Bright Futures disbursed more than financial aid Thursday morning.
Students ate ice cream, played games and won freebies at a social sponsored by the organizations responsible for giving more than 300,000 scholarships to UF students.
Bright Futures, Florida Lottery and Winn-Dixie sponsored the event — which included a photo booth and a visit from Albert and Alberta — on the Plaza of the Americas.
The event celebrated Florida Lottery funding for education.
Bruce Hoffmann, chief of staff for the Florida Lottery and a UF alumnus, said it was nice to come back to campus and give back to students.
“It is great to see the level of intelligence and involvement,” said Hoffmann.
Overall, the state-funded scholarship program contributes to sending more than 650,000 students to college — 365,000 of which are UF students. Since the Florida Legislature created Bright Futures in 1997, Florida Lottery has funneled about $4.3 billion to the scholarships, Hoffmann said.
It’s made a difference for Gabrielle Bork.
“If it wasn’t for Bright Futures, I wouldn’t have been able to come to the University of Florida,” the 19-year-old UF biomedical engineering sophomore said.
“The Florida Lottery puts in a lot of effort trying to promote their program, and it’s a great thing they can come here and show us how giving they are to the students,” she said.
