This week on Granite State Challenge, the team from Belmont High School takes on the team from Merrimack 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 NEA New Hampshire, Safety Insurance, D.F.

Richard Energy, HRCU 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, Jon Cannon.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 42nd season of Granite State Challenge.

We started the season back in the fall with just over 30 teams on our Super Saturday event, taking the test to see who is going to be here to compete for the Granite State Challenge Championship.

We've got two of those teams here ready to do battle.

See who makes it to the next round.

Let's introduce them to you.

First up, we have the team from Belmont High School.

I'm Jonathan and I'm a senior.

Hi, I'm Leanna Rowley, and I'm a senior as well.

I'm Kayleigh Thompson and I'm also a senior.

And I'm Ryder and I'm a senior.

The team is coached by math teacher Craig Wilkins and they're the team from Belmont High School.

And facing off against them this week is the team from Merrimack High School.

Hi, I'm Kishan the captain and a senior.

I am Trey, a senior.

I'm Erin, a junior.

I'm Liam.

I'm a senior.

The team is coached by chemistry teacher Sarah Campbell, a gifted and talented coordinator, Sally Engle.

They're alternate are junior Shelby and sophomore Avis, and they're the team from Merrimack High School.

All right.

Those are the teams.

But we do have one more introduction, of course, with us back again for our 42nd season is our judge Ann Belanger.

All right.

Team's introductions are out of the way, so we're going to go ahead and jump right into round one of Granite State Challenge.

And as you know, in round one, we do ten point toss up questions.

So grab those signaling devices, get ready to play.

Here we go.

Four U.S. state capitals are named for US presidents Jackson, Mississippi, Lincoln, Nebraska, Jefferson City, Missouri.

And this capital named for the fourth president.

You must give both the city and the state.

Trey of Merrimack.

Madison, Wisconsin.

That is correct.

The top score on the video arcade game, Pac-Man, was 3,333,360 and was first scored in 1999 by Billy Mitchell of Fort.

Lauderdale, Florida, at the Fun Spot Family Fun Center in this New Hampshire location on the southern shore of Lake Winnipesaukee.

Erin of Merrimack.

Laconia.

Sorry, no.

Belmont.

Go ahead, Kayleigh?

It's The Weirs?

Weirs beach is correct.

Good job.

The working title for this novel by Jane Austin was first impressions.

Erin of Merrimack.

Pride and Prejudice.

Yes.

The first words Thomas Edison recited into his invention, The Talking machine or phonograph, was the poem Mary Had a Little LAMB written by this Newport, New Hampshire, native that was written by Sarah Josepha Hale.

Teams, this could be a medical procedure to collect cerebrospinal fluid for testing, or the name of a rock band that was the subject of a mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner.

Kishan of Merrimack.

Spinal Tap.

Yes.

This could be a man many consider to be the father of the US Navy and famous for saying, quote, I have not yet begun to fight or the stage name of the bassist for Led Zeppelin.

Liam of Merrimack.

John Paul Jones.

Yes.

Motown Records was founded by producer Berry Gordy in 1959.

Motown is another name for the Motor City, where the label was founded.

What US city was Motown Records founded in?

Trey of Merrimack.

Detroit.

That's right.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is 24 miles long and is the longest bridge over water in the world.

In what state will you find it?

Liam of Merrimack, Louisiana.

That's correct.

The opera, the magic Flute, is a sing spiel.

A sing spiel is an opera that includes singing and spoken word.

The music for The Magic Flute was composed by this man who died just two months after it premiered on September 30th, 1791.

Kishan of Merrimack.

Mozart.

Yes.

All right, teams for the next question.

Go ahead and take a look at your monitors found only in New Zealand.

There are five extinct species of this small, flightless bird with hair like feathers and nostrils at the end of their long beaks Trey of Merrimack, Kiwis.

Yes, that's a Kiwi.

Teams, six future presidents were veterans of the US Civil War.

Rutherford B Hayes.

Chester Arthur, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley and this man who was commanding General of the US Army.

Erin of Merrimack.

Ulysses S Grant?

Yes.

In 1976, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, in a live bit, offered this disbanded group $3,000 to appear on the show.

