A longtime teacher at Montgomery County’s Takoma Park Middle School recently won more than $15,000 on “Jeopardy!”
“I will be a ‘Jeopardy!’ champion for the rest of my life,” Joe Evans, who teaches seventh grade global humanities, told WTOP News.
Evans entered “Final Jeopardy!” with $9,000, behind fellow competitor Aaron with $15,000 and defending champion Joyelle with $3,600.
The last category was literary characters, with the clue: “‘Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!’ says this man.” The answer was Ebenezer Scrooge.
Evans added $6,529 to his total, ending with $15,529.
How did the trivia whiz prepare for the big stage? He studied trivia and general knowledge, including attending bar trivia competitions in Silver Spring and parsing his local library for general information books, according to The MoCo Show.
He kept his win a secret from his students until the episode aired on Nov. 4, according to Capital News Service.
“Congratulations to Joe Evans, a Takoma Park Middle School teacher, on his big win on Jeopardy!” a Nov. 14 Facebook post by Montgomery County, MD Government read. “Montgomery County is proud of our incredible educators, in and out of the classroom!”
In a display of humility, Evans commented on the post to recognize Matthew Jacobs and Nulty Lynch, two other Montgomery County Public Schools educators who are “Jeopardy!” champions.
“I was extremely fortunate to get on the show on my first attempt, and the experience was amazing,” Evans wrote in an Oct. 22 Facebook post.
