Right now on Granite State Challenge.

It's a wild card matchup where the team from ConVal Regional High School takes on the team from Nashua North High School.

Only one team will advance.

Granite State Challenge starts now.

Major funding for the production of Granite State Challenge is provided by Unitil.

Additional funding provided by Bangor Savings Bank.

Safety insurance.

NEA New Hampshire, Aroma Joe's and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Get ready.

It's time for New Hampshire high schools to match wits in a high stakes scholastic showdown.

It's time for Granite State Challenge.

Here's your host, John Cannon.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Granite State Challenge.

You may notice we've got a new logo.

We've got a new set, and we've got two new teams here this week to do a wild card battle to see who is going to take their team to the 16 team tournament.

Let's introduce them to you.

First up we have the team from ConVal Regional High School.

Hi, I'm Lukas and I'm a junior from ConVal.

Hi, I'm Ben.

I'm a junior from ConVal.

Hi, I'm Remy.

I'm a junior from ConVal.

Hi, I'm Owen.

I'm a senior from ConVal.

All right.

Their alternates are Kyle and Brian.

And the team is coached by social studies teacher Eric Bowman.

And they are the Cougars of ConVal Regional High School.

And facing off against them in this wild card matchup is the team from Nashua High School.

North.

Hi, I'm Claudia, I'm a senior from Nashua North.

I'm Ryan, I'm a junior from North.

Hi I'm Colin.

I'm a junior from North.

Hi, I'm Haylee.

I'm a senior from North.

Their alternate is senior Sara and the team is coached by social studies teacher Timothy Bosch.

And they are the Titans of Nashua High School North.

All right, our teams are introduced, but we wouldn't be doing our introductions if we didn't.

Also mentioned our beloved judge back with us again Ann Boulanger.

All right, teams, introductions are out of the way.

Go ahead and grab those signaling devices because we're going to play some Granite State challenge.

As you know, we play our game in four rounds.

And in round one we do ten point toss up questions.

So ConVal, Nashua North.

Good luck.

Here we go.

This man was U.S. president from August 9th, 1974 to January 20th, 1977, and is the only person to serve as U.S. president who is not elected to the post.

Lucas of ConVal.

Lyndon Johnson.

Sorry.

No.

Nashua North.

It was a few years later.

That was Gerald Ford.

All right, teams.

What cabinet position did Alexander Hamilton hold from 19.

Sorry.

1789 to 1795.

Claudia of Nashua North.

The Secretary of the Treasury.

That is correct.

The look of this singer's video for the song Express Yourself was inspired by Austrian American Fritz Lang's 1927 film classic Metropolis.

Haley of Nashville.

North.

Madonna.

Yes!

Teams.

While New Hampshire has no sales tax and does not tax earned wages, this state is the only state with no sales tax and no tax on all income, including wages and interest and dividends.

Remy of ConVal, Delaware.

Sorry, no.

Ryan of North.

Alaska.

Alaska is correct.

This indigenous man who created a writing system for the Cherokee language was also a blacksmith and a silversmith.

Colin of Nashua North.

Black Hawk.

Sorry.

No.

ConVal.

Ben.

Squanto.

Sorry.

No.

It was Sequoyah was his name.

All right, teams, this flag combines the cross of Saint Andrew.

The cross of Saint Patrick, and the cross of Saint George.

Ben of ConVal.

The Union Jack.

That is right.

All right, teams, this black doctor known for improving methods of storing blood for transfusion and the creation of the blood mobile, opposed the policy of racial segregation in blood donation and resigned as director of the first American Red cross blood bank in 1942 because of their policy of segregating blood donation by race, a policy that lasted until 1950.

And that innovator was Charles Drew.

All right.

Teams in the book Green Eggs and Ham by Doctor Seuss.

Who doesn't want to eat green eggs and ham?

Ben of ConVal.

Guy?

Sorry.

No.

North?

Colin.

Sam I Am.

Sam-I-Am is his name.

All right, teams, go ahead and take a look at your monitors for the next question.

There are six species of this old world monkey, the hamadryas the guinea, the olive, the yellow, the chacma, and the kinda, which was once considered a subspecies of the yellow.

All are found in Africa.

