Lafayette Native, LSU Student Stephen Privat Finishes 2nd in College Jeopardy Semi-Finals

LSU student Stephen Privat represented his university well on Jeopardy's National College Championship.

The Lafayette native finished second in his semi-final match-up that aired yesterday. He competed against students from Stanford University and Pomona College.

This was after he won his first-round match (quarterfinals) that aired on Tuesday, February 8. In that episode, Private won $14,300 while competing against students from Rice University and Princeton.

A total of 36 schools are represented in this year's National College Championship.

There were two Louisiana schools represented in that number. A student from Tulane was also in the tournament.

Privat, who is graduating as a junior this year, auditioned for the show last year. After making it through a few rounds of vetting, producers told him he would represent LSU in the National College Championships with 35 other schools.

By Thanksgiving, Privat was flying to Los Angeles for the show's taping.

"It was weird. The set is a lot smaller than I thought it was. It looks a lot bigger on TV, but it's pretty small. It's also really cold in there, so it was good that they gave us hoodies and stuff to wear because it was just cold generally."