This week on Granite State Challenge, the Cougars of ConVal Regional High School take on the Purple Panthers of Nashua South.

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, Jon Cannon.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Granite State Challenge.

We're making our way through the first round of competition, and we've got two new teams with us this week doing battle to see who advances to the second round.

Let's introduce them to you.

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

Hi, I'm Lukas, I'm a senior.

Hi, I'm Ben, I'm a junior.

Hi, I'm Remy, I'm a junior.

Hi, I'm Brian.

I'm also a junior.

The team is coached by social studies teacher Eric Bowman and Chris Hyder.

And that's the team from ConVal Regional High School.

And facing off against this.

Against them this week is the team from Nashua South.

Hi I'm Calvin I'm a senior.

Hi I'm Henry I'm a junior.

Hi I'm Eric, I'm a junior.

Hi I'm Thanasi, I'm a junior.

Their alternates are Caroline and Samarth and their coaches are social studies teachers Lex Duval and English teacher Kelly Thornhill.

And they are the Purple Panthers of Nashua South.

So those are our two teams.

But we do have one more introduction.

And that is of course our judge on the Ann cam Ann Boulanger.

All right.

Teams introductions are out of the way.

Go ahead and grab those buzzers because we're going to play some Granite State Challenge.

As you know we play in four rounds and in round one we do ten point tossup questions.

So ConVal and Nashua South, good luck.

Here we go.

Launched in 1957, this was the first human made object to orbit the Earth and launched the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Ben of ConVal.

Sputnik.

Correct.

This 1862 act allowed individuals to claim 160 acres of public land that they could keep if they lived on it, and cultivate it for five years.

Henry of Nashua South.

Homestead Act.

That is correct.

All right, teams, an early math question for you got pencil and paper if you want it.

Change the improper fraction 17/4 into a mixed number.

Calvin of Nashua South.

Four and one fourth.

That is right.

While Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, this man who ran with him on the National Union Party ticket in 1864 was a Southern Democrat from Tennessee.

Eric of Nashua, South.

Andrew Johnson.

Andrew Johnson's right.

The flag of this state features eight stars on a field of blue, and was designed by 14 year old Benny Benson in 1927.

Remy of ConVal.

Alaska.

That is right.

This future U.S. president had a PhD in history and political science from Johns Hopkins University, and served as the president of Princeton University.

Lukas of ConVal.

Woodrow Wilson.

He is the one Team's, You'll find a moose on the flag of this New England state.

Lukas of ConVal.

Maine.

Yes.

The word cereal comes from the name of this Roman goddess of agriculture.

Thanasi of Nashua South.

Ceres.

Yes.

Nellie Tayloe Ross, who served as the 14th Governor of Wyoming from 1925 to 1927, also served as the 28th and first female director of this Treasury Bureau that makes change.

Calvin of Nashua South.

The Federal Reserve.

Sorry.

No.

ConVal?

Lukas.

The mint.

The mint is right.

The gas nitrous oxide, sometimes used in medical procedures, is also known by this much sillier name.

Ben of ConVal.

Laughing gas.

That's right.

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

You are looking at a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln created by sculptor Augustus St. Gauden, who worked from his studio in what is now a national historical park located in this New Hampshire town.

Eric of Nashua South.

Exeter.

Sorry, no.

It is in Cornish.

An aircraft traveling faster than 1,125 feet per second might cause one of these.

Calvin of Nashua South.

Sonic boom.

Yes.

British singer and actor Cynthia Erivo, who played Elphaba in the 2024 movie Wicked, was awarded a Tony in 2016 for Best Actress in a musical for her portrayal of Celie in this musical based on a novel by Alice Walker.

Ben of ConVal.

The Color Purple.

Yes.

This could be the brightest star in the sky, the first name of a character in Harry Potter or a satellite radio service.

Henry of Nashua South.

Sirius.

Yes.

