The benefits of a COVID-19 vaccination have been well-publicized: Proven protection against a potentially deadly illness.
Students at University of Wisconsin-Stout this fall will have more reasons to get the vaccine: Scholarships and prizes.
On Sunday, the UW System announced its 70 for 70 student vaccination campaign. At each campus, excluding UW-Madison, once 70% of students are vaccinated, a portion of 70 scholarships will be awarded. The scholarships, $7,000 each, will be given out via campus drawings at the qualifying schools.
UW-Stout is going a step further to encourage its incoming and returning students to protect themselves, the campus and regional community. It will award additional scholarships, matching the number it receives from the UW System.
Also, vaccinated students at UW-Stout will be eligible throughout the verification period for Blue Devil gear, gifts from local businesses, daily gift cards and more.
Any student who has been fully vaccinated and uploads their information to a secure database by Thursday, Oct. 15, will be eligible.
Students already vaccinated are eligible. Information about how to get the vaccine is available in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois.
“While we’re striving for a minimum of 70% of our student population vaccinated, we know we can do better,” said Chancellor Katherine Frank. “We’re asking every Blue Devil to do their part and get the COVID vaccine to help protect our community and each other. Blue Devils always rise to the occasion.”
In the coming weeks, a UW-Stout vaccine incentive webpage will provide the latest information on campus vaccination clinics, daily prize drawings and the grand scholarship prizes.
“As we welcome students back to campus this fall, we want their experience to be as normal and safe as we can make it,” said System President Tommy Thompson. “That means students should get vaccinated, and we will incentivize it knowing that high vaccination rates are critical to our success. The ‘70 for 70’ campaign is key to helping all our comprehensive universities achieve higher vaccination rates, especially in the face of the looming threat the Delta variant poses.”
UW System will not require students to be vaccinated. The 70% threshold was chosen based on estimates about the percentage of the population needed to reach herd immunity, which represents those who are vaccinated or who already had the virus and indicates a minimal level of communitywide protection.
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