Although few people would describe a competition in which they "got destroyed on national television" as a highlight of their college careers, fourth-year College student Kadeem Cooper remembers the experience fondly.\n"I was an instant celebrity," he said of his recent experience on the game show "Jeopardy!"\n"People were calling me from high school that I hadn't talked to in years," Cooper said. "Random alumni were e-mailing me [and] people all over Grounds were showing me a lot of support."\nAs one of only 15 students selected to participate in "Jeopardy!'s" 2009 College Championship games, Cooper made his television debut the evening of May 5, when he competed against then-seniors Scott Menke of Johns Hopkins University and Courtney Trezise of Michigan State University.\nBacked by the positive reinforcement of family, friends and complete strangers - who had offered their support via e-mail and Facebook posts - Cooper made it through a lengthy audition process, which he began on a whim last August.\n"It was the first or second weekend of school, and I was checking to make sure the TV worked," Cooper said. "I was flipping through the channels and a commercial came on for the show. It said something like, 'Take the online test this week.' I had my computer on. I was like, 'Online test? Let's do it.'"\nCooper, who was a resident adviser for the first-year students of Maupin dormitory last year, encouraged his residents to take the test as well.\n"It was like 50 questions ... and probably took about nine minutes to do," Cooper said. "You got an e-mail after [taking] the test saying that you may or may not be invited to the regional test."\nTo his surprise, Cooper received an invitation to Washington D.C. at the beginning of November for a second round of auditions. The following Saturday morning, Cooper played in a mock "Jeopardy!" competition with other potential contestants.\n"It was kind of like a cook-off," he said. "You take a test and then the producers call you up three by three to answer questions."\nAlthough he would not find out if he had made it to the quarterfinal round for several more months, Cooper wrote on his "Jeopardy!" contestant blog that he left the audition feeling upbeat. "For some reason, I felt confident as we drove back home that I was going to be on the show."\nHis intuition proved correct, as he received a call in March from a Sony representative, who told Cooper that the show would fly him to Los Angeles, where he would spend a week taping episodes and doing interviews. The entire competition, he was told, would be filmed in just two days, with contestants playing five games per day.\nWhen Cooper asked what kind of material the show would cover, the representative said only "to study general knowledge."\n"A lot of people think they give you materials to study from," Cooper said. "They don't."\nTo make matters more difficult, Cooper had to study for "Jeopardy!" and deal with end-of-term papers and final exams at the same time.\n"In retrospect, I wish I had studied more," he said. "I just had so much homework to do."\nInevitably, Cooper said he had to cross his fingers and just hope for several questions about politics, his major at the University. The majority of his studying came from practice sessions with his friends and residents and from tests on the trivia Web site, sporcle.com.\nDespite the minimal preparation, when Cooper took to the stage in a navy blue Virginia sweatshirt and a pair of khaki slacks, he felt secure in his ability to take on the competitors from Johns Hopkins and Michigan State.\nOnce the game began, though, there was just one problem, he said.\n"The kid from Johns Hopkins destroyed us," Cooper joked. "Even when I knew the answer, I couldn't buzz in quicker than him."\nScott Menke answered 32 of 36 clues correctly and rang in first on all three "daily doubles" - problems that allow the contestant to select how much money he can win or lose by getting it right. He earned $25,199, more than twice Cooper and Trezise's individual scores.\n"I told [Cooper] that the student from Johns Hopkins must have had crazy glue on his hands," Associate Dean of Students Aaron Laushway said.\nLaushway, one of many people to contact Cooper after the show aired, said, "We always like to recognize students when they accomplish great things."\nThe University, Laushway added, "is composed of bright, articulate and energetic people, and [Cooper] is one of our best examples of that."\nAlthough Cooper said he was disappointed after the defeat, he never lost his spirit. He walked away from the competition with what he considers the "experience of a lifetime."\n"Sure, I was bummed," he said. "At the same time, though, I was on 'Jeopardy!' and I won $5,000"
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