What he didn't know was that two members of the group, John and Paul, were watching the show from just blocks away and almost went to the studio.

Erin of Merrimack.

The Beatles?

Yes.

Polaris or the North Star is found in the handle of the Big Dipper, which is in this constellation.

Trey of Merrimack.

Ursa major.

Yes.

What poem by Edgar Allan Poe features a Corvids crying out Nevermore.

Erin of Merrimack.

The Raven.

Yes.

All right, teams, Our next question is our Unitil.

Power Question.

And it's worth 20 points coming to you on your monitors.

Take a look.

This is what you might call a brief period of restorative sleep.

Erin of Merrimack, REM.

Sorry, no.

Belmont.

Jonathan, A power nap.

A power nap is right.

Residents of this unincorporated community in New Hampshire have voted first in the New Hampshire presidential primary since 1960.

Liam of Merrimack.

Crawford's Notch.

Sorry, no.

Belmont?

Kayleigh.

Bedford.

Sorry, no.

You are close, Liam, it's Dixville Notch.

All right, teams, this man who was the 10th president of the United States, was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives in 1861, but he died before he could take office.

Liam of Merrimack.

Tyler Yes.

All right, team, Our next question is a civics question, and it's coming to you on your monitors.

Take a look.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Nick Capodice I'm the co-host of Civics 101 NPR's podcast Refresher Course on the basics of how our democracy works.

And we've got some civics questions to stretch your civics brain a little bit, which you can also do at any time by listening to our show at Civics 101 podcast dot org.

All right, here we go.

Gerrymandering is the intentional drawing of an electoral district to favor one political party over the other.

Now, the word gerrymander is a portmanteau word of Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, and he was also the former VP under James Madison- and what Amphibian.

Trey of Merrimack.

Salamander.

Salamander is right.

All right, teams, all the planets in our solar system are named for Roman or Greek gods and goddesses, except for this one.

Trey of Merrimack.

Earth.

That's right.

On January 26th, 1968, the Navy ship, the USS Pueblo, was captured by this country where it is now a museum.

Liam of Merrimack, North Korea.

That's right.

All right.

Our next question is a math question, I promise you.

So go ahead and grab that pencil and paper and follow along.

In 1789, President George Washington sent 12 amendments to the states for ratification.

Ten became the Bill of Rights.

The 11th dealt with congressional pay and became the 27th Amendment in 1991.

The 12th has not been ratified.

It proposes that there be one congressional representative for every 50,000 people.

If the population of the United States is 332 million people, how many representatives would there be in the House of Representatives if the amendment was ratified today?

Jonathan of Belmont.

6,664,000.

Sorry, No.

Trey of Merrimack.

664.

Sorry.

No, you are all on the right.

6640 off by one digit.

All right, Teams, if you play this game by the rules, which few people do, each player gets $1,500 at the start of the game.

Kishan of Merrimack.

Monopoly.

That is right.

This poor it.

Well, we will save that question for round four.

And after round one, Merrimack out to a lead by a score of 170 to 30.

Great job, teams.

Before we go into round two, we thought it would be nice to take a minute to get to know our teams a little bit.

So first up, we're going to get to know the players on the Belmont High School team.

Belmont High School is located in the Lakes region of the state and there's about 400 students at Belmont High School from the towns of Belmont and Canterbury.

And they are led by senior Captain Jonathan.

Now, Jonathan, it says here you are making a video game right now.

What is this video game for?

Yes, it's a community service project I'm doing for diploma of Distinction.

And I'm making a video game to try and help students from our middle and high school learn French.

So will they play this game at school or at home or.

Yeah, I'm designing it so they can play it with their school issued Chromebooks and also making it multiplayer so they can play together.

Nice.

What do you think is going to go live?

It's going to take a while.

It's a big project, so I'm estimating around May.

All right, perfect.

Well, good luck with that.

Thank you.

All right.

Joining Jonathan is Leanna, And Leanna has a great hobby, a lifelong hobby, which is baking with my grandmother, baking with grandma.

How wonderful is that?

And do you have a specialty or maybe something that you've done recently that you're particularly proud of?

