This city resident is a dedicated community volunteer who became the youngest-ever trustee appointed to the Prince George Public Library Board; is the founder of the library's Youth Advisory Board; is a former board member of the Prince George Road Runners club and in 2011 was the city's youngest Citizen of the Year nominee at the age of 24.
Or for $400: According to digital records, this northern B.C. man is Prince George's first contestant on the iconic American game show Jeopardy!
If you're looking for an answer in the form of a question, the correct query to both is Who is Matthew Church?
Church, 26, is now studying medicine at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. The night before he returns to Prince George for the winter break, he'll be kicking off the celebration of his end of term by watching himself compete on Jeopardy! on an episode airing Dec. 16 at 7 p.m.
It will be the end of an almost year-long process that began with an online audition quiz in January. He was one of up to 3,000 people selected out of the quarter million who apply for an in-person audition in Toronto in July. He received the news that he made it on to the show at the end of August.
A long-time fan of the show, Church called the opportunity to step on the Jeopardy set an "awe-inspiring" experience and said it was difficult to stay focused around host Alex Trebek, who he first saw when cameras started rolling.
"He's been on television for longer than [I've been] alive," said Church. "The nature of Jeopardy! is that I have to be performing well and doing my best to buzz in and answer these questions right, but being on camera with Alex Trebek being the one asking questions it's hard not to be a little star struck."
One of the people most excited about Church's turn on the small screen will be his grandfather, who celebrated his 90th birthday in Nova Scotia on Tuesday and watches the game show nightly.
Filmed Oct. 1 in Los Angeles, Church is bound by secrecy over the outcome of the show, but was able to divulge that he doesn't believe he made any groan-worthy missteps.
He had a month's notice that he was selected as a contestant before filming to brush up on areas he knew he was weaker in, such as U.S. presidents, famous poets, and history.
"That also corresponded with our cardiology unit in med school, so I didn't have too much time to pre-prepare," he said.
December will be a big month for Church, he said. It marks a decade since he first made his real foray into community involvement.
It was in December 2003 that he was selected, as Grade 10 student at Duchess Park secondary school, to speak on behalf of his student body in front at a school closure meeting.
At school, he's currently working on a research project focused on how to deliver services from major centres remotely to rural areas, but hasn't nailed down a medical field he's going to concentrate on yet.
"The world is still sort of my oyster, professionally. It will be hard to top Jeopardy!, but I'm working on it."
