The 12th annual Sponsor A+ Scholar Food and Wine Extravaganza, held Oct. 3, sold more than 950 tickets and raised more money for scholarships than ever before, approximately $53,000. “This was the most successful in terms of the number of people and the amount of money raise,” David Boudreaux, vice president for Institutional Advancement, said.

The event featured both a live and a silent auction with the highest bids being $5,000 for a Super Bowl XLI helmet autographed by Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning and $2,000 for a football autographed by Archie Manning.

The money raised will be used to fund scholarships for Nicholls first-time freshmen. This year 16 students received scholarships and will be awarded for two semesters. Boudreaux said considering the amount of money raised at this year’s event, he hopes in the future the scholarships can be extended from two to eight semesters.

“Since the fundraiser began in 1996, more than 190 Nicholls students have been granted scholarships from the more than $240,000 raised at previous Sponsor A+ Scholar events,” Boudreaux said.

The event featured a live performance by Jazmine and food and wine donated by local companies. In addition to the sale of regular tickets, which went for $50 per ticket and $75 per couple, there were more than 30 gold sponsors, which are $500 and include 20 tickets.