URP students takes 2nd place in 14th annual Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame 2015 Case Competition
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EmailEli Broad College of Business held the 14th annual Black History Month Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame 2015 Case Competition on Feb. 18, 2015.
By: SPDC Communications
Eli Broad College of Business held the 14th annual Black History Month Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame 2015 Case Competition on Feb. 18, 2015. The MSU Urban & Regional Planning Program (URP) had two students participate in the competition. Their team, Diversity of Distinguished Women, took second place out of the top five teams in the final round.
The competition was created to honor various heroes who exemplify Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream. The purpose of the program is to highlight Black History Month and multicultural leaders who have had a significant impact on the world. The field of honorable heroes from the top five competition teams included Cesar Chavez, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ella Baker, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Yuri Kochiyama.
The competition was open to MSU undergraduates of all majors. Once teams were created, a representative of each team was then to select their hero. The overarching goal of the presentations were to demonstrate why the hero should be inducted into the Black History Month Multicultural Heroes Hall of Fame. The students’ presentations were judged on the following criteria: introduction, knowledge of hero, linkage to Martin Luther King Jr’s ideas, presentation skills, time utilization, and overall presentation. The winners were selected by the panel of judges and won a $2,000 grand prize.
Two URP students, Delaney Yancey and Wendy Caldwell, and one student from the College of Social Science (Delacey Yancey) made up the Diversity of Distinguished Women team who presented on Ella Baker. She was a strong and influential Civil Rights leader.
Delaney Yancey described a major reason the team chose Ella Baker, “We wanted to shine the light on a women who did so much and had so much power but who didn’t receive the spotlight.”
Ella Baker was an essential part of the Civil Rights movement, and she strived for social justice for all. According to Caldwell, choosing Ella Baker “meant paying it forward, to give her the voice she fought for us to have.”
Baker’s voice and actions were heard throughout the Civil Rights movement as she dedicated her life for change.
The urban and regional planning profession relates strongly to the principles of the competition, as many planners work mostly behind the scenes without much of the credit. Planning also strives for quality in the environment, the economy, and in society. Ella Baker strove to ensure that all voices were heard. Urban planning professionals do the same thing today.
According to Delaney Yancey, “These professionals are at the ‘heart of the community,’ much like Ella Baker was, and we need leaders like her.”
Caldwell describes the relationship between Civil Rights leaders and planners in that both “help to create the physical environment for economic advancements and social justice by advocating for all the people they serve in their own communities.”
Please join us in congratulating these URP seniors on a memorable presentation and their standing in the competition!
