TSU Competes in Honda Campus All-Star Challenge Qualifying Tournament

Students from TSU took part in one of the regional qualifying tournaments for the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge Feb. 15 at Alabama State University. Pictured are: front row (L-R) Brandon Bartee, Maurice Henderson, Diarra Fall. Back row (L-R) January Wisniewski, Rebecca Webber, Aurora Garvin, Amadou Fall, Joseph Patrick (courtesy photo)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – The road to claim the title of America’s best in the 2014 Honda All-Star Challenge started this weekend for students from Tennessee State University when they traveled to Montgomery, Ala., for the qualifying tournament Feb. 15 at Alabama State University. Forty-eight teams from the qualifying tournaments will then advance to the National Championship Tournament in Los Angeles in April. The teams will be announced on Feb. 20.

The team, according to Dr. John P. Miglietta, professor of Political Science and coach of the TSU team, did well in the tournament, winning two out of four games.

“The students did very well, with several of them playing in their first tournament,” said Miglietta. “TSU was very competitive and the team received valuable experience. This will serve them well if we participate in the national tournament, and certainly for next year.”

Participation in the National Qualifying tournament is an essential part of the qualification process for the National Championship tournament, which will be held April 12-16. Dubbed “the Olympics of the Mind,” the Honda Campus All‐Star Challenge is a “knowledge game of quick recall” that engages the best and brightest students at HBCUs in an annual academic quiz championship. Students compete in answering questions related to pop culture, sports, history, science, current events, and literature, as well as African-American history, and general knowledge categories.

The Challenge, sponsored by Honda, is now in its 25th year. During that time Honda has awarded more than $7 million in grants to participating HBCUs, and nearly 100,000 students in 22 states have taken part.

Representing TSU this year are: Adriann N. Wilson, a junior Mechanical Engineering major from Albany, Ga.; Brandon Cantrel Bartee, junior Mechanical Engineering major from Manchester, Tenn.; Aurora Garvin, a sophomore Art major from Nashville, Tenn.; and Joseph Edward Patrick II, a junior Electrical Engineering major also from Nashville.

Other club members attending the qualifying tournament included Amadou Fall, a junior Chemistry major, from Nashville; Maurice Henderson, freshmen Computer Science major, from Jacksonville, Fla.; Rebecca Webber, a senior Nursing major, from Nashville; and January Wisniewski, a graduate student in Computer Science, also from Nashville.