Lucas of ConVal.

The bamboon Baboons, right.

This singer songwriter is the youngest person to win two Academy Awards.

She won the Best Original Song Oscar for her, with her brother for the song What Was I Made For?

In 2024, when she was 22.

In 2022, she took home the same award for No Time to Die when she was 20.

Ben of ConVal.

Billie Eilish.

Yes.

Teams.

In what Stephen Sondheim musical will you find the demon barber of Fleet Street?

Ben of ConVal.

Sweeney Todd?

That's right.

This U.S. president has an MBA from the Harvard Business School and was a managing general partner of the Texas Rangers.

Ben.

George Bush.

Which one?

W. Correct.

Julia Ward Howe's song Battle Hymn of the Republic was adapted from a song about this abolitionist leader who was hanged for his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Ryan of North.

John Brown.

Yes.

All right, teams, take another look at your monitors for a picture question.

You are looking at an 1887 self-portrait of this Dutch artist who was inspired by the pointillist technique used by George Sarat in his 1884 painting A Sunday on the La Grande Jatte.

Ben of ConVal.

Van Gogh.

Yes.

In 1988, Benazir Bhutto became the first woman to head the government of an Islam dominated state when she was sworn in as Prime Minister of this country.

Band of ConVal.

Gandhi.

Sorry.

No.

North.

Colin.

Iran.

Sorry.

Nope.

It is Pakistan.

All right, teams a day on this gas giant is equivalent to 10.5 Earth hours.

Ryan of North.

Jupiter.

Yes.

This could be a musical composition for solo piano, like Beethoven's Pathetic or Moonlight, or a model of a mid-size sedan from the Korean car maker Hyundai.

Owen of ConVal.

Sonata.

That's right, these two cartoon rivals, one who is famous for his speed and meep meep call, and the other famous for his harebrained schemes that often involve explosives and anvils, were first introduced in a 1949 Looney Tunes cartoon titled Fast and Furious.

Ben of ConVal.

The Roadrunner and the Tasmanian Devil.

Sorry, no.

North.

Colin.

The Roadrunner and Dynamite Sam?

Roadrunner is right.

The other one is the coyote Roadrunner and the coyote.

All right, next up, the winning.

Well, we'll save that question for round four.

And it looks like at the end of round one, we got a tight match with ConVal taking a slight lead by a score of 70 to 60.

All right, great job teams.

Keep it up.

We're going to put a pause in the action right now.

We're going to get to know our contestants a little bit more.

And we're going to start with the team from ConVal Regional High School.

ConVal is located in Peterborough, New Hampshire serves nine towns in that area, about 737 students, and the team is led by Captain Lucas.

Now, you are, technically a junior, but you're graduating early.

You told me.

Yes.

And, when you graduate, you're going to attend.

Where?

I'm going to Hamilton College.

Which is in upstate New York.

Yes.

Right.

And what drew you to Hamilton?

I like its open curriculum.

Upstate New York is just beautiful.

And it's just a really good college in general.

But you're not just going there.

You also got a pretty great scholarship to go there.

I did.

I got a full ride, including room, board and food.

And how did you how did you pull that off?

So it's through a program called Quest Bridge that tries to connect low income, first generation students to top colleges.

All right.

And I did the whole application process.

I became a finalist.

And a month after that I knew I got a full ride.

All right.

Nice.

That's a wonderful program.

Wonderful organization.

Quest bridge you said?

Yes.

So if you're out there watching and you meet those criteria, you should absolutely take it from Lucas.

You should do it.

All right.

So we just had a theater question about Sweeney Todd, Ben, that you rang in and got correct, which I shouldn't be surprised because what did you recently do?

Well, I recently wrote and directed my own play at ConVal.

So you wrote this play from scratch?

Yep.

Right.

Just you had this idea and you did what spurred it on?

What?

Where'd it come from?

Well, the play was called murder for dummies, and it was, originally meant to be, like, just a basic spoof of your basic, you know, murder mystery tropes.

You know, the lights go out and somebody dies, and, yeah, that whole thing.

But it evolved into something so much more.

Lucas was in it, actually, and he was he was phenomenal as one of the characters.

