1991
This…is…Jeopardy…with Brad Rudy ’75
Michael S. Buchheit
joined Marcum LLP in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., as director of assurance services. Marcum LLP is one of the largest independent public accounting and advisory service firms in the nation. Mike and his wife, Kristin, live in Downingtown, Pa., with daughter Ashley and son Patrick.
John B. Bulger
was promoted to chief medical officer for Geisinger Health System, based in Danville, Pa. John has been employed with Geisinger since 1998, serving in the Department of Internal Medicine and most recently as the chief quality officer. He developed the Geisinger Medical Center’s hospitalist program.
Beno A. Thomas
was promoted to managing director at LiquidHub. Beno has been employed with LiquidHub for more than six years, building global delivery and operations.
1992
Mark your calendar for your 25-Year Reunion during Alumni Weekend on June 1-4, 2017. If you are interested in being on your reunion committee, contact Alumni Relations at alumni@juniata.edu or 1-877-JUNIATA.
Brad Rudy’s love of Jeopardy began during the Art Fleming era. That’s right; Alex Trebek wasn’t always the host. Brad’s enthusiastic personality and his varied interests (history, literature, music, theatre, and science) made him the ideal Jeopardy contestant. Thank you, Juniata! Q: Explain the testing process to become a contestant on Jeopardy. A: The process begins with an online test, which I took in 2013 and 2014. In April 2015, I was invited to the audition in Savannah, Ga. Each year, auditions are held in 12 cities across the country. More than 3,000 people are invited and roughly 300 people are selected. Luck plays a big factor as they select people for the auditions based on a lottery system. The audition includes a written test, a mock game, and an interview. In July 2015, I received the invitation to attend a taping. Q: What happens at the taping? A: Just because you’re invited to a taping doesn’t automatically mean you’ll become a contestant. All of the potential contestants meet each other and take part in two hours of practice games before the taping. During this time, everyone is sizing up the competition. They tape a week’s worth of games in one day. Again, they use a lottery system to select contestants. Q: What was it like meeting Alex Trebek? A: In preparation for the taping, you’re asked to provide five items you can talk to Alex about. One of my items was how I met my wife during a theatre production. Alex is a Lionel train fan and asked me about that instead. Alex is pretty standoffish and doesn’t mingle. Contestants don’t see him until two minutes prior to the game. He didn’t mess up many of the questions. He receives the list of questions for the entire day’s taping two hours in advance. He spends that time running through the questions and practicing pronunciations. Q: You were one of the lucky ones to be selected. How did you prepare? How did you do? A: Well, I prepared by brushing up on my weaker subjects, like geography. I was selected for the third taping and it really came down to the wire. By Final Jeopardy, I was $400 behind the leader, and of course the subject was geography-focused. Unfortunately, I came in third, winning $1,000. This didn’t come close to covering the cost of my family’s trip to Los Angeles. Q: How did you celebrate your episode airing? A: People don’t realize that contestants aren’t allowed to share how they did or how many games they played. My friends held a party for me on the air date (Dec. 2, 2015), but I couldn’t tell them that I came in third.
—Christina (Garman) Miller ’01, assistant director of alumni relations 2016 Spring-Summer |
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF BRAD RUDY ’75
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