On Saturday, Feb. 15, a newly formed group of quiz bowl champions from N.C. A&T State University competed in the National Qualifying Tournament of the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC) held at Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Va. The group of sophomore students coached by Dr. Arwin Smallwood, advanced to the championship tournament against Hampton University placing second in the qualifying tournament. Both teams earned a guaranteed spot for the National Championship Tournament in April.

“We were going through transition and we recruited students from the honors program,” said Nichole Florence, who is serving as the HCASC N.C. A&T Campus Coordinator. “This was their first time playing (together) other than the prequalification games.”

Florence said the entire Aggie team is excited to have earned the second place spot and are gearing up for the national tournament.

Team members include Caleb Prince, sophomore, economics major from Charlotte, N.C.,; Ricky Reece, sophomore, management of informations systems major from Jacksonville, N.C.; and Anthony Michael Dobson, sophomore, computer science major from Goldsboro, N.C.

The Honda Campus All‐Star Challenge was created in 1989 as a knowledge game of quick recall for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Now in its 25th year, more than $7 million in grants have been awarded by Honda to participating HBCUs and nearly 100,000 students in 22 states have participated.

The National Championship Tournament will be held at Honda’s Torrance, Calif. headquarters April 12-16. The winning HBCU team will earn a $50,000 grant.