SEMO student takes a trip to Big Apple, comes back with extra dough

Southeast Missouri State University multimedia journalism student April Styer had a plan for her trip to New York City to cover the CMAs for the school newspaper.

See "Phantom of the Opera".

Go to the 9/11 museum.

Be on the "Today" show.

Eat a real New York hot dog.

April Styer, right, and her daughter Cameron Edawrds wait to try to be in the "Today" show audience. They were at the studio by 5:10 a.m., and were the first people in line.Submitted

April Styer, right, and her daughter Cameron Edawrds wait to try to be in the "Today" show audience. They were at the studio by 5:10 a.m., and were the first people in line.Submitted

She checked all the boxes of her trip bucket list — and more — during her stay earlier this month.

In their quest to be on the NBC morning show, Styer and her daughter, Cameron Edwards, headed from their hotel to the NBC Studios.

"We started walking, because it's quite a ways. We got halfway there, and I told Cameron, 'I'm just not feeling well,'" Styer said. "And she was like, 'Mom, this is a once in a lifetime. Let's just do it.' And I said, 'All right.' When we got there, we were the first ones there."

After three hours of waiting, Styer and Edwards were able to meet the hosts of the show when Styer was asked whether she wanted to play on a game show on "Today With Hoda & Jenna".

Styer said she was nervous about going on the game-show segment because she did not know the type of trivia game it would be.

Being a huge "Game of Thrones" fan, Styer was able to get the first question right, vaulting her into first place, where she stayed, earning her way to a rapid-answer bonus round.

The questions ranged from rock-paper-scissors strategy to alma maters of celebrities.

Officials had told the contestants their "winnings" would be NBC swag. That was not the case.

The hosts announced Styer had won $4,000.

"You can hear my daughter in the background go, 'Holy crap!' So you know your head's in the clouds because I'm like, 'No way.' First of all, I never believed that I would make it on the 'Today' show and then win a trivia game. There's no way that I have kept up with anything. I'm not going to know anything. And for the first question, 'Game of Thrones', I was like, 'Oh, yeah, I got this,'" Styer said.

Styer said she gave her daughter a portion of the winnings because, without her, she would not have stayed standing in the cold waiting on the show to begin.