New Hyde Park Memorial Wins First Round of "The Challenge"

The team competing in MSG Varsity’s “The Challenge” won the first round of the competition against H. Frank Carey High School, which aired on Dec. 4.

The team is represented by seniors Jennifer Lee, Adam Priest, Parth Trivedi (Captain), David Indictor and Geoffrey Lin (Alternative). Academic advisors are Christine Vosswinkel and Anna Caruso.

Captain of the team, Parth Trivedi who specializes in science, said while laughing, “We kind-of bombed the first two sessions, but we made a comeback. People give up in the face of defeat, but we just got angry. We really didn’t think we were going to win, but we were like ‘we might as well try to make it close, and we ended up winning.”

New Hyde Park Memorial beat H. Frank Carey by a score of 285 to 230.

“I kind-of just felt [like I was] there,” said David Indictor, whose specialty is in math and music. “I didn’t really feel anxious or anything…I kind-of cost my team in the second round but I made up for it later.”  

Vosswinkel said she brought an audience of 40 students to watch the whole experience of a team television show and that, “It really was a wonderful life experience,” for those students.

Team member Adam Priest specializes in humanities and helped out his team members during the competition when they were having trouble buzzing in at the right time.

“That is part of the whole competition; how you are able to buzz in and not get locked out,” Vosswinkel said.

The one girl on the team, Jennifer Lee whose specialty is in art and literature, said the first round of the competition was really fun.

“I wasn’t really nervous, I don’t think any of us were really nervous…it was pretty cool,” she said. 

Geoffrey Lin, the alternate on the team, did a good job of keeping academic advisors Vosswinkel and Caruso calm in the audience during the show.

“The first round I think they only lost by five points, it was the second round — the lightening round — that killed us,” Vosswinkel said. “We shouldn’t have picked the topic we picked, but that’s OK.”

It all worked out in the end with New Hyde Park taking the win and advancing to the second round, which the date for is still being determined by MSG Varsity.

“We’re really looking forward to Round Two,” Vosswinkel said. “[MSG Varsity] has been really professional and amazing with our communication and everything that they have offered as far is this opportunity has been for our students…It has been great, MSG Varsity has been very great.”

Check back with Patch for updates on the New Hyde Park Memorial team as they compete in “.”