By A record number of students signed up to win free tuition for the fall semester as part of Owen’s Condition for Tuition.
More than 3,000 students signed up by the Feb. 16 deadline, a 37 percent jump from last semester in which 1,914 students signed up, said Ashley McKeachie, a membership sales and marketing coordinator at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.=
Joshua Owen, president of the transportation services company Ability Tri-Modal, has sponsored Owen’s Condition for Tuition since 2011. He said he sponsors the event in an effort to motivate students to get involved with a healthier lifestyle.=
To qualify for the raffle, students must sign up and accumulate 29 exercise points, one point for every 30 minutes of exercise. Students who are entered into the raffle have a chance to win the grand prize: a free semester of tuition paid for by Owen.
Other prizes that will be raffled off include 3G Bikes and Polar heart rate monitors, according to the SRWC website.
McKeachie said that of the 1,914 students who signed up for the program in the fall 2013, only 370 qualified for the grand prize, which was won by junior biology major Brad Thomas.
Sophomore journalism major and membership services representative at the SRWC Colette Killworth said she is excited to see students who don’t win one semester return the following semester to try again.
“It is awesome to see such involvement on a commuter campus,” Killworth said. “It’s awesome to see kids eager about redeeming their points after a good workout and excited about the chance of potentially winning free tuition.”
Junior marketing major Lee Anderson said he participates in Owen’s Condition for Tuition every semester in hopes of winning the grand prize.
“I have been here and I am hopeful I will win one of these times,” Anderson said. “I wouldn’t mind having someone else pay for a semester.
Other students, such as senior kinesiology major Jessica Donnely, said they are pleased the competition encourages a healthier lifestyle.
“I am really excited to see that our school has such a great program that promotes a healthier life that so many people are participating in,” Donnely said. “I know that it will ultimately help many people, and maybe save a life or two.”
Students have been redeeming exercise points since Jan. 21 and have until April 27 to accumulate the total number of points necessary to qualify for the raffle, which will take place on May 1.
