does count.

Okay, Interlochen, now we come to you with the 30 seconds on the clock to pick up any of the incorrect or unanswered questions in the first half there.

30 seconds on the clock for Generally French, Napoleon.

Answer the following about Emperor Napoleon I. And we start with this.

Island where he was born.

- Corsica.

- Corsica.

- [David] Died in exile on this island.

- Saint Helena.

- Saint Helena.

- [David] First wife divorced because she did not bear him an heir.

- Josephine.

- [David] His brother whom he named King of Spain.

- Ferdinand.

- Charles.

- Charles.

- [David] Became first consul in the Coup of the 18th of this month.

- May.

- Who?

- May.

- May.

- That's incorrect.

Okay, Interlochen, now we come to your first choice.

The 60 seconds to pick from one of these two categories still left, Border Battle or Monthly Meeting.

Border Battle or Monthly Meeting.

- I don't know the months.

(Jimmy yawning) - Border Battle, I think, yeah?

Border Battle.

- [David] Border Battle is your choice.

The clue is state borders.

- Perfect.

- Given two states, name the only state that borders both.

- Oh my God.

- Okay.

- That's your 60 seconds in the category of Border Battle.

And we'll start your portion of this Perfect 10 with this.

Washington and California.

- Oregon.

- Oregon.

- [David] Maine and Vermont.

- New Hampshire.

- New Hampshire.

- [David] Florida and Alabama.

- Georgia.

- Georgia.

- [David] New Jersey and Connecticut.

- New York.

- New York.

- [David] Ohio and Wisconsin.

- Michigan.

- Michigan.

- [David] Idaho and North Dakota.

- Montana.

- Montana.

- [David] New Mexico and Louisiana.

- Texas.

- Texas.

- [David] Virginia and Illinois.

- Kentucky.

- West Virginia.

Oh, Jesus.

(Jimmy laughing) - Nebraska and Tennessee.

- Nebraska and Tennessee.

- Missouri.

- [David] Wyoming and Oklahoma.

- Oh God.

- Nebraska.

- Nope, Kansas.

- [David] All right, we'll come back over now to you, White Cloud, for the chance to pick up any of the incorrect or not answered questions.

Again, this category is called Border Battle, and the clue is state borders.

Given two states, name the only state that borders both.

Wyoming and Oklahoma.

- Wyoming.

- Think it's Kansas.

- Colorado.

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay, Colorado.

- Was the close of the round, the one that we needed to pick up.

And we close out the Perfect 10 now.

Our current score, Interlochen at 240, White Cloud at 90.

Let's take just a moment to go over the missed questions in that round.

Napoleon's brother was Joseph and the month we were looking for was Brumaire, and that refers to the second month of the French Republican calendar.

The fourth round today is the Home Stretch.

And in the Home Stretch round, I'll ask a combination of tossup and bonus questions.

The team that correctly answers the tossup gets the opportunity to answer a single bonus question.

No stealing on those bonuses.

And after a bonus question, we go back to a tossup then for both teams.

Remember, players receive the one-second penalty if they ring in before the tossup has been read completely.

Buzzers at the ready.

We'll get started with your first question.

What ancient city melted a siege tower known as a taker of cities to create a harbor monument to Helios in the form of a 108-foot-tall colossus.

- Rhodes.

- [David] Correct, and the bonus, what small gland in the brain helps regulate circadian rhythms by producing melatonin?

- [Oliver] The pineal.

- Or the pituitary.

- Pituitary.

- Pituitary.

- Oh.

- Incorrect there.

Back to a tossup for both.

- Sleepy time gland.

- What expressions, some of which use L'Hopital's rule to evaluate equal the value of functions output, approaches as its input approaches a certain value.

- Limits.

- [David] Correct, and you get the bonus now.

The US president who vetoed the most bills was what man who also threatened to pack the Supreme Court?

- Trump.

- [David] What city's politicians include Mayor Muriel Bowser, as well as Eleanor Holmes Norton, a delegate of the House of Representatives who cannot vote.

(buzzer dinging) - Washington DC.

- [David] Correct, and the bonus here is, what British cultural position currently held by Simon Armitage was first held in 1668 by John Dryden who wrote verse for national occasions.

- What have you got?

- So poet laureate.

- Poet laureate.

- [David] That is correct.

Tossup for both.

Robert Maynard hunted down what man who blockaded Charleston using the Queen Anne's Revenge and was a pirate known for his dark facial hair?

(buzzer dinging) - Blackbeard.

- [David] Blackbeard is correct.

A bonus now for White Cloud.

Tina Fey overworked math teacher Ms.

Norbury in what 2014 film starring Rachel McAdams and Lindsay Lohan?

- What have you got for me?

Gimme something.

- "Freaky Friday."

- "Freaky Friday."

(Charlotte laughing) - That's incorrect.

Back to a tossup for both.

What technology relies on synchronized atomic clocks to determine the location of a receiver and is the most widely used navigation system?

- GPS.

- [David] GPS is correct, and your bonus now.

If a set S has N members, what other set that includes all possible subsets of S, including S itself and the empty set, must have two to the N members?

