Saratoga High Grad on Jeopardy

Alright toga on the map yet again. Saratoga High School grad Ian Pickus is going to be on Jeopardy, the episode is running this Friday at 7:30.

From the Saratogian:
Rensselaer resident and 2003 Saratoga Springs High School graduate Ian Pickus has realized a lifelong dream: he will appear as a contestant on the game show Jeopardy! this week.

Pickus’s run on the program will premiere locally at 7:30 p.m. Friday on WTEN, and though he’s sworn to secrecy about the results, he did say that it was something that he spent years of his life preparing for.

A diehard fan of the program, Pickus took the online Jeopardy! contestant test five times, and only finally received a call for an in-person interview last year. Before that, he said he would spend hours studying various subjects that appear often on the show, like opera, ballet, Greek mythology and explorers, narrow categories with a wide array of possible answers.

All that preparation has paid off, and even though the experience is now behind him, Pickus said he’ll still remain an avid fan of the show.

“Jeopardy! is one of the few (television) institutions left that demands something from its viewers,” he said. “There’s something very pure about being a curious human who likes learning facts about the world. That doesn’t go away after an experience like this.”

Pickus's mother, Rhoda, is the HR manager at The Saratogian. She said her son “is always passionate and diligent when he commits to a goal or objective.  Being a contestant on Jeopardy was a long-term dream, which he was fortunate to realize.”

This is some serious shit. I always thought that people who get on Jeopardy are some close-knit club of people that just sit in libraries and read encyclopedia's and shit. All I know is I'll be watching on Friday and cheering my ass off for Ian. Do it up, represent for Saratoga.