COLUMBIA — At graduation Saturday, MU senior Laura Myers received congratulations for completing her degree and finishing third in the Jeopardy! College Championship, winning $29,900.
“It’s amazing how many people watch the show and took a minute to congratulate me,” Myers said, adding even the speaker at the graduation ceremony mentioned her appearance on the game show.
Although not naming Myers, John Bruton, European Union ambassador to the United States and former prime minister of Ireland, drew cheers when he mentioned MU's connection to "Jeopardy!" at the honors convocation Saturday morning on Francis Quadrangle.
Bruton, who has ancestral ties to Festus, south of St. Louis, and helped forge relationships between the University of Missouri and Irish universities, was awarded an honorary degree. A short time later, Myers walked across the stage to receive her honors medal.
Myers said that although she finished third, the competition was very close, with less than $1,000 between the first- and second-place finishers and second- and third-place finishers.
“Someone said that if I’d bet more on Final Jeopardies, I could have won,” Myers said, “but I’m not losing any sleep over it.”
Myers said that Patrick Tucker of St. Louis, who represented Notre Dame University in the competition, deserved to win and that both of her opponents in the finals could not have been nicer.
Still, Myers said she was the only contestant not to miss a Final Jeopardy question and in a previous interview said if she were given the opportunity, she would happily compete on Jeopardy! again.