Students from 10 historically black colleges and universities put their minds to work at UMES for the 26th annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge.
Dr. James White, the UMES Honda All-Star Challenge team coach says, “The game has evolved the game has gotten faster and it’s because the students are smarter.”
Jonathan Wheeler, a member of the UMES team says, “I think I’m more comfortable up on stage. I’m confident in my ability to perform well under the pressure now, so it’s like cool under fire.”
The challenge is a pretty intense quiz bowl where teams answer trivia questions. The questions can be any and everything; science, pop culture, religion, history, you name it.
The question is, how on earth do you study for this?
Mariah Dennis, another member of the UMES quiz team says, “Let’s say growing up as a kid you read a lot of books, then you’re really good at the literature. If you watched a lot of movies in Greek history, then you’re good in that category. You just brush up on what you know, it’s hard to gain a new skill.”
If all else fails, UMES’ team has a default answer, “Johnson.”
Dennis goes on, “It’s a common last name there’s going to be some answer that’s Johnson.”
The “Johnson trick” is something the team is hoping will take them to Los Angeles.
The schools face off against each other in a series of rounds, with four being selected as the final winners, who will qualify to compete in the Honda national tournament in California.
While in California, they face off against 48 other schools, have the opportunity to take home a $50,000 grant, and rub elbows with Honda executives.
Dr. White continues, “Honda is looking for bright students to build its cars and to run its company.”
Collaborating with Honda executives gives students a great opportunity to land a job post-graduation.
Even if UMES doesn’t make the top 4, they can still make it to California through voting.
Voting essentially will make UMES the “people’s choice,” but however it happens, UMES plans to make it there.
*Originally posted at WMDT.com.
