A senior from Saline, Michigan...

Hema Karunakaram

How did you react when you found out you'd be on Jeopardy!?
Oh, I was completely shocked. And I wasn't even in the country at the time, so... I was about to fly back home that day, and that's when my parents called me and told me, and I just started screaming. And all my relatives got really worried, like something terrible had happened. But, I'm gonna be on TV! So, it was a good experience. [Laughs]

How do you plan to spend your winnings?
Um, I haven't really thought about it yet, but I love shoes. And I'm probably going to go buy some new shoes. It's what I always do whenever I end up with some cash, and I'm looking forward to going shoe shopping!

What's the best part of being a teen?
Definitely just all the fun we get to have, and we can get away with all these little things that adults couldn't get away with. Y'know, we can just do something stupid, and we can be like, "Oh, y'know, it's just our adrenaline." Like, we have excuses for everything, so it's nice. [Laughs]

2009 Teen Tournament semifinalist: $10,000.

Name pronounced like "HAY-ma kah-ROO-nuh-KAH-ram".

Jeopardy! Message Board user name: miracleshappen22

Hema appeared in the following 2 archived games:
#5786, aired 2009-11-09 Zach Blumenfeld vs. Aidan Mehigan vs. Hema Karunakaram 2009 Teen Tournament semifinal game 1.
#5785, aired 2009-11-06 Hema Karunakaram vs. Gabe Orlet vs. Stephanie Radke 2009 Teen Tournament quarterfinal game 5.

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