<\/a>Four Jackson State University students are among\u00a0top students from 48 of the nation\u2019s Historically Black Colleges and Universities\u00a0showing off how \u201csmart\u201d they are in the final round of the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge National Championship Tournament,\u00a0April 12-16, in Torrance, Calif.<\/p>\n

JSU students Jaleel Exson,\u00a0\u00a0Jonathan A. Jones,\u00a0\u00a0James Meeks, Jr.\u00a0\u00a0and Simone P. Young are among hundreds of HBCU students who have spent the past year diligently preparing to compete in the final round of this unique academic tournament.\u00a0\u00a0This year\u2019s road to the championship began in the fall of 2013, with 76 HBCUs vying for the final 48 slots. Through countless hours of study, drills and practice, elite teams emerged, knowledgeable and ready to take on the competition. Their goal is to beat the Morgan State University, the reigning national champions with two consecutive titles, while Morgan State will be seeking a three-peat.<\/p>\n

Exson is a junior history major from Oakland, Miss.;\u00a0\u00a0Jones is a junior criminal justice major from Jackson, Miss.;\u00a0\u00a0Meeks, also of Jackson, Miss. is a junior business major;\u00a0\u00a0and Young, a junior music\/mass communications major is from Madison, AL.\u00a0\u00a0Joshua J. Cotton, team coach and a former HCASC team member, teaches history and philosophy at JSU.\u00a0\u00a0The team leaves\u00a0Saturday, April 12\u00a0for the competition.<\/p>\n

Competitors will be split into eight divisions and will compete in a modified round-robin format. The top two teams from each division will advance to the \u201cSweet 16\u201d and will compete in a single elimination playoff.\u00a0\u00a0The final two teams that emerge from the playoffs will compete for the title of National Champions. The $50,000 grand prize, along with the other institutional grants, will support academic activities at the participating HBCUs.<\/p>\n

Celebrating 25 years of HBCU excellence,\u00a0Honda Campus All-Star Challenge is one of Honda\u2019s largest and longest running philanthropic initiatives in the United States. Since 1989, the program has awarded\u00a0more than $7 million in grants to participating HBCUs, impacting the lives of over 100,000 students across 22 states.\u00a0The participating HBCUs share\u00a0in\u00a0grants from Honda\u00a0of up to $328,000 each year.<\/p>\n

The finals of the 2014 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge will be live streamed on Monday, April 14^{th<\/sup>\u00a0starting at\u00a011 a.m.\u00a0on HCASC.com and other outlets.\u00a0\u00a0Contact the JSU Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion at\u00a0}601-979-1179<\/a>\u00a0for information on the team and the finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four Jackson State University students are among\u00a0top students from 48 of the nation\u2019s Historically Black Colleges and Universities\u00a0showing off how \u201csmart\u201d they are in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_plus_post_options":"{}","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}