Racine Sun

Racine Mayor Cory Mason promoted Gateway Technical College’s vaccine incentive on Facebook this week, where students who are vaccinated by Oct. 31 will receive $500 and be entered for a chance to win a $1,000 scholarship.

Students who are fully vaccinated and have successfully uploaded a photo of their vaccination card to their student accounts before the 31st will receive a $500 check the week of Nov. 8, the same day of the scholarship drawing. In total, Gateway Technical College will be awarding 110 $1,000 scholarships to celebrate the school's 110th anniversary, according to its website.

“Gateway Technical College is offering COVID-19 vaccine incentives to students this fall including the chance to win a $1,000 scholarship.  Get more information at gtc.edu/VAX. Go RedHawks,” said Mayor Cory Mason in a Facebook post. 

Current numbers show that 56.8% of eligible residents of Racine County have already been fully vaccinated, while the current positive test rate is 9.1%, with 46.3 new daily cases per 100,000 people, according to Covid Act Now. Racine County’s vaccination rate is similar to the rest of Wisconsin on the whole, where 56.7% of eligible Wisconsinites have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Department of Health Services. 

The use of monetary incentives by the school aims to help slow the positivity rate from increasing by making scholarships available for use in both the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters, according to Gateway Technical College.