NEW: Oakwood University wins national academic championship and $100,000

A team of four students from Oakwood University led the school to victory in the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge.

This competition is the premier Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) academic competition, and is a major achievement for the school and the students who competed.

Oakwood University’s victory

The team of four from Oakwood achieved a major feat, beating out 31 other teams to claim victory against Howard University in the final round of the 35th Honda Campus All-Star Challenge held in California.

Honda provided half a million dollars in grants to the 32 teams based on how they placed in the tournament. Oakwood University earned the largest chunk of that prize pool with $100,000 in institutional grants for coming in first.

“Congratulations to the scholars from Oakwood University on their dynamic performance and national championship win at the 2024 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge. On behalf of Honda, we applaud all the 35th anniversary HCASC participants on their exemplary display of HBCU excellence.”

-Yvette Hunsicker, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility and Inclusion & Diversity at American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

This marks Oakwood’s fourth time winning the tournament out of the 28 they’ve participated in.

The team

The Oakwood team was led to victory by coach Dr. Steven Lai Hing and his team:

• Team captain Jonathan Gunthrope, a senior majoring in finance
• Hannah Browning, a senior majoring in Film & Television Production
• Janiah Hinds, a sophomore majoring in History
• Grayson Mejia, a senior majoring in Applied Mathematics

“I want to thank our players for their work ethic, drive, and sportsmanship. They were champions to me before the trophy. This win just confirms for everyone else what I already knew.”

-Dr. Lai Hing, coach

We’re looking forward to seeing how the team does next year!

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