64 HBCUs Vie for Top Honors in National Academic Challenge
23 February 1999
64 HBCUs Vie for Top Honors in National Academic Challenge; The 'Strong 64' announced for 1999 Honda Campus All-Star ChallengeWASHINGTON, Feb. 19 -- In March 1999, over 300 students from America's top Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will compete in the 1999 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC) National Championship Tournament in Washington, D.C. And this year's field of sixty-four, the Strong 64, looks to be one of the best ever in America's premier academic challenge. The National Championship Tournament represents the culmination of months of on-campus competitions, and one team of five students will ultimately be crowned National Champions on Sunday, March 14, 1999. Entering it's tenth anniversary year, the HCASC has touched the lives of more than 15,000 students, volunteers and college presidents. With the champion's crown Honda donates a $50,000 grant for their institution. Reigning champion Florida A&M University will defend their title against the best varsity scholars from HBCUs all over the country. Every institution involved in the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge walks away a winner, not just the National Champions. Monetary grants are provided to each competing HBCU, which are used to improve campus life through upgrading facilities and increasing academic resources such as additional books and more student activities. In addition to grants, HCASC offers HBCU students an opportunity to showcase their academic abilities. Questions range from a wide array of topics including: history, science, the arts, popular culture, as well as African-American history, culture and achievement. Over the past ten years, Honda has donated over $2.5 million in grants to more than 80 participating institutions through the HCASC program. "With the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge program, Honda aims to provide a platform for HBCUs to showcase their best and brightest students, and reward the institutions for their academic excellence. Going into our tenth year, the program has proven to be an extremely important and eagerly anticipated event in the HBCU community. Honda is proud to be a part of that," says Eric Conn, Assistant Vice President of Automobile Advertising at American Honda Motor Co., Inc. The theme of this year's tournament, The Next Level, focuses the attention of the participants toward the future. Continues Mr. Conn, "These students are on their way up, they are our future leaders. This 10th anniversary program is also a step up to the next level for HCASC. Introducing a new logo, and returning to Washington, D.C., the site of the first National Championship Tournament, HCASC is prepared to move proudly into the 21st century." The 1999 HCASC Strong 64 are as follows: Alabama A&M University Morgan State University Alabama State University Morris College Albany State College Morris Brown College Alcorn State University Norfolk State University Benedict College North Carolina A&T State University Bennett College North Carolina Central University Bethune-Cookman College Oakwood College Bowie State University Paine College Central State University Philander Smith College Cheyney University-Pennsylvania Prairie View A&M University Claflin College Saint Paul's College Clark Atlanta University Shaw University Delaware State University Sojourner-Douglass College Dillard University South Carolina State University Elizabeth City State University Southern University-Baton Rouge Fayetteville State University Southern University-New Orleans Florida A&M University Spelman College Fort Valley State University Stillman College Hampton University Tennessee State University Harris-Stowe State College Texas College Howard University Texas Southern University Huston-Tillotson College Tougaloo College Jackson State University Tuskegee University Jarvis Christian College University of Arkansas - Pine Bluff Johnson C. Smith University University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Kentucky State University University of the District of Columbia Lane College Virginia State University Langston University Virginia Union University Lincoln University - Missouri Voorhees College Livingstone College West Virginia State College Mississippi Valley State University Wiley College Morehouse College Winston-Salem State University