By Barry Moskowitz
Queens, NY (Nov. 5, 2004) - As a small child Victoria Manos kept
a date with her father after dinner each evening. Sitting by the
television for their favorite game show, they tested each other to
see who knew more answers on “Jeopardy!”
While her younger sister kept score, Vicki and her father called
out answer after answer. “My Dad usually won,” says Vicki. “But we
were always pretty close.”
The practice paid off. A 19-year-old sophomore in St. John’s
University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences,
Vicki was one of only 15 students nationwide chosen to compete in
the “Jeopardy!” 2004 College Championship on WABC-TV in
November.
After a first-round victory on November 11, Vicki advanced
to the semifinals, winning a total of $10,000 in the
competition.
Her decision to apply for the show was “kind of sudden,” Vicki
says. Last spring, watching “Jeopardy!” in a residence-hall lounge
at St. John’s, Vicki and her friends began calling out answers to
the show’s famous brain-twisters. “I knew an awful lot of the
answers,” Vicki recalls. “My friends all said, 'you really should
go on that show.’ “
Curious, Vicki took out her laptop and visited the game show’s
Web site, where she applied both in the adult and college-student
categories. That June, she received an email asking her to appear
for a written test at the Chelsea Piers sports facility in
Manhattan.
Among the Few
“I was so excited, I was the only person who actually dressed up
for the occasion,” she says. Vicki was among 70 people taken into a
plain, institutional room with desks and chairs. A projector
flashed onto the wall fifty questions in fifty categories.
“I was surprised,” says Vicki. “The questions seemed tougher
than my SATs.” Out of the 70 people who took the qualifying test,
only 10 ten passed – including Vicki. The staff interviewed and
photographed each of the winners. “It was such a relief,” she says.
“Just passing was the best thing – everything else is gravy.”
Vicki returned home knowing only that she had passed the
qualifying test. It was still June, and she would not learn whether
she was chosen to appear until September. “They keep the suspense
going,” she says. “All they tell you is that you’ll receive a FedEx
package if you make it.
The package came in September. One Friday, Vicki’s mother picked
her up at St. John’s to spend the weekend back home. Her mother
decided to play a joke. Handing Vicki the package in a plain
folder, she first said it was notification that she had lost her
scholarship. When Vicki tore open the package, she screamed in
delight. “I couldn’t even speak,” Vicki recalls with a laugh.
The Battle of the Buzzer
“Jeopardy!” had sent Vicki airplane tickets, directions to the
studio and release papers to sign and return. Strangely, Vicki did
not worry about preparing for the College Championship. “Some of
the contestants studied encyclopedias, almanacs, you name it,” she
says. “But none of us knew the categories, so there really wasn’t a
point.” Besides, she adds, “I had more important things to study
for, like chemistry. Organic is kind of tough.”
The Championship is taped at a different college every year.
This year, the shows were taped at the University of Pittsburgh.
When Vicki arrived at the studio, the "Jeopardy!" staff kept
her and the other contestants in separate rooms. The students did
not meet each other until after the first taping, when they were
treated to a pizza party.
Wearing her St. John’s University sweatshirt, Vicki vied against
students from many of the nation’s top colleges, including
Columbia, Davidson, Dickinson, Georgetown, Stanford, the University
of Florida, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Texas,
and Williams.
One of the hardest parts of the game, Vicki says, was simply
beating the other students to the buzzer. “In the end,” she says,
“we were just fifteen smart kids who all knew plenty of answers. It
always came down to who buzzes in first.”
Though contestants like Vicki are not allowed to reveal the
outcome of the contests, she is grateful that her friends, her
family and members of the St. John’s Community are tuning
in to cheer for her. “The biggest honor,” she says, “is being
able to represent St. John’s.”
“The Right Place for Me”
A native of Levittown, NY, Vicki says that a love of science set
her path to St. John’s University. “Education was always important
to my family,” she says. “And science was always my favorite
subject.”
A self-employed jeweler in midtown Manhattan, Vicki’s father
encouraged her interests by bringing her books that would cross the
eyes of many youngsters. “He used to make me read books by
[physicist] Stephen Hawkins,” she says. “It seemed so exciting.
Sometimes I thought about going to MIT to study nuclear
physics.”
In high school, Vicki’s growing interest in medicine replaced
her earlier desire to pursue physics. She was especially intrigued
by the research possibilities available in pharmacy. “My guidance
counselor began pushing me to apply to St. John’s,” she says. “My
high school principal also liked the idea – he’s a St. John’s
graduate.”
Vicki applied to several including Stony Brook and the
University of Southern Florida. But on a campus visit she found St.
John’s especially impressive. “Everyone knows St. John’s has an
outstanding pharmacy program,” she says. “But when I saw St. John’s
campus, I thought, ‘this is really nice.’ I loved the greenery, the
residence halls and the people.” When St. John’s awarded Vicki a
Presidential Scholarship, her path was clear.
Vicki says she would enthusiastically recommend St. John's to
any of her friends. “All they have to do is to visit, the way I
did,” she says. “The professors are great, the residence halls are
beautiful. And the students are very friendly – no cliques or
people you don’t want to be around.” After all, she points out, it
was her friends in Donovan Hall who originally encouraged her to
embark on her journey to “Jeopardy!”
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