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Hi-Q Heaven
Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year.
That's because I got to sit in a packed ballroom at the Drexelbrook and hear lots of people say nice things about the newspaper.
The occasion was the annual Partners in Education dinner put on by the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union and the Foundation of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce.
The dinner fetes those kids who participate in the annual Hi-Q scholastic quiz competition. It also includes the introduction of the All-Delco Hi-Q team. It's patterned after the Daily Times' All-Delco athletic teams. Each team nominates one member as their "All-Delco" candidate.
It gives the newspaper the opportunity to balance the playing field a bit between how we cover student athletes and those whose accomplishments focus more on the classroom.
It also affords me the opportunity to bask in some well-wishes. That's why I never turn down the invitation.
Last Sunday we featured the All-Delco Hi-Q members on our front page. I explained to the packed ballroom the decision-making process that goes into that, of our struggle in how we often portray kids, and how it's important to offer another image of young people than the one that so often graces the pages of the newspaper: Kids getting in trouble.
I referred to it as my own version of "Jeopardy."
That's because the guest speaker for the evening was none other than Ken Jennings, the guy who captured the imagination of the nation -- and admittedly make geekdom cool -- by running off a streak of 50-some wins on the popular quiz show.
Jennings was among kindred spirits, and he assured the kids there was nothing trivial about their pursuit of knowledge.
He didn't say it, but he probably could have added that there's nothing trivial about the way their accomplishments should be noted in their local newspaper.
In fact, I'll say it for him.
Well done, kids.
That's because I got to sit in a packed ballroom at the Drexelbrook and hear lots of people say nice things about the newspaper.
The occasion was the annual Partners in Education dinner put on by the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union and the Foundation of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce.
The dinner fetes those kids who participate in the annual Hi-Q scholastic quiz competition. It also includes the introduction of the All-Delco Hi-Q team. It's patterned after the Daily Times' All-Delco athletic teams. Each team nominates one member as their "All-Delco" candidate.
It gives the newspaper the opportunity to balance the playing field a bit between how we cover student athletes and those whose accomplishments focus more on the classroom.
It also affords me the opportunity to bask in some well-wishes. That's why I never turn down the invitation.
Last Sunday we featured the All-Delco Hi-Q members on our front page. I explained to the packed ballroom the decision-making process that goes into that, of our struggle in how we often portray kids, and how it's important to offer another image of young people than the one that so often graces the pages of the newspaper: Kids getting in trouble.
I referred to it as my own version of "Jeopardy."
That's because the guest speaker for the evening was none other than Ken Jennings, the guy who captured the imagination of the nation -- and admittedly make geekdom cool -- by running off a streak of 50-some wins on the popular quiz show.
Jennings was among kindred spirits, and he assured the kids there was nothing trivial about their pursuit of knowledge.
He didn't say it, but he probably could have added that there's nothing trivial about the way their accomplishments should be noted in their local newspaper.
In fact, I'll say it for him.
Well done, kids.
posted by Heron's Nest at
6:03 AM
1 Comments:
Phil-
I was the captain of the Haverford Scott's Hi-Q team back in 1981, when we won the National championship (against champions from two other states where Scott's sponsored the contests). We even got on TV before a Philly's game and on the local cable.
As a kid, it was a fun experience and unusual to be getting some attention for a non-sport competition. Our final district match was much tougher than the "National" competition. We were against Swarthmore and Garnet Valley in the third match of three for the championship, and trailing Swarthmore from the previous two matches at the other two schools. We were the home team and dreading winning the match but explaining to our schoolmates how we failed to win the trophy, and our teacher/coach had been out sick all week.
She surprised us by coming in sick to watch us.
We managed to take a strong lead, but it came down to the final question. Swarthmore buzzed in ahead of us on an Art History question. However, they jumped the gun before the question was finished being asked, and blew a 50-50 chance anticipating the final portion of the question. We won and our friends ran up on stage to hug/congratulate us amid cheers/clapping from the audience.
It was my personal high school "movie" moment and a sweet come-from-behind victory that gave me confidence in later years when I had to dig deep and count on my teammates to each do their part.
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