The Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) and Camosun College are holding a contest for vaccinated students, and the grand-prize winner is going to walk away with a semester’s worth of free tuition.
The #CamVax: Vaccination for Education contest is open to all students who receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by September 7 of this year; from July 5 to September 13, one winner will be selected weekly to win a $50 gift bag, donated by Camosun College, of assorted items from the Camosun College Bookstore. On September 20, the CCSS will select the winner of the grand prize, tuition for fall 2021 (to a maximum of $10,000), donated by the CCSS.
“The contest was initially started as a college initiative through Student Affairs in order to draw attention to and promote vaccination in some respects and provide some prizes from the bookstore,” says CCSS executive director Michel Turcotte. “It was at one of the meetings in relation to that contest that we suggested expanding the prize pool by having a free tuition prize, because that wasn’t one of the initial prizes, and that prize is being contributed by the Camosun College Student Society.”
Turcotte says that one of the goals of the contest is “to create some excitement and buzz to get the message out there more so that students take the opportunity that is presented to them to get their vaccines.” He says another goal of the contest is to raise awareness; he says everyone on campus, and in the broader community, is going to be safer if there is a high vaccination rate in the community and campus.
“We’re not trying to reward people for getting their vaccination,” he says. “We’re trying to create awareness and excitement around encouraging students and everyone in the community to do the right thing, because our combined safety relies upon everybody fulfilling their commitments to their fellow members in the community.”
Turcotte says that the contest hopes to raise awareness around vaccines for the student demographic.
“Some of the statistics have shown that the vaccination rates have gone down slightly depending on the various age groups,” says Turcotte, “so as a student society we felt that it was necessary to try to put some additional efforts into helping promote this to our members, who are largely within those younger age demographics.”
The contest has also been a good chance for the CCSS and the college to work together, says Turcotte.
“This has been a great opportunity for the college and the student society to partner together on a student-focused initiative to do something that is beneficial to both the college community and everyone else who is involved,” he says. “So we really appreciate the assistance and cooperation of college officials in helping us add this grand prize to their contest.”
Domestic and international students are eligible to win the grand prize. See camosunstudent.org/camvax for more information.