The Christ the Redeemer statue created by French Polish sculptor Paul Landowski is 98 feet high and has stood with arms outstretched above this city since 1931.

Ben of ConVal.

Rio de Janeiro.

That is right.

All right, teams, next question is a video question.

So take a look at your monitor for the next question.

Hi, I'm David Scanlan, New Hampshire secretary of state.

And I have a New Hampshire civics question for you.

The New Hampshire General Court is the second largest legislative body in the United States after the US Congress.

How many members are in the New Hampshire General Court?

Calvin of Nashua South.

Seven.

Sorry, no.

ConVal.

That's a tough one.

424 lawmakers in the New Hampshire General Court.

All right teams.

The Canadian rapper Drake and this rapper have been in a feud with each other since at least March of 2024, following the release of the song Like That.

Ben of ConVal.

Kendrick Lamar.

Yes.

Teams.

What 1848 work by Frederick Engels and Karl Marx, published in 1848, maintained that capitalism is defined by the exploitation of the working class.

Calvin of Nashua South.

The Communist Manifesto.

Yes.

In what 1993 novel by Lois Lowry will you find 12 year old Jonas, a resident of the community, which is presented as a utopian society but turns out to be dystopian?

Ben of ConVal.

The Fault in Our Stars.

Sorry.

No.

Nashua South.

Henry.

The Giver.

The Giver is the correct response.

And now for something completely different.

This open source computer programing language is named after a British comedy and not a snake.

Calvin of Nashua South.

Python.

That's right.

If you want to make guacamole, you are going to need some of this fruit, sometimes called the alligator pear.

Lukas of ConVal.

The avocado.

That is right.

This social media network created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams in 2012 became X in 2023.

Ben of ConVal.

Twitter.

Yes.

Some people might get nauseous when traveling on a boat.

Spell nauseous.

Calvin of Nashua South.

n a u s e o u s. Congratulations.

You got it right.

The next question, take a look at your monitor.

You are looking at a black footed ferret.

It was declared extinct in 1979, but a wild population was discovered in Wyoming in 1981 and is the basis for a captive breeding program.

The decline of the species is attributed to habitat loss, and the decline in the population of this large, ground dwelling rodent, which makes up 90% of the black footed ferret's diet.

Thanasi of Nashua South.

Prairie dog.

That is right.

And that ends the round.

Look at this folks.

We've got a good game going with 110 points each.

We've got a tie at the end of round one.

All right.

That's just how we like it here on Granite State Challenge.

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

And to get to know our players just a little bit.

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

Con Val is located in the town of Peterborough, but it serves what we might call the nine towns, including Peterborough and eight others.

And we're going to start down here at the end with Brian and, Brian, it says here that you are an artist.

What type of arts do you like to do?

Well, I like to do portraits and like, I've been, like, exploring, like anatomy and like, all the structures work.

And so a good focus on the human form then.

Yeah, I, I even took, like, a anatomy and physiology class just, just to help with the art.

Fantastic.

All right, next up is Remy, who, like me, is a big fan of geography.

So it says here, you competed in a geography competition.

Tell us.

Yeah.

So in middle school, I competed in a geography actually both in the fifth and sixth grade.

Fifth grade, I got third place in my school, sixth grade, I got first place.

And then did you get to go to the state competition?

Unfortunately, no, because Covid 19 pandemic and, the competition shut down.

Well, you would have won, though, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

All right, next up on the team is, Ben.

And, you know, it's been a political season recently, and impressions are high form of comedy.

It says here you got a pretty spot on impression of one of our political leaders.

I do.

Yeah.

Why don't you share it with us?

I will, all right, I said, Granite State Challenge is one of the greatest television programs in American history.

A lot of people think that it is just a knockoff jeopardy!

But it is quite different in its own right.

Wow.

Well done.

That's excellent.

That's very good.

All right.

Nice job, Ben.

All right, we'll take the endorsement.

