Students have an opportunity to win a scholarship just by texting a number.
This is Gator Dining’s second year conducting the text-to-win campaign with Dr Pepper, said Jill Rodriguez, the marketing program manager of Gator Dining Services.
Four students will be awarded scholarships totaling $7,000 with three $1,000 winners and one $4,000 winner.
A winner will be announced each month during the Spring semester.
The January winner has already been contacted and will be announced Thursday evening at the Gator Corner Dining Center from 6 to 8 p.m.
Michael Everette, a 19-year-old UF electrical engineering sophomore, won the Dr Pepper tuition scholarship giveaway last year.
Everette saw an email from Gator Dining Services advertising the giveaway and texted to enter the competition. In late April, he received a call saying he had won the $4,000 scholarship.
“It has been nice having some extra cash and not taking out as many loans,” Everette said.
Katherine Arellano, a 20-year-old UF public relations sophomore, won the giveaway last February.
Unlike Everette, Arellano knew she could enter the competition multiple times.
“I believe the reason I won was that I literally texted that number every single day,” Arellano said.
Winning the scholarship was an exciting experience for Arellano.
“I was jumping up and down, I had never won something like that before,” Arellano said. “I’m not the type of person to win raffles or giveaways.”
Arellano put the money she won aside for her summer study abroad trip to London and Paris with the UF’s College of Journalism and Communications.
“It was definitely a self-esteem booster to have the opportunity to win something like a scholarship,” Arellano said.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 1/29/2014 under the headline "Gator Dining continues text-to-win Dr Pepper scholarship"]