Yeah, I like making recipes from other countries and cultures.

So recently I've made macrons the very tedious, but yes, and they turned out okay.

They tasted good and they were like, fluffed up and everything.

Fantastic.

Very well done.

We'll keep that up.

All right.

Next we have Kayleigh.

Kayleigh is also a senior and got to go on a great train trip.

Where did you go?

I went from northern Germany to northern Italy.

Northern Germany to northern Italy.

How long is that train trip?

Like a whole day.

All day.

And you must be going through mountains when you go from Germany to Italy.

So we went through the Alps in Switzerland.

Nice.

And so was there any part of that journey that you would say was like the highlight, the best part?

Sleeping well on a 12 hour journey, I guess you got to get some shut eye at some point.

Hopefully you didn't miss too many mountains while you were snoozing.

All right.

And joining Kayleigh to round out the team is a senior Ryder who's doing something near and dear to me over at the Hewitt Technical Center in Laconia, which is what?

I'm in the teacher prep program.

Excellent.

And what age group kids are you working with right now?

I work with preschoolers and I work with third graders.

Okay.

So do you have a preference between the two?

I'm still figuring that out because we just started working with the third grader, so I'll decide later on.

Gotcha.

And so you're thinking about a career in education?

Yes.

Fantastic.

I love it.

All right.

And that is the team from Belmont High School.

Facing off against them this week is the team for.

Merrimack High School, which is located in the southern part of the state.

And there's about a thousand students at Merrimack High School.

And of those thousands, they picked Kishan to be the captain of the Granite State Challenge team.

So, Kishan you've done something that, you know, we see a lot of students who are on Granite.

State challenge who do this.

But every time I hear about it, I I'm just so impressed.

You are an Eagle Scout.

Yes.

All right.

And so what does that take to to become the Eagle Scouts?

So there's a certain required number of merit badges on and building a service project for your community.

All right.

What was your service project?

My service project was for the local park in Merrimack, Washington Park, to build a ADA compliant, accessible ramp off for the nurse's office.

And that functions during their day camp and all hours of the park.

I definitely recommend going there.

All right.

Yeah.

And it doesn't matter how how abled you are, you will be able to get to that nurse's office.

Exactly.

Well done.

Excellent.

All right.

Joining Kishan is Trey.

But you know, Trey, we call you Trey, but that's not actually your name.

That's correct.

My real name is Scott Arthur Grant, the third.

Scott Arthur Grant the third.

And is it the third where the Trey comes from?

It is, yeah.

All right.

And so how do you feel about being the third in a line of Scott Arthur Grants?

I think it's a fun it's a fun fact, I guess I can give for the show.

And also it's just it's a good conversation starter.

And so did you choose Trey or did your parents start calling you Trey when you were little?

My parents started calling me Trey pretty from when I was born.

From the get go.

Yeah, I love it.

All right.

Joining Trey is Erin who is not the first in their family to be on Granite State Challenge.

No, actually, my older brother was on this team last year.

All right.

And so are you following in your older brother's footsteps?

Is that how you got into Granite State challenge?

Actually, I didn't get into Grand.

Challenge because I wanted to be like my brother.

He was just my ride home.

Of course, that's how it always is, right?

The ride home.

But you're here now and you find that you like this.

You have a knack for it?

I really do.

Yeah.

That's fantastic.

Well, we're glad that you're here.

All right, last up on the team.

Rounding out the team is Liam a bit of a musician and has been playing the piano For how long?

I've been playing since I was, like, seven.

So about ten years now.

So a long time.

And you're not just casually playing like this, you're actually working hard to improve, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I have recently completed grade six of the ABRSM.

Royal School of Music Exam.

The ABRSM Royal School of Music Exam.

Where is that from?

They're headquartered in London for the British Royal.

Schools of Music, essentially an exam that goes over music theory playing and all sorts of other things.

And all I have left is just grade seven now.

And this is just a challenge yourself to be a better musician, a better piano player.

Yep.

Wonderful.

I love it.

All right.

And that is the team from Merrimack High School.

All right, teams.

Well, we're going to go right into round two at this time.

