SOE alumnus wins Jeopardy Teachers Tournament
Alumnus Ben Henri (BMus ’06, TeachCert ’06) has won Jeopardy’s 2020 Teachers Tournament. “What a match! Well done, congratulations,” said host Alex Trebex to Henri after his win. Henri wore a Block M lapel pin during the entirety of the competition.
“I’m elated. It’s always been a life dream to be on the show, and with all of these other teachers, it’s been rewarding,” said Henri, who won the $100,000 prize and will be invited to the next Jeopardy Tournament of Champions.
Going into “Final Jeopardy,” Henri had a slight lead over Meggie Kwait, a 5th and 6th grade humanities teacher from New York The category was "18th Century Novels," and the clue was as follows: "The title character of this 1726 novel reaches 4 different lands as a result of a shipwreck, a storm at sea, pirates, and a mutiny."
Henri recalled reading Gulliver’s Travels in high school and watched the Ted Danson miniseries, he said in a statement, and his was the correct answer. "I also explained it to my quiz bowl students earlier in the school year because it comes up regularly in competition,” he said. “I hope I made my school proud.”
Henri teaches vocal music to students in grades 7 through 12 at Grosse Pointe North and Parcells Middle School. He is from St. Clair Shores, MI. This week's episodes of Jeopardy were taped in early February, before production was stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic.