Six in region win $10,000 Vax-2-School scholarships

State is giving away 30 $10,000 scholarships each day this week, plus five $100,000 scholarships on Friday.

The first list of Vax-2-School scholarship winners from the Ohio Department of Health included six people from the Miami Valley.

Thirty people won $10,000 scholarships Monday via a drawing open to all Ohioans age 5 to 25 who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The six winners from the region included Mitchell Link of Jamestown in Greene County; Lessah Lemaster of Enon in Clark County; Madison Cooke of Maineville in Warren County; plus three people from West Chester Twp. in Butler County — Alena McCain, Martin Philip and Katrina Whitmore.

Vax-2-School is a vaccine incentive program aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates among younger Ohioans. The scholarships can be used at any college, university, trade school, technical program or job training program in the state.

Another 30 scholarships of $10,000 each will be announced each day through Friday. The deadline for the grand prize — five $100,000 scholarships — is 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. The winners of the $100,000 scholarships will be announced at 7:29 p.m. Friday during the Ohio Lottery broadcast.

To register, Ohioans or their guardians can visit https://ohiovax2school.com/ or call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH (1-833-427-5634). To find a vaccine provider, visit https://gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov/.

Ohio received 133,652 entries by Nov. 22 for its first Vax-2-School drawing. It is not clear how many more Ohioans registered by the 11:59 p.m. Sunday deadline.

Winners are selected using a random generator number, the same as the state used in the Vax-a-Million incentive.

Those who were not selected in the first two drawings will automatically be carried over into the following drawings. People who were previously vaccinated are eligible to win.

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