NEW ORLEANS (March 20, 2021) – Four DU students will compete today and Saturday in the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge Sweet Sixteen Playoffs for a chance to advance to the finals with a $75,000 institutional grant as top prize.

The competition will be live-streamed at 9 a.m. CST both days online at www.HCASC.com. Winners will then advance to the National Championship Tournament, set for April 17-20.

The DU team will include Chad Fuselier, a junior accounting major from Lafayette; Jared M. Ingram, a sophomore biology major from Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Precious Richardson, a senior accounting and finance major from St. Joseph; and Jala Hicks, a junior biology and pre-med major from Monroe.

Terrica Watkins is team coach.

Fuselier said being a part of the team competing in HCASC has provided him with the academic challenge he needed. He said the team’s progress “validates Dillard because we’re winning against other teams across the country.”

A Honda Challenge news release described the event as “America’s premier academic competition” between students from HBCUs through which Honda annually awards more than $350,000. Dillard has competed in 20 of the 32 seasons.

The competition challenges students to expand their knowledge on a variety of topics such as history, science, literature, religion, the arts and pop culture while gaining life-long learning skills.

For more than three decades, Honda has supported HBCUs through initiatives like the Campus All-Star Challenge and the Honda Battle of the Bands. During that time, it has awarded more than $14 million in grants in support of HBCU education programs and facilities improvement, according to the release.