Irvine Pakistani Parents Association Hosts First-Ever Kids Jeopardy Tournament

The Irvine Pakistani Parents Association hosted the first-ever “IPPA Kids Jeopardy Tournament” on Sunday, August 31,2014 at Rancho Middle School in Irvine. The tournament was designed for 4 th– 8 th graders. Seventeen students qualified for the early rounds, and were separated by age/grade for each heat.

With unique question categories such as Number Detective, Mind Your Language, Way Back When, Irvine/Pak Wiki, Capitol Hill, Where’s That, Hollywood and Scrabble, the kids were tested on a number of subjects, including, but not limited to, Mathematics, English, Geography, History, and Pop Culture.

The first heat featured the youngest contestants - the fourth graders. Ali Zohair showed his propensity for math, answering all questions correctly. Aneeqa Asif and Anum Ghulamali, the other fourth graders kept pace through their knowledge of landmarks and movies. However, with two crucial responses in the English category, Ali Zohair managed to maintain his lead over the girls and move on to the finals.

In the second heat, fifth grader and math whiz Rayaan Ali, jumped to an early lead, eating up the math questions with ease. But it was Adam Aziz, who swept the English and Pop Culture questions, taking an insurmountable lead. Zain Mirza and Daniel Hayat, the other two fifth graders, battled hard till the end.

The third heat was between a combination office fifth and sixth graders – and was easily the toughest round in terms of difficulty of questions and competition. The heat quickly became a two-horse race as sixth graders Raed Siddiqi and Armaan Khan distanced themselves from fifth graders Aafiyah Chohan, Essah Khoso and sixth grader Myra Tahir. The battle between Raed and Armaan went down to the very last question – and after an audience/judges confirmation, Raed was given the points putting him through to the final, ahead of Armaan.

The last heat showcased the oldest kids, with a mixture of sixth, seventh and eighth graders. Aadil Rehan the only seventh grader, got off to a quick start buzzing through the lower value questions. But Zack Barry, the oldest of the group (eighth grade) battled back correctly responding to some high value questions. Sixth graders, Dua Shoaib, who recently medaled as a young inventor, and Zahra Ghulamali, gave the boys a tough time with some timely responses, but in the end Aadil managed to hold on to his slim lead and make it to the final.

The final turned out to be a battle between the two older boys, Raed and Aadil. While the two youngsters, Adam and Ali Zohair, tried hard, the older boys were just a fraction too quick on the buzzer. Going into final jeopardy, Aadil held a 700-point lead over Raed. The final jeopardy question was on social media, and with both boys providing the correct response, it came down to the wager – Aadil bet 700, taking him to 1,400 over, and with Raed betting only 1,000, Aadil was the first IPPA Kids Jeopardy champion by just 400 points!

Congratulations to Aadil and all the other contestants who participated. We would also like to thank the following sponsors and volunteers who donated prizes and time to help make this tournament a success:

Sponsors and Donations

· Ahmed and Tashfeen Ghulamali

· Nasir Khoso

· Talat Batla

· Anila Ali for State Assembly 2016

· Yogurtland at Irvine Market Place(like on Facebook)

Volunteers

· Sara Ali

· Parishae Adnan