Mister Virginia State University Isaiah Matthews-Braxton is now holding a new title: Mister HBCU.

On Saturday, January 29th the Mister HBCU Kings’ Leadership Conference and Competition took place in St. Louis, Missouri, with attendees representing 20 different universities.

The mission of the Mister HBCU Kings’ Leadership Conference and Competition is, “To enhance the leadership skills of males attending HBCUs by creating an infrastructure for leadership that enables them to develop as spokespersons, role models and leaders in their respective universities and communities, while participating in competition to serve as the reigning Mister HBCU.”

At the competition candidates were judged in three main categories:  oratory, talent, and presentation/image. Finalists additionally were judged on ease of manner.

In the oratory competition candidates delivered a three minute speech responding to a prompt focused on mental health:

“You good, bruh? What influences Black men to access mental health services, or not, and how can we reduce barriers to seeking mental health services in our community?”

Articulation, elocution, content, presentation, and projection during delivery were scored during the delivery of the three minute speech with a total points possible of 45.

The Leadership Conference provides registered Kings the opportunity to engage in interactive workshops that focus on: Leadership Development, Personal and Professional Development, Community and Social Engagement.

A video of the competition can be accessed through the Facebook page of the Kings’ Leadership Conference at https://www.facebook.com/misterhbcu/