Jessika Agyepong, a student at Howard University, is gearing up to rep her illustrious HBCU at the Jeopardy! National College Championship later today. 

Agyepong is one of 36 college undergraduates participating in the championship, which began airing this past Tuesday and is broken up into 12 quarterfinal games. One winner from each quarterfinal game will then move on to the semifinals, followed by the finals on Tuesday, Feb. 22. 

While the episodes were taped in November, the contestants have been keeping the championship outcome under wraps.

"Overall, it was a really great experience. All the contestants were super nice, and the competition itself was super fun," Agyepong said. "It was an interesting challenge."

"It was over a lot quicker than I expected. The games go by like really, really fast in a way that's not translated on screen, but it was really fun," she continued.

She went on to say that being on the show "is the highest honor" and allowed her to really advocate for HBCUs across the country.

"It's actually only the fourth time HBCUs been represented in the college tournament, like ever," Agyepong added. "Being in a place where I can really advocate for HBCUs and show up-and-coming students that, 'Hey you can go to an HBCU and be academically successful and stand up against Ivy Leagues and things like that,' that was really a prime motivator for appearing on the show. Again, [it's] like a really, really huge honor to be representing Howard."

Agyepong isn't the only HBCU student competing in the 2022 Jeopardy! National College Championship. A Spelman sophomore, Claire Jackson, is also participating in the competition, though her quarterfinal game doesn't air until next week.

Some other high-profile institutions being represented in the championship include Louisiana State, the University of Southern California, Yale, and the University of Virginia.

Agyepong's episode airs tonight at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.

Blavity-UBlavity-U-News