Student finalists from across the country descended onto football fields during halftime at the college football conference championship games last December to compete in the 15th annual Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway.  

The popular annual event places two contestants per conference game in competition as they throw footballs into an oversized Dr Pepper can.  Whomever hits the most targets in 30 seconds wins tuition money. Traditionally, five students are awarded first place, one from each of the five major conference champions. However, following a scoring error during the Big 12 competition, a sixth student was also awarded a first-place prize - $100,000 in tuition. 

The six winning college students were: Noah Campuzano from University of California-Los Angeles; Gavin White from The Ohio State University; Ryan Georgian from The University of Pennsylvania; Andrew Jimenez from Sandhills Community College; Siddharth Suratia from Georgia Institute of Technology; and Mohamed Adam from Stony Brook University. 

To be selected to compete on game day, students must submit entries explaining how the scholarship would impact their lives and help them achieve their goals. Siddharth Suratia, the Big Ten Championship winner, wrote about how such an opportunity would benefit his journey to becoming an aerospace engineer.  

"Winning $100,000 from Dr Pepper during this year's Tuition Toss is absolutely huge for me in my pursuit of my goals of creating a more sustainable future for aircrafts,” said Suratia. “As the first in my family to attend university in the United States, I am super grateful that this tuition will allow me to continue my educational pursuits." 

The competitions’ runners-up weren’t left empty-handed. Each received $25,000, while third-place winners received $2,500. In total, Dr Pepper awarded $730,000 in tuition over the course of the weekend. 

"The Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway program is a beloved tradition within our team" said John Alvarado, Dr Pepper’s vice president of brand marketing.  

Dr Pepper has awarded over the past 15 years more than $17.5 million to support students’ tuition costs and achievement of their education goals. 

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