By Ellie Melero
The Langston University Quiz Bowl Team will compete in the National Qualifying Tournament of the 35th Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC) at Prairie View A&M University this weekend.
HCASC is America’s premier academic competition for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) students. Four-student teams face off in head-to-head competitions and must quickly answer questions about history, science, literature, religion, math, the arts, pop culture, and sports. Langston University is one of 64 teams competing for institutional grants from Honda and a spot in the HCASC National Championship Tournament taking place on the American Honda corporate campus in Torrance, California, April 6-10.
The Langston University team is composed of junior organizational leadership major Christian Mitchell, sophomore biology major Olivia Jenkins, sophomore finance major Charles Bennett and sophomore nursing major Kaitlyn Mitchell. The team is coached by Kyle Gregory, Langston University’s honors program coordinator.
The Quiz Bowl Team has been preparing for this tournament since August. Bringing back their entire roster from the 2022-23 season, the team has competed in tournaments at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas this season. The team has been learning and memorizing facts on topics ranging from Black History to Pop Culture to Science and anything in between.
“To win this tournament would give our team its first tournament championship since 2019 and guarantee them a berth in the National Championship Tournament in Torrance, California,” Gregory said. “This would give our scholars the chance to earn up to $76,000 in grant dollars for the University, should they win the National Championship. As a former player at Langston, I am impressed with the work that this group has put in and I hope it will pay off in Prairie View.”