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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 Challenge

    WASHINGTON, 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