Many students endured the sun during the Textbook Scholarship Drawing, waiting and hoping to be one of the 23 winning names called on Sept. 7.
Winners received $250 gift cards to the campus bookstore, the Hawks Nest.
To qualify for the drawing, students just had to have been enrolled in at least nine units and be present.
The drawing began at 12:30 p.m., but every shaded table, bench and grassy area was occupied by 11 a.m.
By 11:30 a.m., the line for free hot dogs and sodas stretched from the fountain area to the stairs near the BS building.
And, as always, 24-year-old theater arts major Maurice Cooper was out on the steps bringing laughs to everyone by acting as if his name were about to be called as faculty members drew names from the box. Cooper has entered the drawing nearly 10 times but never won.
“Most students recognize me,” Cooper said. “Next semester will be my last semester here. Hopefully I win.”
Most winners carefully made their way to the podium when their name was called. But when 19-year-old art major Kashia Mouya’s heard her name called, she sprinted on stage.
“We were waiting in the shade over there and I was just so stoked that they actually picked my name. I was so ready to just go home,” Mouya said. “This is very convenient for me, especially since I’m an art student. Supplies are really important for us, so this stuff really helps.”
One winner was already on her way out when she heard her name called.
“I was on my way to class when they called my name so I turned around and came back,” said Stephanie Goins, a 51-year-old early childhood development major. “Hopefully it continues to help us out because a lot of us students can’t afford to pay for the books.”
Kenneth G. Cooper, the director of college advancement, said the money for the event comes from the annual fund.
“If you give to the annual fund that’s what’s called an unrestricted account, and its the account that we use to pay for the most critical needs of the college,” Cooper said. “We combine all of that giving and we’re able to do things like this.”
Cooper said that just as the amount of donations has increased over the years, so has the amount of students who show up for the drawing.
“Unfortunately, we don’t get a chance to count the number of students around here but we do get to count the number of slips of papers that we get in that box’s entries and we’re over 1,100 now,” Cooper said. “It really is kind of an indication of how much support students need out here.”