Vote on Rochester’s Toyota Fifth Grader Challenge

A large pool of auditions has been narrowed down to those competing to become the Top 8 finalists for the Toyota 5th Grader Challenge - it’s time to cast your vote.

This local competition is modeled after Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? and pairs a student with an adult to answer questions about academics and pop culture. Your votes determine who of the five finalists will move on to the next stage of competition.

So, if you’ve got a minute, watch this brief video of Justin Tynon and toss him your vote. [Click here to cast your vote; one vote per valid e-mail address.] He’s quick on his feet and confident.

I competed at the national level in high school and college level quiz competitions. Few questions are so obscure or difficult that all the contestants are stumped - the best competitors react quickly. They don’t spend time thinking [they don't have to] and they don’t care if they’re wrong [they usually aren't].

One of my favorite collegiate quiz-memories was in a 4-on-4 competition with Harvard. The question was, “What alphanumeric - ?”

I don’t know the rest of the question. I rang in with, “bra size” and it was the right answer. Really, how many other common alphanumeric things do we have? I’m sure that gamble could’ve gone horribly wrong, but it didn’t [we beat them roughly 515-65 in that match, though we lost the day's competition].

Remember, Master Tynon: be quick, be confident and don’t care if you give an answer that might make you look absolutely ridiculous.

Hopefully we’ll see you in the top 8! Especially if everyone reading this throws you a vote [hint].