Move Over Bands, Bring on the HBCU Battle of the Brains
2022 Fisk University BOTB Winners
HBCU Battle of the Brains’s (BOTB) mission is to showcase some of the brightest HBCU minds earning STEM and Business degrees while also supporting winners with academic scholarships.
Through industry-specific challenges, mentoring, and professional development, HBCU Battle of the Brains aims to support Black and Brown students who are pursuing degrees in industries where representation is severely lacking.
In the pursuit of finding the next HBCU Battle of the Brains (BOTB) champion, the 7th annual competition will take place from March 6 to March 10, 2024, in Austin, TX.
So, how does it work? BOTB pits teams of students against one another as they flex their problem-solving muscles and work to develop solutions to business challenges, presenting their ideas to industry judges who determine the victors.
The competition gives each team 24 hours to develop a solution based on the business challenges presented. Seven teams advance to the finals and are judged on their analysis, business/technology solution, presentation, and a question & answer period. The team champion and the top 2 finalists return to their home institutions with $50,000, $20,000, and $10,000, respectively. Individual students can also receive a $2,000 scholarship from Dell Technologies and a $5,000 scholarship from eBay.
The success of the competition has been demonstrated by increased HBCU participation over the years, returning sponsors (the NFL returns as the title sponsor), and returning coaches.
The competition sometimes leads to special opportunities for students. For example, in the 2018 BOTB, Alcorn State University senior and team captain, Kevin Washington, impressed a software engineer manager from Home Depot.
As a result, Washington secured a job with The Home Depot Headquarters as the company's associate product manager. Washington's experience during the battle and his post-graduation success led him to return to the battle as a coach in subsequent years.
Gregory Gibson, Jr., the founder and Executive Director of the HBCU BOTB and the HSI (Hispanic Serving Institutions) BOTB, shared that the program has "provided opportunities for individuals in industries in which they are underrepresented" and has helped talented HBCU scholars achieve success.