OREANDA-NEWS. Toyota Green Initiative (TGI), an environmental stewardship platform designed to empower the African American community to adopt a sustainable lifestyle, is pleased to announce that student Corban Bell of Grambling State University in Grambling, La., is the grand prize winner of TGI’s third annual Green Campus Contest.

With nearly 1,300 votes on www.ToyotaGreen.com, Bell’s plan and establishment of a permanent, campus-wide recycling program at his school earned him a 2012 Toyota Prius and USD 5,000 toward the purchase of trees for his Grambling State University campus. He also receives membership to the TGI Coalition, a collective of environmental experts and celebrities who speak on sustainability within the African American community and relevant ways to go green.

First prize winner and runner-up Domenio Smith of Howard University in Washington, D.C., will also receive USD 2,500 toward the purchase of trees for his school. The trees for both Howard University and Gambling State University will be planted during the fall 2013 TGI Mobile Tour.

The TGI Green Campus Contest is an environmental competition where students at select Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can submit plans on conserving resources within their campus and/or community. After an initial selection round, each of the 10 semifinalists is provided with a USD 500 budget to help implement his or her respective campus program. The results of their efforts are reviewed by the TGI Coalition and the two finalists’ essays are posted on ToyotaGreen.com where visitors can vote for their favorites. Past Green Campus Contest winners include Tamika Smith of Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., in 2011 and Stephen Graddick IV of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., in 2010.