A group of students will compete today to prove which famous hero is worthy of being inducted into the MSU Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame.
For the last month, five student teams, which are made of three members, have been gathering information about famous figures in history such as Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana and Rosa Parks. Each team will have 10 minutes to make its case to three university officials through skits, videos or slideshow presentations.
The event will be held at 6 p.m. today in room N100 of the Business College Complex. The winning team will receive $1,500.
Darrell King, assistant director of Multicultural Business Programs in the Eli Broad College of Business, organized the fourth annual competition. He said the competition was designed to promote multiculturalism during Black History Month.
"It exposes a wide audience to the contributions of multicultural heroes from all over the world who live by the ideology of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in terms of social justice and human rights," King said.
Marketing senior Theresa Watts said members in her group have worked hard to gather information about Susan B. Anthony, their chosen hero.
Watts said by preparing for the competition, she learned how Anthony's contributions are significant during Black History Month.
"She wasn't just about women's rights," Watts said. "I knew she was on a coin for women's rights, but I didn't know she had a lot to do with freeing slaves and human rights in general."
Watts also competed last year, and her group's hero was Mahatma Ghandi. The group dressed in black and performed a memorial service skit about the activist.
"It was fun, and I learned a lot," Watts said. "Some groups were very dramatic in their approach. People really put a lot of time into this competition, and I didn't think it would be that intense."
The teams are judged on content, presentation style and how well they made their arguments, said Anne Crain, a graduate assistant with the Multicultural Business Program.
King said the program also will help develop professional presentation skills, case competition skills for undergraduates and promote a sense of cultural efficacy for all people.
"It's a great opportunity to represent people from all walks of life," King said. "Students teach other students about why their figure is important."
Watts said she liked the concept for the competition and wanted to participate to learn more about the contributions different heroes have made.
"It's only 10 minutes of your life, where you have that window of time to give it your all, put on a show and educate people," Watts said.
