The UH community edged out schools across the country in a campus check-in challenge resulting in a donation of $10,000 for the University.
Gowalla awarded the donation to the university that had the highest number of campus check-ins in its AP Top 25 Gowalla Check-In Challenge, which took place during the regular NCAA football season.
In its final weeks, the challenge was a close call between UH and the University of Texas at Austin.
“At one point, UT and UH were neck-and-neck, where one day UT was on top and the next UH was, then UT back again,” Gowalla campus and events representative Ashley Cass said. “However, after a few days of that, it became apparent that (UH) meant serious business.”
UH went from being ranked 29th at the beginning of the contest in October to finishing at the top with a total of 6,065 check-ins — 832 more than UT, which finished with 5,233 check-ins.
The $10,000 donation will go towards the Cougar Community Tier One Endowment fund, according to Executive Director of Media Relations Richard Bonnin.
The endowment is a four-year scholarship, which includes stipends for undergraduate research and study abroad programs.
Two individual prizes were won by members of the UH community. Bonnin and UH student Amanda Sigurdson each won a MacBook Air laptop offered by Gowalla for contest participants.
“It was an awesome and completely unexpected surprise,” Bonnin said. “I understand that a UH student also won, meaning that we received two of the five prizes given out nationwide.”
Texas universities filled up the top three spots of the challenge with Baylor University totaling 2,841 check-ins. The University of South Carolina and the University of Hawaii Manoa rounded out the top five.
Bonnin expressed excitement over the UH community coming together to win the nationwide contest.
“I was just as happy to learn that the University won, defeating UT, Baylor and all of the other participating schools across the nation.”
