Giveaway helps students consider graduation, brings awareness to UA campuses

One lucky student received two tickets to fly anywhere on Alaska Airlines for participating in the myTRACK Giveaway, hosted by Student and Enrollment Services as part of the Stay on TRACK campaign. The giveaway, which lasted for two months, encouraged students to think about their own path to graduation by entering the contest and taking a self-portrait showing how many years it would take to graduate.

Monica Nuernberg, winner of the plane tickets, said the contest helped her think about how long it would take to graduate from UAA. Nuernberg is in the Army ROTC program, which already encourages students to choose a graduation date and stick with it. While in the program, Nuernberg filled out a form with each class she planned to take for every semester until graduation so she knew what it was going to take to graduate.

A staff and faculty member were also winners in the giveaway, receiving $250 for a UA department of choice. Dennis Massingham, assistant professor in the Heavy Duty Transportation & Equipment program at UAA, was the faculty winner and Tanya Coty, executive assistant to the vice president for Academic Affairs, was the staff winner.

The Stay on TRACK campaign and giveaway are grounded in the philosophy that students and the university can take deliberate actions to graduate in a timelier manner, which brings many benefits including saving money. Estimates show that it costs a student an extra $10,000 to graduate in five years instead of four years.

Visit the Stay on TRACK website to learn how you can finish in four.