Oakwood University Qualifies for HCASC National Championship Tournament

Oakwood University's Honda Campus All-Star Challenge team is competing at the HCASC National Championship Tournament, April 2 to 5, in Torrance, California.

HCASC is a prestigious competition that showcases the academic prowess of the brightest students from America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Oakwood is one of 48 institutions competing in the National Championship, for a $50,000 institutional grant. Oakwood's HCASC team traveling to Torrance (l-r): Olivia B. Campbell, Greg F. Edouard, Kenesha R. Bennett, captain; and Sesly D. Huerfano, and R. Rennae Elliott, Ph.D., coach. Team alternates Caleb Briggs, Thabo Ntini, Joshua Nwaoka and Jevez Robinson, along with the rest of the campus, will be cheering on the team from Huntsville.

"Earning a seat at the National Championship Tournament is no easy feat, and we congratulate each and every student for displaying the drive and determination necessary to do so," said Steve Morikawa, vice president, Corporate Relations and Social Responsibility, American Honda. "Over its 27-year history, Honda Campus All-Star Challenge has become a multi-generational community event, and we look forward to hosting the students and providing their families with an opportunity to watch them compete in California."

The final round of the 2016 National Championship Tournament will be live-streamed on Monday, April 4, starting at 12:00 ET on HCASC.com. For more information on the 2016 HCASC, including a full list of the 48 qualifying teams, visit www.hcasc.com.

Oakwoodites Share with the Community on Global Youth Day

Approximately 70 students from Oakwood, under the guidance of Chaplains Kimberly Mann and Ronald Pollard, participated in Global Youth Day activities in Huntsville's Northwood community on March 19. A unique way to experience hands-on ministry, the students participated in a random acts of kindness scavenger hunt, prayed with community members, passed out flowers to spread joy, picked up trash and cleaned up the area. Global Youth Day is sponsored by the General Conference's Youth Ministries Department.

Oakwood's Nursing Students Partner in Service

by Naomi Coggs, student writer

The Nursing Department was recently recognized by the local NBC affiliate station WAFF 48 News as a result of their partnership with Care Assurance System for the Aging (CASA).

The mission of CASA is to provide needed services to aging/homebound individuals that allow them to remain in their homes and age in place. Oakwood's partnership with CASA has been ongoing since 1998.

Students evaluate and counsel elderly clients emphasizing the CDC's injury prevention guidelines. Nursing students visit each client four times and help manage their health, while also raising awareness.

In an interview with WAFF 48 News reporter Bobby Shuttleworth, Oakwood University senior Marissa Robinson explained, "It's important to learn these life skills outside of the classroom or hospital setting because you don't get a chance to develop interpersonal skills as you would dealing with in-home nursing."

Click here to watch the full story.

Oakwood's New Beginnings Single Parent Resource Center Celebrates 10 Years of Service

by Megan Brantley, WHNT News 19

If you've got children, you know how expensive childcare can be, and if you're a single parent wanting to attend college, you may find childcare is out of your price range.

New Beginnings at Oakwood University steps in to help. This program has been looking after children, free of charge, for 10 years. New Beginnings saw that single parent students were facing challenges that traditional students weren't.

"Childcare is probably the largest challenge that they face. Many of them are low income and can't afford full-time childcare, some of them struggle with getting food and everyday items like toiletries," said Geraldine Thompson, coordinator for New Beginnings.

The part-time child care service is for students of any north Alabama school. Parents can drop children off while they attend classes. These students, largely women, range from 17 to 40 years old, trying to better their lives. "If they were not a part of this program, they would have dropped out," said Thompson.

But they now want to expand to provide full-time child care through scholarships to daycare partners.

However, they don't have the funds to do this right now without help from the community. Just a few dollars to send one child to daycare could change the child's life.

"Single parents living in poverty, their children tend to perpetuate that same poverty, if they do not obtain higher education or pursue a career," said Thompson.

New Beginnings is breaking that cycle.

