During Christmas Slam, The Collegiate Entrepreneur’s Organization gave away $250 in gift cards to the student competing for a year’s tuition.
The winner, Andrew Collins, junior biology major from McKinney, was chosen by raffle. He shot a layup, a free throw and a three pointer in 25 seconds. Had he made the final shot from half court, he would have won a full year’s worth of tuition.
“It was really stressful,” Collins said. “My dad and sister are good at basketball and I’m not, so the last thing I expected was to win something relating to basketball, but it was fun, and I had a good time.”
Collins’ earnings were comprised of $25 to McAlister’s Deli, $75 to Walmart and $150 to Amazon. The shootout was during halftime to set this year’s ACU Christmas Slam apart from years past.
Beau Carter, junior political science major from Farmers Branch, serves as the vice president of Student’ Association. His position in the association puts him in charge of marketing and putting together Christmas Slam among other events.
“As my first year heading it up, (I was) just looking forward to getting as many people to the game as possible to have the best possible experience,” Carter said.
Rudy Garza, president of CEO, worked with Carter to organize the event.
“CEO works to give ACU students the tools they need to take their passions and turn them into companies that can change their communities – or even the world,” said Garza, junior marketing major from Corpus Christi.
Garza also serves as the chief communications officer (CCO) for SA. He used his position in CEO to merge SA into Christmas Slam to benefit students as well as increase the turnout for the game itself.
“As CCO at SA, I design and push out promotional campaigns,” Garza said. “But as president of CEO, I’ve decided to work with SA on Christmas Slam by sponsoring a half-court shot series where students could win a year of free tuition.”
Attendance to Christmas Slam by social clubs was encouraged. Not only did it get more spectators at the basketball game, it also gave them a chance to win money for this year’s Sing Song costumes.
“Everyone in club came out and got rowdy and supported,” Garza said. “It helped their chance to win money, too.”
