$50K VaxCash 2.0 Winner Hails From Howard County, Competes On Towson University Dance Team

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — A Towson University student from Elkridge has claimed the $50,000 VaxCash 2.0 promotion prize. Ava Havrilko, 22, and a dance team member at Towson University, qualified for the $50,000 prize after getting her COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters in Maryland. As a busy college senior, she said the vaccinations were just a good precaution, since she comes in contact with a lot of people through her studies, her internship and her duties as a member of the Towson University Dance Team.

Becoming vaccinated also reduced her worries that she was exposing her family or colleagues to the virus. It may have minimized her symptoms as well, since she eventually caught COVID-19, she told the Maryland Lottery.

“I think I had a fairly mild case because of my vaccinations,” she explained.

Havrilko and the Towson University Dance Team just returned from their first National Championship competition in three years. Due to the pandemic, she last competed at the national level her freshman year.

As she was preparing for the competition, Havrilko got a call informing her she had been selected as a VaxCash 2.0 $50,000 winner. Although she was initially in disbelief, her family quickly looked into the details to confirm the good news.

Havrilko said she doesn’t have any firm plans for the winnings, but her sisters have given her a lot of ideas.

“I’ve heard suggestions like buy a boat or put it in savings. I’m not sure what I will do with it,” she said.

For now, her focus is on completing her degrees in business and project management, with a concentration in supply chain management.