New Beginnings also offers various other services for single parents, including a food pantry and scholarships. For more information, click here.

Oakwood Hosts USM Banquet

by Naomi Coggs, student writer

The lights were shining bright on March 20 during the "All of the Lights" United Student Movement Banquet. With 407 students and guests in attendance, the Westin Hotel banquet hall came alive for the colorful night.

In previous years, the annual banquet was held at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville. However, this year's banquet coordinator Zakary Nzabalinda tried something new. "We chose the Westin because we wanted to switch things up and the Westin was a little more aesthetic and gave a different feel," shared Nzabalinda.

The "All of the Lights" banquet showcased talent from across campus with a live band, a vocal performance, spoken word, inspirational dance, and art displays. Several students were awarded superlatives ranging from athlete of the year to artist of the year.

Students were pleasantly surprised with the outcome. "The banquet was very successful for it being the first of its kind. I think Oakwood students were not expecting that and were surprised at the effort put into it," shared junior Tyler Brown.

Oakwood Celebrates Social Work Month

by Danica Antoine, '17, social work major

In celebration of Social Work Month, the Oakwood Social Work Pre-Alumni Association invited Khrystal Jones, '06, (pictured front row, second from left) to present to Social Work students on the topic "Blogging, Entrepreneurship and Social Work." Jones, owner of five group homes in the Atlanta area, shared how God can use social workers to become successful business entrepreneurs and the importance of giving exceptional customer service, and treating everyone, regardless of who they are, with dignity and respect.

Jones also provided tips on how to apply excellence to their daily work ethic, and surpass the expectations of any academic or job task that they may encounter. She concluded by discussing the powerful role of social media, with particular attention on the growth and power of blogging. She discussed how to connect with and educate others, even when you can't physically be in their presence.

Jones' powerful words of inspiration definitely left an indelible impact on the hearts of many of our future Social Workers, inspiring us to greater aspirations.

Help Us Win the Home Depot Competition - Again!

With your help, for the past three years*, Oakwood has won top prizes in Home Depot's Retool Your School Campus Improvement Grant Program. The Retool Your School Program was established in 2010 to provide support for campus improvement projects to the nation's HBCUs. Since the program's inception, over one million dollars in grant money has been awarded.

Participating schools have submitted grants for campus improvement. Schools are judged on the creativity of their grant proposal as well as by the number of online votes and social media activity. Oakwood's three proposals highlight how each project will make a lasting, positive impact on the campus. The three projects are:

$50,000 (Tier 1) - Outdoor bathroom facility by the Unity Pond

$20,000 (Tier 2) - Seating (bleachers) for soccer field

$30,000 (Campus Pride) - Outdoor picnic/study area in between Blake Center and Library

Help support Oakwood now in the Retool Your School by clicking here and voting for Oakwood. You can vote on all of your devices including desktop, laptop, tablet, smart phone - daily. Oakwood will also be judged on social media activity. Help us acquire high votes by also using #Oakwood_RYS16 in all of your social media communication. Online voting will take place until April 24, 2016. The winners will be announced on May 18, 2016, in Atlanta.

Team Oakwood - we did this (and won) for the past three years. Let's show them we can do this again. We thank you for your support!

*FYI - Oakwood's past winnings:

2013 - $50,000 Tier 1 prize

2014 - $25,000 Campus Pride prize

2015 - $50,000 Tier 1 prize

Picture of the Week

On March 25, at their annual C100 Constituency Luncheon, president William Hicks, M.D., '75, presented a $75,000 check to Dr. Leslie Pollard and Kisha Norris, executive director for advancement and development, for the proposed OU Health Action Clinic on Bell Avenue in Huntsville.The Committee of 100 for Oakwood University is a group of committed alumni and friends who financially support various projects at Oakwood University.

About Oakwood

The mission of Oakwood University, a historically black, Seventh-day Adventist institution, is to transform students through biblically-based education for service to God and humanity.