And finally, Lukas.

Captain, you've been on the show before, and we've talked a little bit about your acting career.

Tell us about one of your most recent roles.

So I just played, well, back in the spring.

I played William Barr from the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, whose main bit in the show is that when he goes up to spell a word, he will spell out the word with his foot on the ground.

So the audience gets to see him sort of spelling it out on the ground.

How's how's the character do in the show?

He ends up placing first.

Well, there you go.

So well done with the magic foot.

All right, that's Lukas, and this is the team from ConVal Regional High School.

All right.

Turning it over to their opponents this week, we have the team from Nashua South.

Nashua South is one of two high schools in Nashua area.

And we'll start down at the end here with Thanasi.

And you too got to be part of an academic competition recently.

Tell us about it.

I did so back in November.

I was part of a team, that went down to Connecticut to compete in a regional tournament for the Hellenic History Tournament, where we answered questions about Greek history from, you know, prehistoric Greece all the way up to very recently in like to the 90s and early 2000.

And we won.

And we'll be going down to Florida for the national competition sometime this summer.

All right.

Well, good luck in that competition.

I hope you win.

All right, next up we have Eric, who does two sports.

One is track, which we're all familiar with, but the other one is unified basketball.

Tell us what that is.

So unified basketball is like this.

It's like this, sport for, like, people who are like, like, like maybe like, disabled to, like, cognitive disabled.

So there's mentors and athletes.

I'm a mentor, I guide the athletes to what their goal is.

On the court, I help the athletes by, like, telling them which side to score on because, like, sometimes, like, the athletes don't really know.

So.

So you're working with these kids to help them be successful scoring a basket, scoring a goal if it were soccer.

Fantastic.

I love unified sports.

I hope all schools get out there and put together a unified team.

It's fantastic.

Thank you Eric.

Next up is Henry, who, is well ahead of my goal of visiting as many national parks as you can.

How many of you visited?

I've been to 19.

19 national parks.

That's no easy feat.

Do you have a favorite?

My favorite is probably Grand Teton.

The mountains are just super cool, and there's so much wildlife there.

That's out in Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

What's the next national park on your list?

I'm really hoping to go to Glacier in Montana.

All right, do some.

You're going to go in the winter or the summertime?

Probably the summer.

Probably the summer.

That's probably is a good choice, right.

All right.

Well, good luck on that.

And lastly, the team captain, Calvin, also been on the show before.

But this season, you prepped in a new way.

How did you prep for this season?

So, Jon, I prepped for this season by watching the entirety of Granite State Challenge seasons 41 and 42.

Okay.

Wow.

That's that's a lot of Jon Cannon coming at you.

So apologies for that.

What did you learn?

Like, what did you notice, what recommendation would you give to a team?

I'd say to just practice coordination.

I think it's a game of playing against other teams as much as it is a game of knowing your own, and that it's never too late to turn things around.

All right, well, we will see with a tie game what happens as we get closer to the end of the game.

That's Calvin and that is the team from Nashua South.

All right teams we're going to roll into round two now which is our three strikes and you're out round.

So in this round each team gets ten questions and we go player by player down the line each player gets one question.

If you don't know the answer you can pass to your teammate next to you.

Each team has three passes.

And we keep going until all ten questions are asked or until three strikes and you're out.

Just a reminder that the previous question gives a clue to what might be the inspiration for the next question.

Okay, so ConVal we do this alphabetically we'll start with you, Lukas.

This is your question.

In 1845, newspaper editor John O'Sullivan coined this term that promoted the belief that the United States should expand westward.

Manifest Destiny.

Correct.

Ben.

Beyonce Knowles wrote this song after Destiny's Child was ridiculed for having heavy turnover, and compared the group to a popular competition show where people were kicked out of the group.

Halo?

Nope.

It is Survivor.

Remy.

The band Survivor recorded this as the theme song for the movie Rocky.