In round two is our three strikes and you're out round.

So we're going to go team by team, player by player.

This is how it works.

Each team is going to get ten questions and each question is going to give some sort of clue or indication to the next question.

They sort of lead from one to the next.

We're going to start with team captains.

So in this case, Jonathan will go right down the line, question by question until you get all ten questions or three strikes and you're out.

And as a reminder, all teams have three passes.

So if you don't know the answer, you could pass to the person next to you.

So, Belmont, we will start with you, Jonathan.

This is your question, Jonathan.

This is the capital city of Arizona.

Phoenix Yes.

Leanna, The Phoenix Fox is the companion to this wizard in the world of Harry Potter.

Pass.

Dumbledore.

Dumbledore is correct.

Ryder, Guy Fawkes was one of the leaders of this failed plot to blow up the English House of Lords in 1605.

I don't know.

All right.

It is the Gunpowder plot.

Jonathan.

Gunpowder was invented in ancient China when alchemists combined salt, peter, charcoal, and this yellow element that is often associated with the devil.

Sulfur.

Sulfur is right.

Leanna, The Devil Wears Prada was a 2006 movie starring this actor as fashion editor Miranda Priestly.

Anne Hathaway.

Sorry, it's Meryl Streep.

Kayleigh, The Supreme Court case, Miranda v Arizona gave individuals the rights to one of these before being questioned after arrest.

Pass.

Ryder.

Can you repeat the question, please?

Sure.

The Supreme Court case, Miranda versus Arizona, gave individuals the right to one of these before being questioned after arrest.

A lawyer.

That is rights.

Jonathan, Diana Ross of the Supremes had a hit with this song that told you to do this in the name of Love.

I don't know, Diana Ross said to Stop In the Name of Love.

And that is your third strike that ends your rounds.

Let's look at all right, Merrimack, we turn to you.

Same drill right down the line.

Kishan we will start with you.

This is your question.

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy wore these slippers.

Pass.

Trey.

Ruby Ruby slippers is right.

Erin, Ruby Bridges, who in 1960 became the first black student to attend William.

Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana, is featured in this artist's painting, The problem we all live with.

Pass.

Liam.

Norman Rockwell is correct.

Kishan, Norman Bates is a homicidal maniac in this Alfred Hitchcock movie.

The Birds.

Sorry, it is Psycho.

Trey.

This band, led by David Byrne, is known for the songs.

Burning Down the House, Wild Wild Life and Psycho Killer.

It is the Talking Heads.

Erin, Wild Krats is an animated and live action children's show about animals featuring these two brothers.

Martin and Chris.

Yes, Liam These two brothers are famous for being the first to fly a powered plane.

Wright Brothers.

Can you give me their first names?

Orville and Wilbur.

Yes, that is right.

Kishan, This novella features a pilot who has crash landed in the Sahara Desert and a young boy who lived on Asteroid B612.

Pass.

Trey.

The Little Prince.

Yes.

Erin, the singer Prince is known for this song about partying like it's this year, 3012.

Sorry, it's partying like it's 1999.

And that is your third strike to end your round.

All right.

That ends round two teams.

We're going to go right into round three, which is our 60 second round.

So I'd like to invite the alternates for the teams to go ahead and join their teams up on stage..

In the 60 second rounds each team gets ten questions in a category.

You're able to talk and work as a team, but the captain will be the team's spokesperson.

So I will take the captain's answer as the team answer.

And we always start with the team that is trailing.

And right now, Jonathan, that is you.

So Belmont, you will go first.

And Jonathan, you and your team can choose from these categories; A rock and a hard place, Welcome to our robot overlords, and Salt of the Earth.

Right now.

Let's go with Salt of the Earth.

Salt of the Earth it is.

All right.

So in this category, the answers to the following will all include the word salt.

All right, So, Jonathan, again, I'll take your answer.

Is the team answer 60 seconds.

Start the clock.

This is the most common igneous, common igneous rock found on earth.

Yeah, salt stone.

It is basalt.

This is a term for a book or volume containing the biblical psalms.

I don't.

Yeah pass.

It is called a Salter.

This is a style of home or where you might keep your NaCl.

