Ardsley High School Alum on Jeopardy Tuesday Night

When Jeopardy, “America’s Favorite Quiz Show,” called asking for her son—Barbara Schuman thought it was a prank call.

“They said this is so-and-so from Jeopardy, and I said ‘yeah right, and I’m Lady Gaga,’” the Scarsdale resident, who resides within the Ardsley School District, told Patch. 

It had completely slipped her mind that her 21-year-old son, David Schuman, had auditioned for the show more than a year ago in New York City. Schuman was overjoyed for her son, as he applied to be on the show for years.

“It was like his dream come true,” said Barbara Schuman.

David Schuman, a 2009 graduate of Ardsley High School, had taken an annual online test to get on the show every year since he was in the tenth grade. He finally got a call in March 2011 asking him to audition for the show in New York City in May 2011 where he would compete against other potential contestants, buzzers and all. After the audition he was told that he may or may not be contacted within the next 18 months, but he got another phone call in June 2012 asking him to come to Los Angeles in July to film an episode the game show.

“I’ve been watching the show for years, and I’ve always wanted to be on it,” said David Schuman. “I think I was in shock. I’m still kind of in disbelief. It’s so surreal. I was so happy. I was like walking on air for the next two or three days.”

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Barbara Schuman and her husband, Jim Schuman, flew out to California to watch the taping along with four of her son’s friends who live in the area. The episode will air Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. on ABC. 

“It was nice to have their support and have them there,” said David Schuman. “Whenever I got a question right, I could see them out of the corner of my eyes pumping their fist. It made it a lot easier.” 

David Schuman—a senior at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, who is a double major in communications and economics—was extremely nervous the night before the taping, but that once he got into the studio he said everything came to him naturally and he had lots of fun.

He has made an open invitation to everyone he knows to join him for a viewing party Tuesday night, however he has to keep tight lipped about the outcome until after the show airs. 

“I’m getting pretty excited about it,” said David Schuman. “All of my friends are pumped up. None of them want to know [whether he won or not] it’s more exciting to watch it at the party. Regardless, going into this I had a mindset that win or lose, it doesn’t matter. Being there was really the dream.”