RICHARDSON, TX — There`s nothing like a lil` friendly competition to help strengthen the minds of our future leaders!

Check it out:  hundreds of area middle and elementary school boys were battling it out over at

UT Dallas for the “6th Annual African American Male Academic Bowl”

This brainy bunch brought their ‘A’ game on math, science, history and enough topics to make your head spin!

“They study for months at a time,” said event founder, David Robinson, Jr. “Once they get here they know that if they don’t advance after that first round… that’s it!”

Yeah, mark it the battle of the brains!

“I came in with the mindset of trying to get the experience,” explained contestant, Dylan Deterville.  “Next year I’ll be back to win!”

And of course in any competition, there`s only a handful of winners … but the main objective wasn`t all about buzzing in for the gold!

“The 4th through 8th grade demographic for African American young males is the area that’s most considered at high risk for drop out,” added Robinson.

“What we’re trying to do is create an atmosphere that helps them want to go to school past elementary, past middle school, past high school.”

Well, when you look at it from that perspective — there really are no wrong answers!