Photo courtesy famunews.com
FAMU will be competing against over 60 schools for grants and scholarships in the 31st annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC). After coming in second place last year, FAMU hopes to reign supreme this time around.
The HCASC tournament is the first academic brain bowl created solely for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The tournament gives students a chance to earn money and notoriety for their schools.
The Rattlers have won eight HCASC tournaments under the guidance of Dr. Vivian Hobbs. As FAMU chases their ninth tournament victory, Hobbs says that teamwork and unity will give them the edge over their opponents.
“The team did better than I expected with three first timers on it,” said Hobbs “All we can do is work on becoming a better team, trusting one another, and working as a unit. Coming in second place to Spelman is not bad, but we want to be in first.”
This year’s contestants will be led by team captain Bryan Anderson. The industrial engineering student was a member of last year’s team and says that there is only one way to improve on their previous performance.
“There is only one spot from second place and that’s first. That’s the only way we can improve,” said Anderson.
Vice President of Student Affairs, William Hudson, voiced his opinion on the tournament stating that it will help students prepare for their careers in the future.
“They train before they go, so the knowledge and skill sets that they learn from public speaking to retaining information helps them as they move throughout their careers and prepare for this global economy,” said Hudson. “They will be able to interact with other people and develop topics of conversation that many others will not be able to have about different topics.”
Winning the HCASC tournament will be beneficial to FAMU’s contestants as it shines a light on the academic scholars who are not a part of known organizations according to Dr. Hobbs.
“I love the tournament because this is an outlet for students who are not a part of the football and the Marching 100,” said Hobbs.
On Feb. 8, FAMU’s team will be in Atlanta battling against Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Tuskegee University, and five other HBCUs.
To help FAMU qualify for the National Championship in March, students can visit hcasc.com and vote for the FAMU team until Feb. 10. The top three teams that receives the most votes will automatically advance to the championship.