NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday announced the first 10 winners of the state’s college scholarship raffle for vaccinated teens.
As an incentive to get children aged 12 to 17 vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. Cuomo last week announced the “Get a Shot to Make Your Future” initiative.
The program encourages all New York children to get vaccinated to be eligible to win a full four-year scholarship to any public college or university in the state.
The raffle will run through July 7 and 10 winners will be announced every week, for a total of 50 winners.
On Wednesday, the first 10 winners comprised of children from all over the state, including Charlotte D’Agostino from the Bronx, Ariana Nasr from Bayside, Bai Tang Jiang from Queens, Liam Burke from Westchester and Hannah Lee from Westbury. Other winners were from Victor, Albany, Chazy, Syracuse and Penfield.
“Congratulations to them, they just won a full, four-year scholarship — room and board — to any state college, university — that’s the SUNY system, that’s the CUNY system here,” Cuomo said. “This is about a $100,000 value, this scholarship.”
The governor also congratulated the children’s parents, noting that funding a college education is a source of stress for many families in the United States.
“For the students, it’s great, but for the parents, it’s also good that they know this is something they’re not going to have to worry about,” Cuomo said.
Those who wish to enter the running for a future raffle can enter at ny.gov/vaccinescholarship.
The scholarship winners were announced as the governor also confirmed only 8.7% of New Yorkers aged 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated – and most of them are between the ages of 16 and 17.