Plain Township teen among grand prize winners for Vax-2-School amid COVID surge
A Plain Township student was among five $100,000 scholarship grand prize winners for Ohio's Vax-2-School lottery.
Rinoa Chech, an 18-year-old online senior in the Ohio Virtual Academy, learned she'd been selected on Friday night. She and her family had just finished watching younger sister, Katherine Chech, perform in the GlenOak High Theater Arts Holiday Show, when the news broke.
Someone sent Rinoa's dad, Brett, a text.
"He runs back in; shoves his phone in my face," Rinoa's mom, Bonnie recalled.
"I gasped," she said.
Rinoa, who already takes College Credit Plus classes through Kent State University, said she plans to attend Kent State for college. She said she may begin her studies at the Stark campus. She ultimately plans to pursue a master's degree, after she earns a bachelor's in English.
"I want to be a book editor," she said.
Rinoa said she's fully vaccinated with Pfizer BioNTech. Her mom had made sure Rinoa's name was entered in the drawing. College finance plans for the Chechs were originally a combination of scholarships, financial aid grants and probably loans.
The state announced all the big winners Friday night, as well as the fifth and final round of winners of smaller scholarships. The other four grand prizes, a $100,000 scholarship in return for getting vaccinated, went to:
Jacob Peers, Convover
Avery Lagory, Cleves
Audrey Bird, Brecksville
Widnelson Miller, Delphos
Vax-2-School is an initiative by the Ohio Department of Health to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among young people, especially with the shot recently being approved for use by those as young as 5 years old.
“This age group has the most room to grow in getting vaccinated and, with the delta variant in our midst, is the group we’re most concerned will miss in-classroom opportunities if they get or are exposed to COVID-19," Gov. Mike DeWine previously said.
As of Friday, only a quarter of Ohioans ages 19 and younger have received their first dose, per state data. The next-lowest rate is for those ages 20 to 29 at 52%. At the same time, the number of COVID cases continued to surge again on Friday, with Ohio recording 9,584 new or probable cases, 3,997 current hospitalizations and 264 new deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, 26,851 Ohioans have died.
Since the governor announced the Vax-2-School prizes on Sept. 23, the vaccination rate for first doses increased roughly from 33% to 40% for Ohioans ages 29 and younger, according to a USA Today Network Ohio Bureau review.
The fifth round of 30 people who have earned $10,000 scholarships in return for getting the COVID-19 shot included Andrew Putt, of Massillon.
The program awarded a total of $2 million in prizes: 150 $10,000 scholarships and five $100,000 grand prize scholarships. Prize scholarships are awarded in Ohio 529 College Advantage plans and can be used at any Ohio college, technical or trade school or career program.
Health officials have said it is extremely important for young people to get vaccinated despite older adults being more at risk from serious illness. Some of the newer variants have had more of an effect on young Ohioans.
During the fall peak when the delta variant surged, for instance, Ohio children's hospitals penned a letter to the public, saying that they were seeing COVID-19 cases "more than ever before."
“What’s a little bit different now is that something of a silver lining a year ago … kids were getting infected but weren’t getting particularly sick,” Dr. Hector Wong, an ICU physician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, had said then. “That’s changed now.”
The Canton Repository and Akron Beacon Journal contributed to this story.
Titus Wu is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio announces grand prize winners for Vax-2-School
