Collegiate Times

Haley Wilkerson, a senior communication major, won an internship at either Facebook or Twitter.

Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — Gary Vaynerchuk's speech took place on Wednesday, April 27. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.

Several Virginia Tech students were surprised when they were given more than $40,000 in prize sat a lecture Wednesday night. 

The giveaway came at the end of a speech by entrepreneur and wine blogger Gary Vaynerchuk.

Among the prizes given were two Super Bowl tickets, a three-day vacation for four to Las Vegas, $3,500 to spend on a cruise, a $2,000 gift certificate to Jet Blue, 25 cases of Natural Light beer, a trip to see the New York Jets play, and hundreds of dollars worth of gift certificates.

The prizes also included several employment opportunities, including the choice of an internship with Twitter or Facebook, an internship with either Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV or Vaynermedia, and personal assistance from Vaynerchuk in finding a job. One student won $10,000 in venture capital, with mentoring from Vaynerchuk.

Vaynerchuk came to Tech after a long viral campaign set up through classes taught by professor John Boyer. Boyer had used several of Vaynerchuk’s videos in his geography of wine course.

Vaynerchuck emmigrated from Belarus to the United States in 1978, where he eventually took over his father’s liquor store, turning it into a retail wine store called The Wine Library. In 2006, he created Wine Libary TV, a video blog about wine, and two years later he was making an annual revenue to $60 million. 

As an established social media and Internet marketing expert, he started a consulting company for new start-up businesses called VaynerMedia in 2009.

Between 60 and 70 students greeted Vaynerchuk as he arrived at the airport in Roanoke on the day of the speech.

“I think that’s what pushed him over the top to do the crazy shit he did,” Boyer said. “We did so much to raise the roof for him.”

Vaynerchuk dropped his usual appearance fee, estimated around $70,000, for his visit.

Vaynerchuk spoke initially for about an hour to a packed Burruss Hall.

“We could’ve finished right there, and it would have been a great night,” Boyer said.

Vaynerchuk then proceeded to videotape an episode of his online wine show “Daily Grape.”

Boyer had planned to give out a few prizes, including books and tickets for the Fork and Cork festival, to encourage student attendance. Learning of the prizes, Vaynerchuk began announcing several prizes of his own.

Continue Reading: 12 Next » 

A version of this article appeared in the May 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.