Eye of the Tiger.

Correct.

Brian.

Tiger Woods won his first Masters in 1997.

Winners of the Masters are awarded a jacket that is this color.

It is green, a green jacket.

Lukas, back to you.

The Green Lantern was played by this actor who also plays Deadpool in the Deadpool franchise.

Ryan Reynolds.

Yes.

Ben, Burt Reynolds was box office gold in the 70s and 80s, starring in movies like Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, and The Longest Yard.

He also was the voice of the murdered German Shepherd Charlie B Barkin in this 1989 animated film for kids.

All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Correct.

Remy, Smokey Bear became the spokesbear for this U.S. government agency in 1944.

Pass.

Pass to Brian.

Is it the, Ran out of time.

It is the U.S. Forest Service, and that is three strikes and the end of your round.

All right, Nashua South, we turn our attention to you.

Same procedure.

Calvin, we start with you.

This is your question.

Singer Fats Domino found his thrill here in a song he recorded in 1956.

Blueberry Hill.

Yes.

Henry, Robert McCloskey's book Blueberries for Sal, published in 1948, tells the story of Sal and a bear cub who are hunting for blueberries with their mothers in this state.

Maine.

Maine is correct.

Eric, the official soft drink of Maine is this carbonated beverage that is flavored with gentian root extract.

Pass.

Thanasi.

Moxie.

Moxie is right.

Calvin.

Back to you.

Moxie is a 2021 film based on a 2017 novel by Jennifer Mathieu, about a teenager who started a feminist zine in her school.

The film was directed by Amy Poehler, who starred as Leslie Knope in this hit comedy series.

I'm going to pass it.

Pass to Henry.

Parks and Rec That is right.

Parks and Recreation.

Moving on to Eric.

The series South Park created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, follows the lives of friends Kyle, Cartman, Stan, and this character who seems to be killed in every episode.

Kenny.

Kenny is right.

Thanasi.

This song by Kenny Rogers states that you need to know when to hold them, and also know when to fold them.

That is The Gambler.

Calvin to you.

Procter and Gamble was founded in 1837 by candle maker William Proctor, and soap maker James Gamble.

One of the products created by the company was this brand of soap that floats.

Dove.

It is Ivory soap that floats.

Henry to you.

If someone asks you to tickle the ivories, what are they asking you to do?

Brush your teeth?

Sorry.

No.

They're asking you to play the piano.

And that is your third strike and ends the round.

All right, so after round two, still a tight match, but Nashua South with a tiny lead.

I'd like to invite the alternates to come up and join their teams for round three.

In round three, we do our 60 second round.

Each team gets ten questions in a category.

We'll give you ten points for each correct response and a bonus of ten if you get them all correct.

And we will start with ConVal as the team trailing.

And Lukas, you can talk to your team and work as a team as you decide between these three categories.

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, Mega Words and State Songs.

We're going to take Mega Words.

All right, Mega Words it is.

The answers to the following will begin with the letters mega in that order.

So Lukas, again you can talk to your team, but I will take your answer as the team answer.

60 seconds.

Start the clock.

Rapper and singer of the song Hot Girl Summer, Megan Thee Stallion.

Yes, giant mackerel shark that lived millions of years ago.

Megalodon.

Yes.

If you don't win the Powerball, you might win this.

Mega millions.

Yes, 1 million units of digital information.

A megabyte.

Yes.

Someone who is obsessed with their own power.

Megalomaniac.

Yep.

1 million units of this measure of sound frequency.

Mega decibel.

It is megahertz Something you might use so a crowd can hear you speak.

a megaphone.

Yes, Walmart, target and Ikea can be called this.

Mega Marts.

Mega stores but think about that Ann.

A 2010 animated movie starring Will Ferrell.

Megamind.

Yes.

And in zoology, large animals are called this.

Mega organisms.

It is megafauna.

And that's the end of the round.

Over on the Ann cam.

