By Dylan Pichnarick News Editor Professor Marianne McGowan came in second place in “Jeopardy!” winning $3,000. McGowan said she traveled to Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California in June for the taping of the show. The episode McGowan appeared on premiered on Sept. 27. McGowan said her experience on the show was positive and she enjoyed meeting fellow contestants and “Jeopardy!” staff. McGowan said appearing on “Jeopardy!” is something she has wanted to do for a while. “I used to watch ‘Jeopardy!’ a lot more than I do now. I auditioned a while ago and I kind of thought, ‘They’re not going to call me,’ but then I got called and I had to kind of get interested again. “So I kind of thought, ‘OK - I might as well do it,’ and my kids are really pushing me to do it,” she said. According to McGowan, in order to get on “Jeopardy!”, she took a test on their website. She did well on the test and was invited to participate in two auditions. McGowan then received a call in February during which she was invited to appear on the show. McGowan flew to California in June to tape the episode in which she would appear. She said every contestant has to commit to two days of filming in case the show needs to be refilmed or if you move on to a second round. McGowan came in second place on the episode she appeared in, and left the show with $3,000 in prize money. “The only person who really walks away with a lot of money is the winner,” she said. She said she has not received her money yet, but is expecting to soon. McGowan said she is unsure what she will spend the money on. “I had to pay my own way out there. … I’m going to come out with some money, but not a huge amount.” McGowan said they record one week's worth of episodes per day. McGowan said that the filming process was “much more relaxed then I thought it would be.” She added, “Everybody just got along - well, at least everyone in my group. I think they put us at ease right away, which I thought was great. … We were just chatting with each other, and we kind of bonded.” McGowan said the first round “had so many categories I really felt like I didn’t know.” She added that pressing the buzzer in time was also difficult. “There’s a balance between what you know and how quick you are to buzz in.” On Sept. 27, McGowan hosted a watch party with her family and friends, which she said was fun. McGowan has worked at Framingham State since 2014 as a tutor at the Center for Academic Success and Achievement. She has also taught in the first-year writing program for four years. Prior to working at FSU, McGowan was a journalist for the Associated Press for 15 years. McGowan has a bachelor’s degree in classics from Brown University and a master’s of education degree from Framingham State.