Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, is the winner of the 2024 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge. The event is an annual academic competition for students from historically Black colleges and universities hosted on the American Honda corporate campus in Torrance, California. More than 200 students and their coaches from 32 HBCUs attended the event, which also provides networking opportunities with HBCU presidents and representatives.
In the competition’s final round, the Oakwood University team defeated runner-up Howard University by accurately answering questions about history, science, literature, religion, the arts, and pop culture. Their win earned Oakwood University a $100,000 institutional grant. Additional grants were bestowed upon runner-up Howard University, third-place finisher Spelman College, and fourth-place finisher Morehouse College. Albany State University, Hampton University, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, and Tennessee State University rounded out the top eight teams.
Oakwood University’s team was coached by Dr. Steven Lai Hing, professor of chemical and biochemical sciences, and includes team captain Jonathan Gunthrope, a senior majoring in finance from Westchester, New York, Hannah Browning, a senior majoring in film & television production from Powder Springs, Georgia, Janiah Hinds, a sophomore majoring in history from Memphis, Tennessee, and Grayson Mejia, a senior majoring in applied mathematics from Henrico, Virginia.
