Recent Plum grads show ‘High Q’ smarts

See how you do in coming up with six-letter answers for these prompts:

“She played Hermione Granger in the ‘Harry Potter’ movies.”

“This Anne was Henry VIII’s second wife.”

“A common truck engine is named for this German inventor.”

Those are examples of what a trio of then-Plum Senior High School students faced during the Quicktime Round of KDKA-TV’s “High Q,” in which competitors have all of 45 seconds to provide 10 answers. And Class of 2023 members Nate Beninati, Alex Miller and Alex Taylor promptly announced, in order:

Watson, Boleyn and Diesel.

A contingent from Plum regularly participates in the long-running program, formerly known as “Hometown High Q.”

“This year, we made it to the second round, which is a really big deal for us,” high school gifted coordinator Jenna Romanelli said, considering that the field consisted of 81 three-student teams.

She described the process she follows to get her students ready for the competition.

“The way I run it is they have to take a qualifying test, and then they have to perform as an alternate for a year, to be there to study and find out how it all works,” she said. “Then they can actually perform on the show.”

For Nate and the two Alexes, that made for an extended period of preparation while devoting their time to plenty of other pursuits.

Alex Miller, for example, served as president of his senior class and Plum’s robotics club, ran cross country and track, and put in all the work necessary to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. Alex Taylor played varsity soccer, competed in track and field, served as a peer tutor and was active in the chess club.

Nate also was on the track team and was a section leader in the marching band, and as a trombonist, he was selected to the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association’s All-State Orchestra.

“These are very busy young men who are always looking for a new challenge and are excited to get involved,” Romanelli said. “We have a lot of kids who want to challenge themselves.”

While many of them are in Plum Borough School District’s Gifted and Talented Enrichment program, which begins in elementary school, participation in activities she organizes applies across the board.

“My philosophy is that if I have an enrichment opportunity that I can open up, I open it up to everybody,” she said.

One opportunity for students is to view an open-heart surgery at Allegheny General Hospital, with those interested in medical careers often participating,

“You try to foster those interests. You really want to show them what’s out there,” Romanelli said about Plum students in general. “I always say, it’s best to find what you’re interested in, and even more important to find out what you’re not interested in. Don’t feel pigeonholed at 18.”

As for students’ interest in “High Q,” appearing on a well-established station — KDKA has been televising since 1949 — seems to hold more cachet than, say, being in a YouTube video.

“They’re very excited to see themselves,” Romanelli said. “Everybody reaches out and says, ‘We saw you on TV.’”

That goes for her, too:

“I get a little cameo on the show. I get to wave.”

She credits her faculty colleagues with expanding her “High Q” students’ knowledge.

“We train and we do the trivia, but they get so much from their core and elective classroom teachers who prepare them for this,” she said. “I just do the organization of it all.”