- Do you understand what that means?

- Yes, well- - Let him think.

- here's the thing.

Set theory is wholly useless unless you're trying to become a math-- - Three.

- Answer.

- Three.

I don't understand (laughing) what they're asking.

- (laughing) Incorrect.

Back to a tossup for both.

What composer whose short lyric pieces include character miniatures like "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" was a Norwegian who wrote "The Peer Gynt Suite?"

(buzzer dinging) - Grieg.

- [David] Grieg is correct, and a bonus now.

♪ Dah, dah, dah, dah ♪ ♪ Dah, dah, dah ♪ - What member, or what number of tones in a technique developed by Arnold Schoenberg equals the number of notes in a chromatic scale in one octave?

- 12.

- [David] 12 is correct also.

Tossup for both.

What's Soldier who called for international support in his letter from Jamaica won the Battle of Boyaca and was a revolutionary called the Liberator?

(buzzer dinging) - Simone Bolivar.

- [David] Simone Bolivar is correct, and we go to the bonus.

The victory of what king of Wessex at the Battle of Edington helped earn him the epithet, the Great?

- Alfred.

- Alfred.

- Alfred.

- Alfred is correct.

- Thank you.

- [David] Tossup for both teams.

What novel whose frustrated protagonist has an affair with Rodolfo Boulanger, excuse me, while married to the provincial Dr.

Charles is by Gustave Flaubert.

(buzzer dinging) - "Madame Bovary."

- [David] "Madame Bovary" is correct.

And the bonus now.

E1, E2 and E3 are forms of what hormone that works with progesterone to regulate ovulation and menstruation.

- Oxytocin.

- Estrogen.

- [Oliver] Oh, estrogen, that's right.

- (laughing) Shut up, Ol.

- That is correct.

End of round four.

Our score now, Interlochen at 330, White Cloud at 120.

We'll check now the missed answers.

What small gland in the brain helps regulate the?

We were looking for the pineal gland.

US president who vetoed the most bills, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

- Oh yeah.

- Tina Fey, overworked math teacher, et cetera, et cetera, we were looking for "Mean Girls."

And the set S and the N members and all of that, we were looking for power set.

Well, Interlochen holds a 330-to-120 lead as we enter the Final Countdown in this championship game.

The Final Countdown, teams will have two minutes to answer as many tossup questions as they can.

If a team answers incorrectly, the opposing school has an opportunity to answer the question.

Teams may not consult during this round.

And remember that players receive that one-second penalty if they ring in before the tossup has been read completely.

We'll indicate that with the orange light just above their name.

The title of grand champion for Season 21 of "Quiz Central" is at stake now.

Buzzers at the ready.

Here comes the first question.

In 2025, BP announced its largest oil find in 25 years in the Bumerangue block near what South American country which is home to Petrobras?

(buzzer dinging) - Brazil.

- [David] That is correct.

- Oh, it just added 20.

- [David] What party which split into conscience and cotton factions promoted the American system as the main rival to the Democrats in the mid-1800s.

(buzzer dinging) - Republican Party.

- [David] Incorrect, Interlochen for the steal.

- Free Soil Party.

- [David] Free Soil also incorrect.

Tossup.

What English playwright wrote about the attempts of Mosca, Voltore, Corbaccio and Corvino to inherit the fortune of a sly fox in Volpone?

- Ben Jonson.

- [David] That is correct.

Next question, what YA series whose arcs include "The Lost Continent Prophecy" depicts a war in Pyrrhia and was written by Tui T. Sutherland about young Dragonets?

- "Wings of Fire."

- [David] "Wings of Fire" is correct.

Next question, what African country's capital is named after US President James Monroe was founded in the 19th century by the American Colonization Society?

- Liberia.

- [David] Liberia is correct.

Tossup for both.

What phenomenon whose namesake structures are Lewis structures enclosed in square brackets occurs when bonds are formed by delocalized electrons?

(buzzer dinging) - Noble gases.

- [David] Again for that answer, please.

Oh, incorrect.

- Carbon bonding.

- Carbon bonding is also incorrect.

Question for both.

What Medieval theologian who advanced the moral influence theory of atonement?

(bell dinging) And the bell doesn't allow us to get through that question.

Let's check the missed answers in that final round.

The party that split into conscience and cotton, we were looking for the Wig Party, the Wigs.

The namesake structures we were looking for was resonance or resonance structure.

And at the close of that round and the close of our game, Interlochen at 360, White Cloud at 130.

Let's have a round for all of our players today.

(everybody clapping) And Season 21, it's a big congratulations to both teams for coming along this far, making it all the way to the championship.

Great job all the way through, White Cloud.

Thanks very much for competing with us.

And to you, Interlochen, we say congratulations, you are the Season 21 champions here on "Quiz Central" on WCMU.

Again, a round for everyone, please.

(everybody clapping) And thanks to all of you for joining us throughout this Season 21.

We hope to be back with you.

We hope we'll see a lot of these same schools back competing with us again next year.

For all of us here at "Quiz Central," I'm David Nicholas, thanks for joining us.

And we'll see you again on "Quiz Central."

(upbeat music)