Top Students Vie for $50k Top Prize in AT&T HBCU Challenge

Team’s Business Idea to Expand AT&T’s 5G Network into Underserved Communities

MEDIA CONTACT: Damita Chambers, dchambers@bowiestate.edu, 301-832-2628 mobile 

(BOWIE, Md.) – Three top Bowie State University students, with a passion for leveraging technology to close the digital divide, are competing against 15 teams from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) for a $50,000 top prize in the first-ever AT&T HBCU Innovation Challenge Team. The top winners will be announced Friday, Nov. 13 at the AfroTech World virtual conference.

The BSU team advanced to the semi-finals based on the strength of the students’ proposed solution to the challenge of helping AT&T to expand the 5G digital network to reach more communities, especially in healthcare, education or low-income communities. The BSU team devised a business plan to use digital technologies to develop a home classroom transformation model for underserved communities.

A panel of AT&T professionals will evaluate the teams’ plans and 20-minute virtual presentations to determine the top winners. Each team was each assigned AT&T mentors to prepare for the presentations. BSU alumnus Bryan Stewart (’10), an AT&T manager, volunteered to work with the students representing his alma mater.

The students are:

• Israel Ibidapo ('18), master of business administration student
• Sean Roberts, computer technology major
• Akili Smith ('20), master of business administration student

“They have been go-getters from the very beginning. I’m impressed, encouraged and over the moon about the drive and initiative of my students,” said Dr. Deborah Bailey, assistant professor of Department of Management, Marketing & Public Administration. “The advice that the AT&T professionals gave them was incredible. It was lovely to hear AT&T professionals say the same thing that I say in class.”

The students’ brainstorming about how to address the AT&T challenge quickly gelled around an idea to develop a solution to expand the footprint of the 5G network into low-income communities, with a focus on education.

“There is a digital divide, and so we were able to bring our personal interests and passions together to find a solution that’s actually going to impact an area that will leave a mark,” said Ibidapo, who aspires to become a business or franchise owner. “I definitely wanted to take on this challenge because it caused me to think critically about solutions that have never been implemented before. I wanted to challenge myself in a way that I had never been challenged before.” 

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About Bowie State University
Bowie State University (BSU) is an important higher education access portal for qualified persons from diverse academic and socioeconomic backgrounds, seeking a high-quality and affordable public comprehensive university. The university places special emphasis on the science, technology, cybersecurity, teacher education, business, and nursing disciplines within the context of a liberal arts education. For more information about BSU, visit bowiestate.edu.