Nearly 60 students chose to flex their academic muscles before Fall Break arrived as the Southern University Honda Campus All Star Challenge Quiz Bowl campus competition took place Wednesday, October 11 in the PBS Pinchback Engineering Building.
The Honda Campus All Star Challenge (HCASC), established in 1989, unites more than 90 HBCUs under the umbrella of academic competition, sponsoring regional and national quiz bowl tournaments across the country. HCASC rewards schools that do well in the tournament, with a $75,000 grant going to the national tournament champions.
The purpose of the campus competition was to seek the best and brightest undergraduate students to represent Southern University at regional and national tournaments as new members of the quiz bowl team. The campus competition is also a prerequisite for the opportunity to compete in the HCASC.
Last April, Southern finished in the quarterfinals, or ‘Elite 8’, of the national tournament held in Los Angeles, CA, bringing more than $10,000 in scholarship money back to ‘The Bluff.’ Over the course of 27 seasons, the team has won over $130,000.
Distinguished Professor of Physics and Dean of the Honors College Diola Bagayoko, Ph.D., was on site to take in the action at the campus competition alongside Honors College Assistant Professor, Deadra James Mackie, who serves as the head coach of the team.
Mackie has successfully led the quiz bowl team to three national tournament appearances in the last four years.
The spark plug of the team comes from the head coach, whose positive energy and enthusiasm fills the room. “I consider it an honor to work with the students because they practice very hard,” Mackie stated.
Sophomore nursing major, Logan Evans, even credits Mackie for being a great teacher and exemplifying wonderful leadership skills.
Junior political science major, Kelvin Wells, describes a potential quiz bowl player as “someone who is dedicated, and who loves it.”
“The beauty of it is you don’t have to be 6 feet, you don’t have to weigh 300 pounds, anybody, anybody can be on our team,” added Bagayoko.
Quiz bowl showcases knowledge in several subjects, including history, literature, science, current events and pop culture.
There are aspects to quiz bowl that are similar to most athletic events. Long hours of practice are put in to ensure peak performance. Two teams are in contest with one another, with a goal of putting up the most points before the game ends to win.
In terms of rivalries, matches with Grambling State are intense, with Spelman, Tuskegee, and Florida A&M being among the greatest competition this year’s quiz bowl team has to face.
Bagayoko makes it known which form of competition he favors. “In an institution of learning, any competition that engages the intellectual capabilities is the ultimate competition, as far as I’m concerned.”
Although the HCASC campus competition was the only chance to officially join the quiz bowl team, Mackie ensured that that would not be the only chance this year for more students to get involved. She is currently seeking students to form a sparring team to help the quiz bowl team prepare.
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“NO FLEX ZONE”: Students embrace academic competition at Quiz Bowl tourney
October 24, 2017
Deadra James Mackie (far top right) supervising a quiz bowl match in the computer lab of the PBS Pinchback Engineering Building October 11.
(James Eaglin, Jr./DIGEST)
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