The Penn student who appeared on Jeopardy! College Championship in 2007.
Who is Kaitlin Welborn?
The College sophomore will vie for $100,000 as part of the Jeopardy! College Championship, airing from April 30 through May 11.
Welborn traveled to the University of Southern California last weekend to compete against 14 other college students from universities around the country, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford universities.
"Playing the game at home is a lot different from competing with thousands of people watching," Welborn said.
The Tampa, Fla., native took an online test in the fall along with 4,000 other students, scoring high enough to be one of 350 invited to New York for a final-round interview and mock game.
"I was shocked and excited," College sophomore Brittany Jackson said of her reaction to finding out that Welborn would butt heads with Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.
A French major, Welborn said that, unfortunately, her studies at Penn didn't prove to be much help during the show.
"The questions they ask are very different from what you learn in school," she said.
Welborn said that she has been a fan of the show for most of her life, calling it a "bright spot in the media," and that she has become an avid viewer since snagging a spot on the show.
"I pretty much have been watching the show everyday in order to prepare," she said.
Welborn added that meeting Trebek was a highlight of the experience.
"Alex Trebek complimented me on my shoes," she noted.
Welborn said getting to know the other contestants was another bright spot of the experience.
She said she did not expect them to be fascinating people, but, after spending time with them during the taping, she found that they all "really interesting" and "have lives just like the rest of us."
They "were not dull and boring like the Jeopardy! stereotype," she said.
Due to contractual obligations, she could not say how much money she won but said that every contestant won at least $5,000.
Welborn's first-round episode will air May 3.
