The SouthernUniversity quiz bowl team made it to the “Elite Eight” before losingin quarterfinals in the 15th Annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge.
The tournament,which was held March 25-29 in Orlando, Fla., is the first-ever academiccompetition between students at America’s Historically Black Colleges andUniversities.
This yearMorehouse College took home the first place prize. SU bought home $8,500 inscholarships and a trophy.
The SU teamincluded Jonathan Campbell, a senior economics major from Lafayette, KeyonnPope, a senior electrical engineering major from Chicago, Jeremy Badillo, asophomore electrical engineering major from Burlingham, Calif., Jabari Roberts,a computer science major from Chicago and Michael Johnson, a junior mechanicalengineering major from Monrovia, Liberia.
Among eightdivisions, Campbell scored the highest number of points in his division. Campbell, a third-year member of theteam averaged 65 points per game and received a medal for his achievement. He also won $1,000 in scholarships forthe university.
“I put myall into preparing for the tournament and with the help of my teammates it paidoff,” Campbell said.
The SU teamfaced strong competiton from Morehouse, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore,Central University, Hampton University, Tuskegee University, South CarolinaUniversity and Clark Atlanta University in the quarterfinals.
University ofMaryland-Eastern Shore and Morehouse faced off in the final round.
Pope said thatthe team’s strong points were in African-American history, literature andscience.
“We wereknew a good bit of everything,” Pope said. “The competition was tough but we were able to worktogether as a team.
As graduatingseniors, Campbell and Pope hope that SU students keep the tradition alive andget involve in the quiz bowl tournaments.
This has beenthe highest the team has placed since the SU team were runner-ups in the 2000competition.
HCASC campusplay is open to all 4-year, degree-granting HBCUs in the continental U.S. Eachyear, the first 64 schools that qualify attend the National ChampionshipTournament.
Chemistryprofessor William Moore coached the SU team. Chemistry professor Ella Kelly and retiree Florence Robinsonalso assisted the team. BeverleyWade, dean of the Honors College serves as HCASC campus liaison.
