Ohio University will hold a five-week prize drawing for students who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which will conclude with a scholarship valued at one semester’s in-state tuition rate for the Fall Semester.
To enter, students must register their vaccine through the COVID-19 Testing Pathway Program and select the Vaccination Pathway, which will require students to upload a picture of their vaccination card.
The Vaccination Pathway also allows students an exemption from mandatory weekly asymptomatic COVID-19 testing during Fall Semester. Students who have already selected this pathway are automatically entered in the drawing, according to the Bobcats Get Vaxxed website.
During weeks one through four, two winners will be selected – one student from the Athens campus and one regional campus student. Selected students have 72 hours to accept or decline the prize before a new winner is drawn.
Prizes for the first four weeks include:
- Week one: a personal one-hour photo shoot for the winner and up to three friends
- Week two: a VIP ride in the 2021 Homecoming parade
- Week three: a drink named after the winner at the Front Room Coffeehouse for the academic year
- Week four: dinner with an OU celebrity
Selected winners have the option of choosing a $500 scholarship as an alternative to the aforementioned experience based prizes. The deadline to enter for the first prize drawing is July 15, with subsequent drawings having varying entry deadlines.
The grand prize for the final week of the drawing is a scholarship valued at full in-state tuition and fees for one semester. Only one grand prize winner will be selected from enrolled students across the main and regional campuses. The deadline to select the Vaccination Pathway is Aug. 12 to be eligible for the grand prize, according to the website.
In a university-wide email, Gillian Ice stated that the university anticipates approximately 50% of the Athens student body to be vaccinated by the time classes begin in the fall, with regional campus numbers being even lower.
The prize initiative was implemented to encourage students to get vaccinated and register this vaccine with the university in order to prevent sickness, quarantine and isolation on OU’s campuses, according to the website.
“We could easily prevent nearly all sickness and quarantine on our campuses if most students, faculty, and staff were vaccinated,” Ice said in the email. “I encourage everyone to get vaccinated and select a testing pathway as soon as possible.”
Winners will be announced through social media and on the Keeping Bobcats Informed website.