And he really, you know, it was a comedy and there was some bits of drama in there, and it was really fun to kind of like, find the balance.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, totally.

And you got a good turnout a lot of people came?

Yeah.

That's right.

So now you've got the you've got the bug.

You're going to write some more?

Yeah.

Definitely.

I've been talking with Mrs. Moore and there, there might be some more coming soon.

Nice.

Excellent.

Well, be on the lookout for that.

All right, next up, Remy joins the team.

Does a sport, in the wintertime gets outside.

What do you do?

I do alpine skiing.

Okay.

How long you been alpine skiing?

I've been up and skiing for two years, but in general, I've been skiing for five.

Okay, so.

And you're on the team at ConVal.

You're going to compete has as the season started already?

Yes.

Have you had any meets yet?

One meet.

One meet.

Excellent.

So there's snow somewhere where you can ski.

What event is your best event, would you say?

I would say slalom.

Okay.

And you're going to keep it up.

Excellent.

Nice job.

All right.

And rounding out the team is Owen got a musical question about Moonlight Sonata a little bit ago.

I shouldn't be surprised because you are an avid player of the piano.

The piano?

And, how long you been playing the piano?

For a handful of years now but I first played, when I was 6 or 7.

How did you start?

My MeMe.

She was a church organist.

Okay, excellent.

Do you ever do you're going to take over the church organ?

I don't play organ.

All right.

Maybe keep playing though.

Yeah.

Excellent.

Fantastic.

That is Owen.

And this is the team from ConVal Regional High School.

All right.

And their opponents in this wild card matchup are the titans of Nashua North.

And they're led by senior captain, Claudia, who is a bit of a linguist.

How many languages in addition to English are you studying right now Four.

Okay, so they are?

German, Spanish, French and Japanese.

Okay.

But, my understanding is not all of these are through school, right?

I have studied, just on my own through textbooks and, resources like that.

German and I also have attended the Showa Boston Institute for Japanese Language Studies in my free time.

And so you're thinking about maybe, career in the languages.

Yeah, absolutely.

I, I plan on going to college for linguistics and hopefully having a career in language education.

Excellent.

Fantastic.

We need more teachers.

So good to hear.

All right.

Claudia is joined by Ryan, also an athlete but a fall sport this past season.

What sports you play I play soccer.

And what position on that soccer team?

Fullback.

I'll do left or right side.

Either one.

All right.

How the team do this year?

We were 14 seed in the regular season.

Then we beat three seed Londonderry in playoffs.

Nice.

So it's a Division one in New Hampshire Interscholastic athletic.

So it's a tough division.

Came in at 14 seed beat number three.

Made it to what what round quarterfinal quarterfinals.

Nice job.

So you kind of underdogs.

All right.

You going to play again next year?

Oh yeah.

All right.

Excellent.

Fantastic.

Ryan is joined by Colin who like if you watched our previous wild card match, there was another student who had, the same hobby, which is, I collect vinyl records.

Okay.

How did you get into collecting vinyl records?

I was just on Spotify.

I love music, so I started getting into, like, older classical music, and then I just thought it'd sound good on vinyl.

So I looked up some, like, old classic vinyls, got them, and then it just evolved from there.

Gotcha.

You got a big collection?

Small collection?

Just starting?

I'm starting a little bit.

I've only been doing it for a couple of years, so I have around 20.

Okay.

And it's going to get bigger and bigger by the year hopefully.

Right.

That's the plan.

Do you prefer listening to music on vinyl?

Oh yeah, for sure.

The warmth of the vinyl, I get it.

I totally get it.

I also get Haylee's, got, I wouldn't necessarily call it a hobby, but as someone who appreciates wacky socks, we share an affinity.

But your methodology is a little bit different.

Tell us about it.

So I never wear matching socks.

But there is a method to it.

Okay.

Have to be the same length and texture.

And I have a rainbow socks and hot sauce socks of the same length and same feeling.

So I'll match them.

But I can't match, my rainbow ones with any of the food ones I have because they're different lengths.

So are you known for this, like around school and with your friends and family?

At work I'm pretty known for it.

To the point where I had customers who will gift me two different pairs of socks specifically to match.

I love it.

