North Carolina Central University has won the 2026 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC). The annual event — now in its 37th year — is a national academic competition for students at historically Black colleges and universities hosted on the American Honda corporate campus in Torrance, California. This year, 65 HBCUs participated in the year-round program, which includes regional qualifying tournaments leading up to the national competition. Over 200 students and faculty advisors from 32 HBCUs throughout the country participated in the championship event.
“We congratulate the outstanding scholars from North Carolina Central University on their well-earned victory in the 2026 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge,” said Jasmine Cockfield, HCASC project lead at American Honda. “Honda remains committed to driving the legacy of HBCUs by elevating academic excellence and supporting students who continue to move that legacy forward.”
In the event’s final match, North Carolina Central University bested defending champion Hampton University by accurately answering questions across a range of topics from history and science to geography and culinary arts. Their win, the HBCU’s first HCASC championship title, earned NCCU a $100,000 institutional grant. Runner-up Hampton University won a $40,000 grant, while third- and fourth-place finishers Fisk University and Spelman College each received a $26,000 grant. Norfolk State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Prairie View A&M University, and Southern University and A&M College rounded out the top eight teams that advanced to the competition’s finals.
The NCCU team was coached by Clayton C. Mark, Jr., associate director for the division of extended studies, and includes team captain Ronnie Butts, a junior majoring in political science from Charlotte, North Carolina; Chantel Chestnutt, a junior majoring in history and political science from Goldsboro, North Carolina; Alena Docker, a junior majoring in political science from Youngsville, North Carolina; and Jadzia “Z” Kowalczyk, a freshman majoring in art from Garner, North Carolina. The team is NCCU’s first all-woman squad to represent the university and the third all-woman team to win a HCASC national championship.
“This is a breakthrough victory for NCCU,” said Mack. “This team combined brain-power, focus, resilience, and most of all, teamwork when it mattered most. Their belief in each other propelled them to victory.”
