In addition to his double concentration in economics and international and public affairs, Kraska has a large bank of collegiate knowledge to draw from; he’s a campus tour guide, a staff writer for the Brown Undergraduate Law Review, a Meiklejohn peer advisor and one of the captains of the Bouncing Bears, Brown’s competitive jump rope team.

“I’ve always had this in me, but I think Brown helped cultivate my adventurous spirit and let me throw myself out there.” Kraska said. “In some ways, Brown prepared me to be a go-getter.”

He had a Zoom call with the show, completed several dozen tests to evaluate his puzzle-solving acumen and three weeks later, the Westlake, Texas, native was on a flight to Los Angeles to the “Wheel of Fortune” studio.

Between learning the basics — like how to spin the wheel or buy a vowel — and meeting with the game show’s iconic hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White, Kraska said his day at the studio was a blur that involved only half an hour of actual filming. But those 30 minutes got intense.

“It’s not just going on and calling letters and blind guessing,” he said. “There’s definitely a strategic element. I put some studying into it.”

Local viewers can tune in to WPRI 12 in Providence or a local CBS affiliate at 7 p.m. Eastern on Monday, April 3, to watch Kraska step up to the wheel.

“It was something I never thought I’d get to experience,” Kraska said. “I’ll always remember being on ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ because, how cool is that?”

The results are under wraps until his episode airs, but Kraska was able to reveal one secret about the eponymous wheel: It’s not as heavy as it looks.   

“I feel like it wasn’t that hard to spin,” he said. “But maybe that’s because I’ve been working out recently.”