Okay, if anyone is out there watching.

Yes, please.

All right.

And that is the team from Nashua High School North.

Okay.

Before we start the next round, we're going to make a scoring adjustment.

They just told me in my ear.

And on the previous question about green eggs and ham, they looked up that answer Ben.

And, they decided that it was a valid, correct response.

So we're going to go ahead and give you those points back, to it, adjust the score and we will go from there.

So well done.

All right.

So in round two of Granite State Challenge we call it our three strikes.

And you're out round.

So each team will get ten questions and each contestant will get one question.

Each will go down the line.

And each team has three passes.

So you could pass three times if you don't know the correct answer.

And we'll continue going down the line and asking questions until all ten questions are asked, or until three strikes and you're out.

We'll start with ConVal and Lucas.

This is your question.

Actor Patrick Stewart played captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek The Next Generation, and this character in the 2000 movie X-Men Pass.

All right, Ben.

Professor Charles Xavier.

That is correct Remy, Richard Harris and Michael Gambon have both played this professor in the Harry Potter movies.

Pass, pass.

Owen.

Professor Dumbledore.

That is correct.

Lucas.

Back to you.

Michael Gambon voiced the character of Frank Bean, one of the farmers in the 2009 movie Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Mr. Fox was voiced by this actor who has portrayed Batman and Danny Ocean in films.

Pass.

All right, last pass.

Ben?

George Clooney.

Yes, Remy.

George Clooney's aunt was Rosemary Clooney, who was one of the stars in this 1954 musical based on the songs of Irving Berlin and named for a famous holiday song about dreaming about one of these.

Sorry.

She's dreaming of a white Christmas.

Owen.

This popular holiday film stars Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold.

The National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Correct.

Lukas, back to you.

This girl rock group led by Belinda Carlisle, had a huge hit with their 1982 song vacation.

They were certainly a group of go getters.

They are the Go-Go's and Ben.

This website founded by Brad Damn Foose and Andrew Baluster in 2010, helps you to crowdsource funding for causes and projects.

Go fund me.

Correct.

Remy.

The Girl Scouts have been fundraising for years by selling these tasty treats.

Cookies?

Yes.

Owen.

This blue Sesame Street character loves cookies.

The Cookie Monster.

Correct.

And Lukas last question.

In the lyrics to the 1962 novelty song Monster Mash by Bobby Boris Pickett and the Crypt Keepers, the monster mash caught on in a flash and was a smash at this location.

A graveyard.

A graveyard is right.

They made me do the voice.

And this is the end of your three strikes and you're out round.

All right, North, we turn over to you.

Same drill.

We'll go right down the line.

You've got three passes to use, and we'll keep going until all the questions or three strikes and you're out.

Claudia, starting with you.

A group of sharks is called a shiver.

A group of crows is called a murder.

A group of these birds is called a flamboyance.

Pass.

Ryan.

Flamingos.

Flamingos is correct.

Colin.

You will find the Flamingo Hotel, which first opened in 1947 In this city.

Las Vegas.

Correct.

Haylee.

This singer is the star of the 1964 rock n roll musical film Viva Las Vegas.

Pass.

Claudia.

Elvis Presley.

That is correct.

Ryan.

Elvis Costello asked What's so funny about peace, love and this in a 1979 song.

Harmony.

Understanding.

That was pretty close.

Colin.

Lou Costello teamed up with Bud Abbott in the classic comedy routine Who's On First about a team in this sport?

Baseball.

Yes.

Haylee.

The 2005 baseball movie Fever Pitch starred Jimmy Fallon as an obsessed fan of this team.

Red Sox?

Correct.

Claudia.

For years, many Red Sox fans blamed the 1920 sale of this man to the Yankees as the source of all their bad luck in winning a World Series.

You do have one more pass.

It was Babe Ruth.

And that's your first strike.

So, Ryan.

The 1993 movie babe was was, sorry in the 1993 movie babe, what was babe?

Pass.

All right.

Do we have any more passes?

No.

Sorry.

There's no more passes.

Ryan got to answer it.

A dog.

No babe was a pig.

And this is your third strike and ends your round.

All right, so they'll add up the points and add that to the score momentarily.

