BHS victorious in Varsity ‘Challenge’

A team of top students from Baldwin Senior High School bested a contingent from Oyster Bay in the first round of MSG Varsity’s popular high school quiz show “The Challenge.”

The contest was filmed Nov. 8 and aired on Sunday, and the score was Baldwin 305, Oyster Bay 215. The victory means the Baldwin team will advance to the second round of “The Challenge,” which will begin airing in March.

Coached by 17-year biology teacher Cathy Rio, the Baldwin squad comprises captain Eric Zuckerman, Matthew Wiener, Arthur Phidd, Jake Wiener and team alternate Karan Malik. They collectively answered questions using their knowledge of history, arts, literature, current events, math and science.

“This bunch of boys has been together with me since their freshman year,” said Rio, who has been coaching the academic team since 2004. “They’re the club officers from the Academons, an academic club, and have been competing together in regional quizzes for years.”

Rio explained that the team meets to practice once a week, working not only on questions whose answers they need to know but on the nuances of academic competition. “I have a buzzer system that I set up, and the students compete against one another in an intramural style,” Rio said. “I’ve accumulated a large number of questions over the years from ‘Jeopardy’ games and online sources.”

The Baldwin team got off to a rough start in the match aired over the weekend when the Oyster Bay squad correctly answered the first five questions. Still, Rio insists she wasn’t alarmed. “When the other team answered the first five questions I just thought, Oh no. They’re not used to those buzzers,” she told the Herald. “The system we use in practice is different from the one they have on the show, which had a thumb or finger trigger. I knew once they got the buzzers figured out they’d do well, and they did. The boys never lost confidence, and I never lost confidence in them. It was great. The way they walked on stage and the way they gave their names, you could tell this was a confident team. In fact, the host even commented on how self-assured they were.”