To “Quiz Kids” host Brad Friedman, seniors Shannon Galvin, Vijay Menon and Jeremy Pham are not only competent contestants for the Bay Area trivia tournament after defeating Fremont High 500-280 on Jan. 16, but also proud owners of unique collections. In their interviews, each of the seniors impressed the host with tall tales of their extensive collections—Menon’s road signs, Galvin’s Hot Wheels and Pham’s comic books.

“We don’t really,” said Menon. “We just made it up.”

Despite a strong victory against Fremont, the team faces much uncertainty regarding their advancement to the next round. In the Bay Area “Quiz Kids” tournament, after each participating team plays two games, the top eight of the 32 teams are allowed to continue to the third round as determined by the sum of points accumulated in the first and second match.
Although the Saratoga team won both matches, their total score of 840 points is unlikely to earn them a spot in the next round, Menon said.

“We’re happy we won, but I wish we got more points because I don’t know if we have enough points to go onto the next round,” Menon said.

The team was again unable to prepare for the match due to Galvin and Menon’s involvement in a mock trial scrimmage the day before and finals the following week.

Galvin attributed their success to Menon, who sharpens his trivia knowledge by watching “Cash Cab,” a game show that offers taxi cab passengers the chance to win money by correctly answering a series of trivia questions on the way to their destination.

“It was a fun experience,” said Galvin, who encourages juniors to assemble a team to enter the show next year.

Their game will air on KRON-4 at 2 p.m. on March 12.