About 300 new and returning Bright Futures scholarship recipients were rewarded with free ice cream under a tent guarded by plastic pink flamingos Thursday.
The ice cream social held on the North Lawn of the Reitz Union was sponsored by the Florida Lottery, which funds the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. The lottery, going on its 25th year, funds 98 percent of the program for Florida high school graduates.
UF Vice President for Student Affairs Dave Kratzer opened the event with the introduction of the Florida Lottery Secretary Cynthia O’Connell. A former member of the UF Board of Trustees, O’Connell was married to UF President Stephen C. O’Connell, who died in 2001.
O’Connell stopped at UF on a state tour of public colleges to speak about the success of the Florida Lottery and how it has funded Bright Futures scholars. The lottery shattered records this year with contributions to the Education Enhancement Trust Fund of about $1.31 billion, bringing total lottery contributions to $24 billion.
“We’re doing our job to raise as much money as we can for education through the lottery,” O’Connell said after her speech.
Student Body President Tj Villamil closed the ceremony. Scholars were able to enter a raffle and participate in a trivia game for goodie bags.
Winn-Dixie donated ice cream for the event. Students attending received free blue and orange Bright Futures tie-dyed T-shirts and other merchandise.
Accounting sophomore Gloria Hernandez, a 19-year old Florida Medallion Scholar, said she was impressed by the amount of money raised by the lottery.
“They continue to do it despite the economic crisis,” Hernandez said.
O’Connell said there are currently about 25,000 scholars at UF with $59 million in scholarships, adding to a total of 339,000 scholarships and $870 million since the Bright Futures program began in 1997.
Finance freshman Seth Singson, an 18-year-old Florida Academic Scholar, said he was concerned that many of his friends had to attend community college because they couldn’t afford to attend UF.
“Lots of my friends couldn’t come even with Bright Futures,” Singson said.
Since the program began, the lottery has contributed $3.6 billion to 550,000 students statewide.
“The sale of a lottery ticket funds education,” O’Connell said after her speech. “Our mission is to fund education.”
This article has been changed to reflect a correction.
