MOUNT VERNON — Twin Oak Elementary School fourth-grader Ireland Pejsa probably couldn’t have avoided being a fan of the long-running television game show “Jeopardy!,” according to her parents, Joseph and Jill Pejsa.
“She was doomed,” laughed her father. “We’re both big fans.”
“When “Jeopardy!” comes on, the world stops,” said her mother, describing how the family takes time to watch the show and plays along at home every evening.
Ten-year-old Ireland loves playing along, too, sometimes rivaling her parents.
“Sometimes I beat them,” Ireland said, but then confessed, “Sometimes I don’t get the questions at all.”
Jill loves playing the show so much, she once took a crack at auditioning for the show. Ireland was thus carrying on a family tradition when she took the online test to select finalists for the upcoming weeklong “Jeopardy!” Kids feature for 10- to 12-year-old players. But she also broke through to a new level when she was one of the 400 children selected from the 10,000 online contestants. The semifinalists were invited to attend one of four regional tryouts, from which 15 finalists will be selected to appear on the television show. The Pejsas opted to attend the one held in Chicago.
Ireland thinks she did pretty well. The semifinalists were put thrugh a mock game where they had to ring in with hand-held buzzers, as well as interviews with staffers. The finalists will be contacted by the show by March 28. March 29 is set aside as a travel day, with the taping of the entire week’s shows taking place on March 30.
Math, science and social studies are Ireland’s strongest subjects, in her opinion. She said questions about movies were probably the easiest ones she was hit with during the tryouts, while authors were the hardest.
Although Ireland said it takes her a little while to learn new things, others have described her as a “quick study,” with a remarkable recall.
“She retains memories from when she was 2 or 3,” Joseph said.
Ireland was one of four contestants from Ohio at the Chicago tryouts. While there,
she played against two 11-year-olds, and also made a friend from Nebraska. But
none of those things were her primary interest in visiting Chicago.
“I wanted to see where Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the Great
Chicago Fire,” she said, referring to the massive blaze which tore through
the heart of Chicago on Oct. 8, 1871. There has been much debate over the years
about whether one of Catherine O’Leary’s cows did in fact kick over
a lantern, starting the fire, but the disaster did indeed begin in O’Leary’s
barn, the site of which is now marked by a plaque, which the Pejsas searched
for and found.
Such curiosity is typical of Ireland, who also participates in various gifted
and talented programs at school under G/T teacher Holly Tetlow, as well as in
the Destination Imagination after-school group, which works on creative problem
solving, competing with other groups to go to state, national and international
competitions. When Ireland’s not busy learning, reading (sometimes including
her mother’s college textbooks) or working on the computer, she likes playing
softball.
It remains to be seen if she will make the final round, although she’ll
have two more years to compete if she doesn’t. If the producers pay attention
to details, they might even select Ireland just on the strength of her quirky
answer to the question about what she wanted to be when she grows up.
“I put down that I want to be a ufologist,” Ireland said.
