She's a Pepper, Too
Baylor and Dr Pepper — two Waco institutions — go together. Andrea Gathercole, a senior biochemistry/pre-med major from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, won $100,000 as part of the 11th annual Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway held during halftimes of Power Five Conference football championship games in early December.
This is the second consecutive year in which a Baylor student won a tuition prize from Dr Pepper, the soft drink that originated in Waco. In 2018, Bryce McWhirter, now a senior computer science major from Plains, Texas, won a $100,000 tuition scholarship after competing at the Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Gathercole competed Dec. 7 during the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta and won by throwing the most footballs into an oversized Dr Pepper can. The runner-up received $25,000 toward tuition. The Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway has provided college students with more than $10 million in tuition, with $725,000 awarded that weekend.
Finalists were selected based on video submissions explaining how the tuition money will help them make an impact in the world.
“Dr Pepper, with your help, I will be able to focus academically on my final semesters at Baylor, volunteer as a first responder in my community and continue my research on HIV prevention,” Gathercole said in her submission for the contest.