Arkansas Tech alumnus wins trip to Super Bowl

RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech alumnus Zane Hight stopped at a Starbucks on Dec. 8 as part of his morning routine. Little did he know that his purchase would lead him to Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI this Sunday with 10 of his closest friends.

When Hight received news Jan. 11 via a voice mail that his entry was the one out of 10.9 billion entries to win the Visa “You + 10 Super Bowl Sweepstakes,” he thought it was a scam.

“Normally, I check my voice mail frequently, but I managed to miss voice mails for a few days,” High said. “When I played the machine, I had multiple voice mails telling me I won the Visa ‘You + 10 Super Bowl Sweepstakes’ and that time was running out to claim my prize,” Hight said.

After replaying the messages a few times, questioning the message and researching on the Internet, Hight realized the voice mail was, in fact, legitimate. He immediately returned the call.

As he received his confirmation email from Visa and Bank of America regarding his Starbucks purchase that won him the trip of a lifetime, Hight jumped up and ran out of his residence hall and across campus to tell everyone.

Hight currently works as residence director of John Mabee Hall at the University of Tulsa.

“I started freaking out. Shortly after, my phone and Facebook blew up like crazy,” he said. “Needless to say, I didn’t really get any work done that day or even the next.”

Hight said he had always dreamed of taking a bunch of friends on a big vacation because they mean the world to him, and winning this contest meant his dream was coming true.

Along with his sister, best friend and a current colleague who has been his friend since he moved to Tulsa, Hight chose to take seven people who positively impacted his life during his two years at Arkansas Tech.

Those people include Tyler Byrns, a resident assistant in Turner Hall; Ryan Scherff, who worked with Hight at Campus Court and is currently a resident assistant in Paine Hall; Jeff English, who worked with Hight at Campus Court and is the current resident director of Brown Hall; Ryan Pittman, a resident assistant in Paine Hall; Adam Fitzwater, the resident director of Paine Hall; Jessica Uhlman, an area coordinator in the Office of Residence Life; and Gwen Young, Hight’s former primary supervisor and “an incredible influence and mentor” during his years at Arkansas Tech.

The Visa “You + 10 Super Bowl Sweepstakes” prize package includes hotel and airfare, tickets to Super Bowl XLVI, tickets to “The NFL Experience” (an NFL-themed carnival event), $100 Visa gift cards for each person, digital cameras to document the experience, dinner with an NFL player and official NFL jerseys for everyone from the team of their choice.

The tot al value of t he sweepstakes is $59,400. Hight’s odds of winning were one in 10,901,603,938.

Before he graduated with a master’s degree in college student personnel, Hight was the resident director for Campus Court at Arkansas Tech, president of the College Student Personnel Association and graduate adviser to the Residence Hall Association. He was also actively involved in other aspects of campus life.

He has been employed there since last summer.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 62 on 02/02/2012

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