The Somerville High School Trivia Team at the Super Sunday tryout Nov. 3. Team members take a break for a playful pose. Pictured (from left) are Celine Lessard-Brandt, John Iacovino, Miles Bain, RJ Bingham and Graham Lessard-Brandt holding fellow team member Julian Layton.

By Somerville Times Staff

The Somerville High School’s Trivia Team will return to WGBH High School Quiz Show later this month as one of the top 16 academic teams in Massachusetts. Somerville will face off against Nantucket High School in a four-on-four televised trivia competition, which tapes at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, and is scheduled to air at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 8 (with a  repeat at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 9).

The team is composed of seniors Miles Bain and Celine Lessard-Brandt, both of whom return for a third season on Quiz Show. Juniors John Iacovino and Graham Lessard-Brandt make up the rest of the team. Iacovino was part of the Quiz Show team last season, too, and Graham was an alternate. Senior RJ Bingham and junior Julian Layton are the team’s two alternates.

The team is coached by Ted Blake, a six-year social studies teacher at SHS. Blake founded the team four years ago and does most of the recruiting for it from his AP U.S. history class.  All six team members are Blake’s former “APUSH” students, though any SHS student is allowed and invited to join the Trivia Club. The club consists of about 15 members and also competes in the North Shore College Bowl, a monthly trivia competition against other schools. Somerville finished second in that league last year.

Somerville qualified for Quiz Show at the “Super Sunday” open tryout Nov. 3.  Somerville beat out over 90 other schools in a 100-question verbal trivia test to earn one of the 16 spots on the show. This was Somerville’s fourth year attending Super Sunday and its third year qualifying for the show.

This is the fifth season of High School Quiz Show, and Somerville’s third straight appearance on the program.  Last season, Somerville was defeated by Lincoln-Sudbury High School. The show is open to all Massachusetts public schools. The 16 schools compete in a single-elimination tournament, with the winning team facing off against the winner of the “Granite State Challenge,” New Hampshire’s version of the show.

If Somerville wins its first-round match against Nantucket, it will return to WGBH the following weekend, Feb. 1, to play the winner of the matchup between Sharon and Hingham.

Besides those four schools, the other teams to qualify were Advanced Math and Science Academy, Mystic Valley, Dover-Sherborn, Lexington, Chelmsford, Rockport, Westford Academy, Newton North, Longmeadow, Acton-Boxborough, Dartmouth and Arlington.

Want to be in the Quiz Show audience?

Admission to the taping of the show is free, as is parking at WGBH.  Those interested can reserve seats at www.highschoolquizshow.org.  SHS students can contact Coach Ted Blake and take the school’s fan bus to the match that Saturday afternoon.

The show will be taped at the Calderwood Studio at WGBH, One Guest St.  The garage is adjacent to One Guest St. WGBH visitor parking is located on the fourth and fifth floor.

Guests, who must be 7 or older, will be seated in the studio and adjacent theater according to the production needs. If you are seated in the studio as an audience participant, you will be expected to remain seated for the duration of the taping, which will last approximately one hour without an intermission. If for any reason you may be unable to remain in the studio for the duration of the taping, request to be seated in the theater.

The attire for the taping is casual. Clothing featuring school names and logos, or town names and logos is encouraged. However, as a public television station, WGBH needs to be sensitive to anything that could be considered advertising, therefore clothing with prominent commercial logos or slogans will not be permitted in the studio.

Fans are encouraged to exhibit school and community pride with banners and signs. High School Quiz Show programs are taped in advance of their broadcast. It is in the best interest of the program to keep the results private until they are broadcast. By entering the studio or theater, audience members agree to the confidentiality agreement posted at the entrance of those spaces.