EAST LANSING, Mich. -- In the fiercest competition in the nine-year history of the Black History Month Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame Case Competition, three MSU business students won the $1500 grand prize on Feb. 17 with a powerful presentation on South African anti-apartheid activist Steven Biko.
Kashif Bhatti, accounting freshman, Dominique Cobb, marketing sophomore, and Sara Colunga-Santoyo, marketing senior, used music, rap and movement to make the case for Biko’s induction into the Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame. The annual event is run by the Eli Broad College of Business.
Ten teams, involving 30 undergraduates from a variety of academic disciplines, began the competition on Jan. 20. The final seven teams delivered presentations to a panel of MSU faculty judges, students, corporate representatives and community members. Each team needed to make the case for why their hero should be inducted into Black History Month Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame.
The second place team made the case for Thurgood Marshall, the late Supreme Court justice and civil rights activist. The team was made up of Shruti Agrawal, accounting senior, Roman Krivochenitser, accounting senior, and Christopher Fan, comparative cultures and politics senior. They received a $600 prize.
The third place team made the case for William Wilberforce, the British abolitionist. The team was made up of Sean Coyle, chemical engineering junior, Rebecca Farnum, Interdisciplinary Humanities senior, and Grace Pappalardo, Residential College of Arts and Humanities sophomore. They received a $300 prize.
In the competition, the teams of three MSU undergraduates have 10 minutes to make their case for the hero they have chosen including a biographical overview, how the person has carried and passed the torch of justice, how the person contributed to the struggle for human rights, the relationship between their hero and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and why he/she should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
In the past nine years the Multicultural Heroes Case Competition has awarded over $20,000 in prizes.
“We are transforming lives and advancing knowledge while stressing the value of multiculturalism and diversity,” said Darrell E. King, founding chairperson of the competition. “It is our hope that as we honor past heroes on our educational journey, our path will be traveled by many.”