In the end, there was little "Jeopardy!" for Squirrel Hill's Rachel Rothenberg.

She blazed through the game show's 2009 Teen Tournament last night and answered (in the form of a question) her way to the $75,000 top prize.

Ms. Rothenberg, 17, plans to use much of the money for college but she's also decided to donate about 20 percent of her pretax winnings, split evenly between the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and her church, Sixth Presbyterian in Squirrel Hill.

"I just always intended to give some of it away," said Ms. Rothenberg, a senior at Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12. "I didn't know what I'd do with that much money, and a lot of people need it more than I do. So I sat down with my parents and discussed where we wanted to contribute to. Obviously I can't give it everywhere but we thought about the ones that are really important to us and the city."

The Rev. Mary Louise McCullough, pastor at Sixth, welcomed the teen's gesture.

"I was thrilled but not shocked because Rachel has been such an active part of the church and the youth group," the Rev. McCullough said. "Rachel has a heart for social justice and I know she loves this church because of who we are as a church that cares for the community in tangible ways. Giving to the church seems very consistent with that."

Cynthia Moore, chief outreach officer for the food bank, was also pleased about Ms. Rothenberg's decision to share her winnings.

"It's just an exciting thing for us that young people even think about helping to benefit other people in our community this way," Ms. Moore said.

The "Jeopardy!" teen tournament began Nov. 2 and continued through this week with Ms. Rothenberg correctly answering questions on a variety of subjects, including world culture, the environment, the movie "Twilight" and theater. She attributed her skill at answering "Jeopardy!" questions to her upbringing.

"I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that my parents were very indulgent of all of my interests," she said. "Early on they bought me a lot of books, and that had something to do with being well read. I think it helps to take an interest in everything and absorb as much as you can, to try and notice things and take them in."

When "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek interviewed her during the game, Ms. Rothenberg told him about her school's mascot, a unicorn.

"It makes sense because our sports teams are imaginary," she said, prompting laughs from the studio audience.

Ms. Rothenberg bested 14 competitors, including her fellow finalists, 17-year-old Will Dantzler of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., and 16-year-old Aidan Mehigan of McLean, Va. "Jeopardy!" began staging teen tournaments in 1987 and to date almost 400 teenage contestants have won nearly $3 million.

Ms. Rothenberg said she's been watching "Jeopardy!" since age 5 and it was always a goal to get on the game show.

"I didn't think it would be until I was much older," she said.

In January she applied online "just for fun" and was invited by producers to a regional tryout in Washington, D.C., in May. In July she got a call inviting her to participate in the teen tournament, which taped all 10 episodes in Los Angeles over two days in August.

She flew out with her mother, Susan, her best friend and the friend's mother. In addition to the taping days, they got a chance to tour Southern California. But the days of filming were exhausting.

"It was very intense and really at this point, I can't remember what questions I had, what the clues were," Ms. Rothenberg said. "After a while, it all just started to run together."

She said Mr. Trebek was welcoming and told players the teen tournament is his favorite part of the show's taping schedule. Ms. Rothenberg and her competitors bonded and have since formed a group on Facebook, the social networking site.

Ms. Rothenberg, who watched herself win the tournament last night during a party at her home with family and friends, is still applying to colleges but plans to major in history and become a teacher. In addition to the winnings she'll tithe and apply to her education, she may also use a small amount to buy holiday gifts for others.

"My friends are really hoping they'll get nice Christmas presents," she said. "I might put aside a little of it for that. They've been very supportive."

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