Keokuk High School has a verified entry to win the TMobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights contest and is the only high school in Lee County on the list. The competition is hosted by T-Mobile, who stated that the company is reinforcing its commitment to small towns by providing a platform for high schools to showcase school spirit and compete for a “game-changing 5G tech upgrade.”
TMobile will announce the final $5k Fridays Weekly Winners on Sept. 27, there will be 300 total winners, and then the top sixteen will be chosen in early October, with each of the 16 awarded a $25,000 grant. Then the Grand Prize winning high school out of the top 16 will be determined by the total number of likes between Oct. 10-Nov. 12 on each of the Top 16 high school’s Instagram video submissions and showing participation in a food drive. The Grand Prize winning high school will be announced on Dec. 5.
More than 1,700 high schools nation-wide located in towns of less than 150,000 have applied. Muscatine’s high school was already chosen as a winner of the six opportunities for $5k Fridays Weekly Winners. Additional nearby schools that are on the verified list include Fairfield, West Burlington, Iowa City and Oskaloosa.
The Grand Prize includes a $100,000 school grant, upgraded weight room from GronkFitness.com, new high technology scoreboard, a consultation with football field experience experts to get professional tips to “elevate the game” of the players, 5G Network upgrades package to help with real-time streaming and scoreboard activity and connect the devices, including enabling 5G biometric sensors to accelerate team performance, and finally a huge tailgate party celebration with live music and a 5G-powered halftime drone show for the 2025 football season.
A T-Mobile panel of judges will pick 16 finalists based on the applicants’ compelling stories as to why their high school needs the grand prize tech upgrade, potential impact on the school’s football field, on how the school has shown school spirit during the application window by encouraging social engagement, and alignment with T-Mobile’s small-town strategy of creating essential, digital connections and championing equitable opportunities for all. The school’s community rallying around it, as well as showing the most spirit and garnering the most likes on Instagram is how a school will win the Grand Prize, which will be announced on Dec. 5, 2024.
Here is the timeline:
- SEPT. 27 – The last Friday that KHS could be chosen as a $5k Fridays Weekly Winner and move on to have the opportunity to be chosen as a Top 16 winner.
- OCTOBER (Early) – Top 16 winners will be announced and awarded a $25,000 grant.
- OCT. 9 – If KHS is a Top 16 winner, KCSD will produce and post a video of why the KHS should be chosen to Instagram and submit it to T-Mobile.
- OCT. 10-NOV. 12 – Then the Keokuk Community would need to interact by sharing and liking and posting the video between Oct. 10-Nov. 12, 2024, for a chance to be the Grand Prize Winner. The winning high school will be determined based on the total number of likes received on their Instagram video.
- KHS would then support a local community food drive and all food donations must be dropped off at a local food bank by Nov. 12, 2024 (starting Oct. 10).
- DEC. 5 – Grand Prize winner would be chosen and win $2 million in prizes.
Between Oct. 10 and Nov. 12, schools can earn a bonus entry when any Instagram user with a public account posts a static image or reel, not an Instagram story, on Instagram describing why KHS should win the contest and tags the KeokukCSD Instagram page, tags @tmobile, and includes each of the hashtags, #FN5GL, #TMobileFN5GL and #Sweepstakes in the Instagram post.
The Grand Prize winning high school will be determined by the total number of likes on each of the Top 16 high school’s Instagram video submissions between Oct. 10 and Nov. 12 and showing participation in the food drive by Nov. 12. The winning high school will be announced on Dec. 5, 2024.