Birmingham Teacher Advances on Jeopardy!

(UPDATED) BIRMINGHAM, MI — Birmingham teacher Susannah Nichols won her Jeopardy! Teachers Tournament opening round and will advance to the semifinals next week. The high school English teacher at The Roeper School finished with $19,000, easily outpacing second place finisher by some $7,000.

Nichols entered Final Jeopardy with a $2,000 lead over Holly. She answered the question correctly, which fell in the category of “place names.” Nichols added $5,000 by guessing “Dartmouth” to the clue, which read “a river in Devon that meets the English Channel, or a New Hampshire college.”

Nichols, a Ferndale resident, answered 11 of 12 questions correctly in the first round and led with $8,600. She didn’t do quite as well in round two, answering five of seven questions correctly. Nichols cleaned up on the “Shakespeare” category and added $5,400, including a $3000 Daily Double.

The two-week tournament started Monday and gives teachers across the country a chance to compete for $100,000 and a place in the next "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions. Each contestant also receives a $2,500 grant for classroom projects from Farmers Insurance.

Nichols plans to use her $2,500 to purchase works by African-American and American Indian writers. Trebek and Jeopardy are in their 33rd season of syndication.

Photo by Scott Daniel (Patch Staff)