Morehouse Hangs On to Top Title
At Annual Academic Challenge
ORLANDO, Fla.
For the second consecutive year, Atlanta’s Morehouse College emerged as the National Champion at the 2002 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC), an academic competition among the best and brightest students at the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities held earlier this month in Orlando, Fla.
Winning a best two-out-of-three game series against Howard University, Morehouse College showcased their skills by quickly and accurately answering 10-point “toss-up” questions and 20-30 point bonus questions on world history, science, literature, religion, the arts, social sciences, popular culture and African American history and culture.
“Today’s victory is just as vivid as winning HCASC for the first time,” says Jadun McCarthy, Morehouse team captain. “When we look back over a two-year period and know we did it consistently, that makes it even more special.”
More than 320 college students from 64 HBCUs across the country competed in the three-day tournament for more than $300,000 in institutional grants.
As the HCASC National Champion, Morehouse College takes home a $50,000 grant, while runner-up Howard University wins a $26,000 grant. Remaining teams earn grants ranging from $3,000 to $15,000.
“This program is a great example of corporate America making a commitment to increase and expand academic achievement with a population who historically has had to view society from the bottom-up,” says Leonard L. Haynes, III, assistant secretary of education, U.S. Department of Education. “If other companies decided to do something similar to American Honda, what a difference that would make.”
HCASC gives students the opportunity to exercise teamwork and to network and establish long-term relationships with other contestants. Over the three-day period, the initial field of 64 teams is pared down to 16 teams, which then participate in a single-elimination playoff round until only the final four teams remain.
Nearly 100 HBCU presidents, educators, alumni and community volunteers attended this year’s event, themed “Friends for Life,” to support the 320 participating students.
“This year’s theme highlights what HCASC is all about,” says Eric Conn, assistant vice president of National Advertising for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “These students come together as competitors, but leave stronger, more confident and richer from the experience.”
The Honda Campus All-Star Challenge is the only competition of its kind and was established by American Honda Motor Co., Inc., in 1989. Since the inception of the program, more than 15,000 HBCU students have participated, and Honda has awarded nearly $3.5 million in grants to HBCUs to improve campus life through facility improvements and increasing academic resources.
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