New-to-OCC Panthers have Competition on the Run

October 29th, 2009 at 10:44 am

New to the ONE Campus Challenge this year, Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas has sky-rocketed from 496th place just a few weeks ago up to the #11 spot on the leaderboard and, impressively, third place in the running for our monthly challenge win. The Philander Smith Panthers are at 506 on new recruits, nipping right at the University of Central Florida’s heels (UCF has 546).

So how’d they do it? For Philander, it was all about a compelling email sent out to the student listserv. The message explained the ONE Campus Challenge mission and competition, and played on school pride to inspire sign ups. The response was amazing, with 500 students signing up in the course of a couple of weeks.

Part of the mission of Philander Smith College is to graduate students who are “grounded as advocates for social justice, determined to change the world for the better,” so these students ought to be prepared to take on the fight against global poverty. The school has a couple distinctions that are pretty unique in the OCC top 100 schools, including being a historically Black college (HBCU) and founding member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). You can learn more about Philander Smith here.

Remember, the campus recruiting the most new members in October will receive 20,000 points and some cool prizes. We’ve reserved some points and prizes for second and third place schools, too!