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Actors Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison of NBC’s “A Different World” visited Terrell, Texas, to celebrate with the community and students of Southwestern Christian College. The small HBCU of just 125 students, are the grand prize winners of the inaugural Ford HBCU Drive2Greatness contest, which has awarded them with the Ultimate Homecoming Takeover experience worth $150,000.
How did a college with so few students win such a huge cash prize?
“Like Ella Fitzgerald, we go down swinging,” says Dr. Ervin D. Seamster, Jr, the president of Southwestern Christian College, the only historically black higher education institution associated with Churches of Christ. “First it was fun, a way to galvanize and bring people together who had given up on Southwestern Christian College. Many people have given up on HBCUs. We became very competitive.”
The senior minister for the 450-member Light of the World Church of Christ in Dallas, assumed the top post at the Terrell, Texas, college in January 2017.
Culminating eight weeks of viral voting by HBCUs across the country, this accomplishment is the epitome of a David and Goliath story, as this very small college beat out all of the larger Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the nation for this amazing 2018 Homecoming experience.
Seamster closes, “It was a positive experience. I want to thank Ford for even allowing our school, a small HBCU to participate and giving us a chance to win.”