Yeah, Salt shaker?

It's salt box.

This is also known as potassium nitrate and is an ingredient of gunpowder.

Sodium.

Salt Peter.

This is a rap song by Ying Yang twins.

And what you keep next to a pepper shaker.

A salt shaker?

That's correct.

This is a city in Utah.

Salt Lake City.

Yes.

This hip hop group is known for the songs.

Push It and Let's talk about Sex.

Salt and Peppa.

Yes, This coastal wetland habitat is home to a variety of wading birds.

Salt Marsh?

Yeah, Salt Marsh.

Yes.

This type of cracker is tasty, but we won't get to it.

Yes, you were waiting for it.

And at the end of their round: Four out of ten.

I mean, I mean.

All right, so, Merrimack, we turn to you and Kishan.

You speak for your team, but you, Merrimack, you can choose from a Rock and a Hard Place, Or Welcome to our Robot Overlords.

Rock and a Hard Place.

A Rock and Hard Place it will be.

The answers to the following will include the word rock again.

Kishan I'll take your answer as the team answer 60 seconds.

Start the clock.

John Denver sang about these in a 1972 song that is now the state song of Colorado.

Rocky Mountains.

Yes.

Sylvester Stallone played this rock in a series of movies.

Rocky GILBOA Yes.

This museum is located in Cleveland, Ohio.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Yes.

There is a blue one and a red one in this pugilistic game.

Rock-em Sock-em.

Rock-em.

Sock-em robots.

Yes.

The B-52's sang about this crustacean lobster.

Rock Lobster.

Yes.

You can play this simple game with your hands in another player's hand.

Rock, paper, scissors.

Yes.

Elvis sang this song about a prison band wailing and the Jailhouse Rock.

Yes.

Fred Flintstone lives in this town.

Bedrock.

Bedrock.

Yes.

This comedian was slapped by Will Smith.

Chris Rock.

Yes.

This Islamic shrine is found in the Al-Aqsa mosque in the old city of Jerusalem.

A temple Rock Temple Rock.

It is the Dome of the Rock.

So nine out of ten on your 60 second round.

All right.

Thank you very much, Alternates.

You go and go ahead and grab your seats as we roll into round four.

Now, in round four, we're going to pick back up with our toss up questions.

We're going to double the point value to 20 points, and we will be deducting 20 points for incorrect responses.

So play smart and play strategic.

All right, Belmont and Merrimack, here we go.

This porous igneous rock is formed when lava cools rapidly, it is filled with air bubbles and can float in water.

Kishan on Merrimack.

Pumice Yes.

Teams, what was the last name of Charlie in the Roald.

Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Trey of Merrimack.

Buckets.

Yes.

The peony is the National Flower of Romania.

The Lotus Flowers is The National Flower of India and the Sunflowers is The National Flower of Ukraine.

In 1986, this became the national floral emblem of the United States.

It is the rose.

This artist created over 320 covers for the Saturday.

Evening Post, including his first cover in 1916 The Boy with the Carriage and his last cover in 1963 of John F Kennedy following his assassination.

Liam of Merrimack.

Norman Rockwell.

That is right.

Teams, where on the human body will you find crescent shaped lunar lay?

It is your fingernails and at the end of the game it is Merrimack moving on to round two by a score of 370 to 110.

Congratulations, Merrimack, on a great victory.

We'll see you in a couple of weeks when you take on the winners of our next game in the second round and Belmont.

I'm so happy that you were here.

For those of you who don't know at home, I'm a Belmont High School graduate myself, so I was rooting for you.

But tough loss today.

Still hope you had fun and we were glad to have you.

And we hope you had fun at home as well.

We do hope you join us next week when the Academy for Science and Design takes on the team from Manchester Central and if you watch the whole show, I do hope you learned something, because I did, too.

We'll see you next week.

Bye bye.

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

Additional funding provided by NEA New Hampshire, Safety Insurance, D.F.

Richard Energy, HRCU and viewers like you.

Thank you.

To provided by.

NEA New Hampshire, Safety Insurance, D.F.

Richard Energy, HRCU and viewers like you.

Thank you.