And while we wait to jump into round three, I would like to invite the alternates to come on up and join their teams at the podium for our 60s round.

In our 60 second round, each team will get ten questions in a category.

Your goal is to try to, as a team, answer all ten questions in 60 seconds and we typically start with the team that is trailing and that is Nashua North right now.

So, Claudia, you can talk to your team and decide which of these three categories you and your team would like.

Lucky seven, love you and mortified.

We'll go with lucky seven.

Lucky seven it is.

Okay, so Nashua North, the answers to the following will include the word or number seven.

Claudia, you can talk to your team.

I'll take your answer as the team answer.

60 seconds.

Start the clock.

A convenience store or a 2014 song?

7-Eleven?

Yes.

1954 musical film about a group of uncouth siblings looking to get wives.

Seven wives or seven brothers.

Yes.

Think about that, judge.

A classic 1954 film by Akira Kurosawa about a group of warriors hired to protect a village from bandits.

Seven samurai.

Yes.

The Great Pyramid at Giza and the Colossus of Rhodes are part of this group.

Seven ancient wonders of the world.

Yes, sloth, envy, greed and wrath are all part of this group.

Seven deadly sins.

Yep, this bubbly drink was launched in 1927.

7 Up.

Yes, you will find tomatoes, guacamole, refried beans, and four other ingredients in this.

Seven layer burrito.

Think about that judges.

This Disney movie featured a young maiden who had an evil stepmother.

Snow White and the seven Dwarves.

Yes, this Gothic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne is set in Salem, Massachusetts.

House of the Seven Gables.

Yes, Brad Pitt ask what's in the box in this 1995 film?

And at the end of your 60 second round on Ann cam, judge Ann Belanger.

Eight out of ten on your 60 second round.

Nice job.

North.

We turn now our attention to ConVal and Lukas.

You and your team can choose from love you and mortified.

We'll take mortified.

Mortified.

Okay.

The answers to the following will all include the letters m o r t in that order.

Okay, so, Lukas, again, you can talk to your team.

I will take your answer as the team answer.

60 seconds.

Start the clock.

A being that lives forever can be called this.

Immortal.

Yes.

This is what you pay monthly when you buy a house.

Mortgage.

Yes.

This is where the dead are kept until they are buried.

A mortuary.

Yes.

This is what the hat you wear at graduation is sometimes called.

Pass.

It is a mortarboard.

This is what you might do to determine a cause of death.

Mortuary.

It is a postmortem.

This is an Italian meat product made with ground cured pork and cubes of pork fat.

Mortdachella It is mortadella.

She is the matriarch of a family created by cartoonist Charles Addams.

Mortica Addams.

Yes This is when you pay off a debt with regular payments.

Skip.

It is amortized.

This is a fighting video game developed in 1992.

Mortal Kombat.

Yes.

Combined with a tenon.

This is used to hold pieces of wood together.

Mortar.

Sorry.

It's a mortise.

A mortise in tenon joint.

And how many is that on the Ann cam?

Five out of ten on your 60s round.

All right.

Alternates.

Thank you so much.

You can go ahead and take your seats.

Okay.

I'm being told in my ear that we are actually out of time in this game.

We don't have enough time to go into round four.

This is never happened in my career as host of Granite State Challenge.

And so with no round four at the end of this game by a score of 210 to 190 ConVal will be moving on to the Granite State Challenge tournament.

Okay, well that was unexpected, but nevertheless a good game.

A tight game by a score of 210 to 190.

Con Val, congratulations on your victory.

We will be seeing you in a few weeks in our tournament.

And Nashua North.

Sorry it had to end so suddenly, but we were happy to have you here.

And we do hope that you had fun while you were here.

And for the folks at home, we hope you did have fun as well.

Watching these two wild card games.

We do hope you tune into our 16 team tournament in the new year when that happens, and as I like to say, at the end of all Granite State Challenge matches, I did learn something and I hope you did as well.

So long.

We'll see you next time.

Major funding for the production of Granite State Challenge is provided by Unitil.

Additional funding provided by Bangor Savings Bank.

Safety Insurance, NEA New Hampshire, Aroma Joe's and viewers like you.

Thank you.