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Cougar Trading Cards were handed out this semester to provide motivation for students to attend events on campus.
‘There are 55 different cards. A list may be found (online). When a student collects 15 cards, they get a poster. When they collect 25, they get a T-shirt,’ chemistry professor and Undergraduate Chair Simon Bott said.
‘Once they have 40 cards, they are entered into a weekly drawing for prizes. Prizes have included UH apparel, signed memorabilia and certificates for a UH Class ring. Finally, once a student collects all 55 cards, they win a $1,000 scholarship.’
Some of these trading cards provide a profile and picture of a student athlete, coach, alumnus, regent or other distinguished person on the UH campus.
The first winner of the $1,000 Cougar Trading Card scholarship was English sophomore Rheanne Spradley. However, since the semester is about to wrap up for the winter, there are not many trading card events left to attend for collection purposes.
‘As school is winding down, there are only 25 events left this semester at which students can get cards. Over the semester, however, there have been more than 500 Cougar Card events,’ Bott said
‘These include all varsity athletics, concerts, plays, workshops and student groups. In addition, students (can) get cards for going to advising and tutoring at (Learning Support Services) and (the Center for Academic Support and Assessment), and some faculty have given them out in class for getting ‘A’s on tests.’
A total of 80,000 trading cards have been given out at over 500 events this semester. During the winter break, two cards will be distributed at all the men’s and women’s basketball games, and the cards at each game will be different.
Students who attend each game during the winter break will be able to collect a total of 24 cards. Even with the Fall semester nearly over, there is still time to collect cards for various scholarships.
‘The program will continue through next semester with the same set of cards, so it is not too late to start collecting cards now,’ Bott said. ‘Indeed, there will be several events early next semester in which we’ll give away ‘starter sets’ (sets of 4 cards) to get people going with their collections.
‘There are still a lot of scholarships left to be won.’
A full list of Cougar Trading Card events can be found at www.uh.edu/tradingcards/Events.html