As prom season approaches and schools plan celebrations that are alcohol and drug free, one Iowa community college is helping to add appeal to those events. Southwestern Community College spokeswoman Julie Weishaar says they’re offering an incentive for students who attend the organized post-prom events.
Students can enter a drawing to win one free semester of college. One senior and one high-school junior from the 17-school region will win $1,850, which is the cost of one semester. Each participating school is getting a bucket filled with registration materials they can use to let students sign up for the prize.
When they walk into the after-prom activity, the bucket will be there and they’ll put their entry into that bucket. Most of the proms in the region are this weekend and next weekend, so after that the buckets filled with entries will be collected and the drawing will be done May 21.
The two winning students will not get cash, but can redeem their prize for a paid semester at the community college in Creston. The students who win the drawing will have to register at Southwestern Community College to take advantage of their prize, and attend a full year of school. Weishaar explains the prize will pay for part of their first semester and part of the second, during that academic year. They can choose a two-year program or different diploma program, or an Associate of Arts certification and transfer to a four-year institution.
"They can go into the automotive program, or structural drawing," she says. "That’s wide open." The drawing will be open to students attending post-prom events at seventeen school districts.
The schools included in the prize region are Bedford, Central Decatur, Clarke, Corning, Creston, Diagonal, East Union, Lamoni, Lenox, Mormon Trail, Mount Ayr, Murray, Nodaway Valley, Orient-Macksburg, Red Oak, Stanton, and Villisca.