For immediate release — Nov. 22, 2011

(DALLAS) — Calling all teams! Calling all teams for the next Super Bowl of brain teasers and crowd pleasers!

It’s time once again to help young African-American men make the grade in a competition that will test their brain power and their academic skills in the Dallas County Community College District’s third annual African American Male Academic Bowl — Aiming for the Stars — on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012.

Participants and their coaches are “Aiming for the Stars” in this event, which is presented by DCCCD, Project Still I Rise Inc. and the University of Texas at Dallas. The program will feature a day of intense competition and mental focus by approximately 150 African-American young men in grades 4 through 7 who attend school in Dallas County and — for the first time — some from Tarrant County. North Lake College, located at 5001 N. MacArthur Blvd. in Irving, will host the event, which begins at 9 a.m.

The deadline for teams and coaches to sign up has been extended to Friday, Dec. 16, 2011.

Each team pays a registration fee of $100. A team coach can support more than one team in each category. Team coaches must be 21 years of age or older, and they are required to participate in a brief orientation that is conducted by the event committee. Each coach supports a team of three young men.

Facts will fly, answers will make or break the competition, and teams will face off during the day-long event. This program — now an annual event — is designed to encourage young African-American men to study hard, work hard and achieve their dreams ... to aim high and succeed.

The event, which is the area’s “Super Bowl” of brainy competition, seeks to address the achievement gaps, plus academic and social pitfalls, facing African-American males. Starting at the elementary and middle school levels is key, based on a number of academic studies.

“The African American Male Academic Bowl is designed to liberate, validate and accentuate passion among African-American males to excel in school and beyond,” says David Robinson, who is directing the program and is DCCCD’s coordinator of outreach. “This event is intended to be a positive forum that promotes out-of-school learning and provides supplemental access to information and relationships that can be of paramount importance to life-long academic success.”

The event competition will be keen as team members seek to out-think and outscore their opponents. Using a “Jeopardy”-style format, teams choose questions from one of five categories and earn point values based on difficulty. They respond with buzzers so that they can be recognized and answer their questions. Categories include African-American history, mathematics, science, African-American “firsts” and geography. The two divisions — 4th/5th grades and 6th/7th grades — hold single-elimination rounds during the competition, culminating with a championship round for each group to determine the academic bowl winners.

Teams are forming. The search for team coaches is under way. Study has begun. The stage is set for an exciting day of fun and competition. Now it’s time for students and schools to sign up, sponsors to sign on and the community to support brains (not brawn) in the county’s third annual African American Male Academic Bowl.

Be there ... or be “pi squared!”

For more information, contact Robinson at (214) 378-1728 or at info@aamab.org, or visit the “Aiming for the Stars” Academic Bowl website at http://www.aimingforthestars.org.

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Press contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819; ahatch@dcccd.edu
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