A lucky engineering student won tuition for the upcoming spring semester in a random drawing at a University of Houston football game this month, showing other UH students that it really does pay to support your team.
Paul Viscontini, a sophomore chemical engineering major, signed up for the drawing at the entrance of the football game against TCU. Five boxes, with a prize in each, contained the names of the contestants. Viscontini's name was picked from one of the boxes decorated with balloons and a sign announcing that he had won the tuition.
Viscontini's initial reaction to his prize was one of amazement. "I was dumbfounded," he said. "I didn't know what to do but raise my hands in the air and smile. You are down there on the field in front of everybody. It is pretty nerve-wracking."
Viscontini is a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity and the Industrial Scholar Interns Program, a select group of undergraduate students in the UH Cullen College of Engineering that receive $10,000 in scholarships while earning money and gaining work experience through internships in their junior and senior years.
Viscontini chose to study at UH because he "likes the atmosphere and city environment that UH offers." He decided to pursue chemical engineering because it seemed like a logical choice. "I had taken a lot of science and math in high school and I followed that road to chemical engineering."
Viscontini's parents are also happy about his tuition prize. "It is a load that they don't have to worry about anymore," Viscontini said. He then joked that he had asked his parents if they would give him the money that they would have spent on tuition. You can guess what their answer was.