First place winners, Senior Alexis Akrisge and Junior Donte Green both of Cass Tech, are flanked by Pistons legend Rick Mahorn and Fathead COO Patrick McInnis.

Quicken Loans, Fathead and the Detroit Pistons Palace Foundation sponsored the 5th Annual Know Your Black History Event on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History (CHW).  Approximately 200 students came together from Southwestern High School, Cass Tech High School and University Prep. Academy High School to cheer on their classmates and participate in the tour of the  “And Still I Rise” exhibit at the CHW Museum.

Guest speakers included Rick Mahorn (Detroit Pistons legend), Patrick McInnis (Chief Operating Officer of Fathead), Wendy Kemp (Director of Community Relations for Quicken Loans), Juanita Moore (President and CEO of the Charles H. Wright Museum), Sharon McClendon (Director of Community Affairs for MY-TV 20), Dr. Darius (WJLB Deejay), and Tuskegee Airmen Frank Gregory.  The speakers shared personal experiences, contributed inspiring dialogue and expressed the impact of Black History in their own lives and took time to answer questions from the students in the audience.

Each of the participating schools chose two students to represent them in the scholarship competition. The contestants had three minutes to present their appreciation for Black History via different mediums such as speech, song, rap, poetry, video montage, and other art-focused submissions.  The winners took home scholarship prizes to offset their cost of higher education, a Pistons Fathead and four tickets to the Detroit Pistons v. San Antonio Spurs game on Feb. 21. 

The judges had a difficult time deciding which student would win the $10,000 prize.  As time ran out, the discussion turned to how much was needed to grant two first place prizes. Within seconds, Quicken Loans took the lead with Fathead and offered the additional funds needed to award two $10,000 scholarships. Everyone was impressed with the variety of talent from all of the students who presented. 

Senior Alexis Akrisge of Cass Tech won with an inspirational speech and video montage and Junior Donte Green of Cass Tech won for his combination of rap, poetry and speech.  The students held hands in anticipation of finding out the winner and both jumped in excitement when they learned they had both received first place. Teachers, parents and students were shocked and excited by the offering of the second scholarship. It showed that people involved with the event cared and wanted to set a precedence for the younger students in the audience that no matter what they should do their best, because they could be the next winner of the Know Your Black History scholarship contest.

Kiara Rucker of University Prep won a $2,500 scholarship and Mack Taylor (Southwestern), Crystal Sims (University Prep) and Christina Wright (Southwestern) were each awarded $1,000.

The students certainly made this special event memorable with their creativity and guest speakers inspired the audience by their personal stories of determination and success. All of us at Quicken Loans and Fathead congratulate all of the participants in this year’s scholarship competition and we look forward to seeing the students on center court at the February 21 Pistons game.