Marquette native competes on Jeopardy

If you’re looking for a rooting interest in Jeopardy’s Teachers Tournament, there is a competitor amongst the ranks who once called Marquette home.

Mary Beth Hammerstrom currently teaches Econ and Social Studies at A.J. Dimon High School in Anchorage Alaska. But, she grew up in Marquette and attended NMU before heading out to the last frontier. Her brother, Eric still lives in Marquette and teaches English at the high school.

He may have even had a hand in ushering Mary Beth into the field.

“I was originally a lawyer, and I ended up changing careers,” Mary Beth said during her Jeopardy introduction.  “My brother brought me into his classroom one day and said ‘Teach my kids how to argue’, and at the end of it he said ‘You might want to think about teaching, you’re kind of good at this’.”

Mary Beth is one of nine teachers remaining from the original pool of fifteen. She’ll continue her quest for 100 thousand dollars of extra credit and a spot in the tournament of champions this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. EST in the semi-finals right here on ABC 10.