By EmmaLee Italia | Contributing Editor

St. Paul School, Burlington, had a unique opportunity Oct. 13 to be participants in a half hour game show, “The Class-HRoom,” on Fox 29 Philadelphia, with students competing against their teachers to answer questions about pop culture and academics.

“We had already worked with Fox 29 to raise funds for two of our students to compete in a national STEM competition last year,” said Jackie Krieger, one of the teachers who participated. “When they created this game show, they contacted our school to see if we would be interested.”

The purpose of the game show is to highlight area schools through a fun competition, she explained. “Either way, the schools win money for projects around their building and get to show off their students and staff.”

The new game show, which first aired Oct. 1, pits teams of three students against three teachers, who face off to win $500 for a project of each team’s choosing. Teachers Krieger, Elizabeth Santini and Stacey Sloat competed against their students, Justine Rogers, Alexandra Oshidar and Patrick Alade. While the taping has already taken place, the show has not yet aired – so the results are still a secret.

“Our teachers all volunteered for the opportunity,” Krieger said. “For the students, we held a mock version of the game show and based our choices off of questions they got right, as well as their enthusiasm for the game.”

In addition to academia and current culture, one of the games highlighted local history of Philadelphia, while another game was like a spelling bee.

“The students wanted the winnings to go towards playground improvements, in particular a basketball net outside,” Krieger continued. “The teachers wanted the winnings to go towards technology updates and document projectors for the classroom.”

“It was exciting to compete against my current students,” Santini said, “and the best part was the anticipation of the final round to see who would win.”

Rogers said, “The experience was amazing, and I really enjoyed all the fun of being on the show. My favorite part was the introduction where I got a high five and a fist bump from [host] Richard Curtis.”

“It was different than other thing I’ve done in the past but it really was a lot of fun,” said Oshidar. “I also learned how hard it is to be on TV and all the effort that goes behind making a show. My favorite part was the experience of being on set and answering questions with a buzzer.”

“I had a lot of fun filming and it was pretty cool to be on T.V.,” said Alade. “My favorite part was the excitement of when I got my first question right.”

Sloat and Krieger both agreed the experience was one of a kind.

“I loved the good comradery even though we were technically facing off against the students, we were all still cheering each other on,” Sloat commented.

“Being on the show was great – not just for the contestants, but also for our school community,” Krieger concluded. “We can’t wait for it to air, and plan on streaming it at school for all of us to watch together.  My favorite part was the friendly competition going back and forth question after question.  It really highlighted our pursuit of academic excellence and community oriented atmosphere.”