7 out of 10 on your 60 second round.

Oh 8 out 10.

Even better.

Nice job ConVal.

All right, Nashua South.

You're going to have to follow that up with either Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf or State Songs.

We're going to go with State Songs.

State Songs.

Okay, here we go.

The answers to the following will be related to songs with the name of a state in the title.

So each one of these answers is a song title.

Okay, so Calvin, take your answer as the team answer.

60 seconds.

Start the clock.

None of the members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd are from the state.

Alabama.

We need the name of the song.

Sweet Home Alabama.

Yes, Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg cover.

California Girls.

Yes, Ray Charles made this.

Georgia on My Mind.

Yes.

In 1951, Patti Page sang this song about dancing with her Darling.

Nope.

Skip.

Okay, it's Tennessee Waltz.

The winds come sweeping down the plains in this Broadway song.

Oklahoma.

Yes.

You might not want to book a room in this place from a 1977 Eagle song.

Hotel California.

Yes, doctor John F Holmes wrote the words to this state song of the Granite State in 1926.

Skip.

It is Old New Hampshire.

This song by the Bee Gees about a New England state is not.

Massachusetts.

Yes, singer James Taylor sings about the sunshine.

North Carolina.

We need the name of the song.

Carolina on My Mind.

It is Carolina in My Mind.

This song by George Strait is all about former wives and where they live.

Georgia.

It is All My Ex's Live in Texas.

We're going to give you credit for the Carolina on My Mind and on the Ann cam at the end of their round.

Seven out of ten.

Thank you alternates.

You can go ahead and take your seats as we get ready for round four.

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

But we're going to double the point value to 20 points.

So 20 point tossup questions.

But we will be deducting 20 points for incorrect responses.

So a lot can change and ConVal, Nashua South, it's a close game.

Good luck to both teams and let's go.

If you are using the formula C = 2 Pi R what is the C you are trying to calculate?

Calvin of Nashua South.

Circumference of a circle.

Yes.

Until she was surpassed by Khaby Lane, this dancer was the most followed content creator on TikTok.

Lukas of ConVal.

Charli D'Amelio.

Yes, fulgurites are natural tubes of fuzed silica that form when this strikes sand.

Calvin of Nashua South.

Lightning.

Yes.

Teams.

What is the name of the narrator of the Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

Ben of ConVal.

Scout.

Scout is right.

This director and producer was a master of the horror genre.

He wrote and directed the first Nightmare on Elm Street film and directed films like People Under the Stairs and The Hills Have Eyes.

Didn't want to take a shot on Wes Craven.

Our next question is our Unitil power question.

It's double the points.

So a 40 point toss up coming to you on your monitors.

Take a look.

In the novel 1984, this author wrote, The object of power is power.

Calvin of Nashua, South.

George Orwell.

Correct criminal proceedings that tried high ranking Nazi officials for war crimes and for invading sovereign countries were held in this German city from November 1945 to October 1946.

Lukas of ConVal.

Nuremberg.

That is right.

Dixville Notch in Coos County and Hart's Location in Carroll County have taken advantage of a state law that allows towns with a population of under 100 residents to do this at midnight.

Remy of ConVal.

Vote.

Vote is right.

Once known as Idlewild Airport, this airport in Queens, New York was renamed this in 1963.

Ben of ConVal.

JFK JFK is right.

That sound ends the game and with a very late correct response.

ConVal congratulations, is moving on to the next round.

What a match.

What a match teams.

Congratulations ConVal on your victory.

We'll see you in round two.

And Nashua South, tough loss.

Close at the end.

But I was glad to have you here and we hope you had fun being here.

And we hope you had fun at home as well with this barnburner of a match.

And we do hope you tune in next week when the teams from Merrimack High School and Winnisquam High School face off.

That'll do it for us this week on Granite State Challenge.

Hope you had fun and we hope you learned a lot because I did as well.

And 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.