For first-year Commerce student Christina Dominic, this past August’s Residence Move-In day was extra special.

Besides the fact that she was about to start university at McMaster, for the past month she had been keeping a secret. On August 27, she was about to reveal some big news to her parents and a camera crew was going to be there for the big moment.

Earlier in the year, Christina had been notified that she won the Student Life Network’s Thank You Mom & Dad contest, in which students enter a draw by submitting a letter thanking their parents for their support.

The twist is that the grand prize isn’t a scholarship, but a $20,000 cheque for the student’s parents.

In coordination with Housing & Conference Services, a film crew followed Christina and her family from the moment she arrived on campus, and as the Move-in Day volunteers brought her belongings up to her room. Christina told her parents that cameras were going to follow her around as part of a contest she entered, but that she was still only in the qualification stage. But the truth was they were there to capture the surprise.

After she sat her parents down to let them know she had won and would be gifting them $20,000, her parents went silent. It could have been the shock, but as it turns out, they also had one big concern.

“They were really surprised that my brother and I kept it a secret because we are a really open family, and I kept that secret for a month,” said Dominic. “They were excited and a little scared that we were able to keep that much away from them. They thought, ‘Oh, they’re being sneaky’.”

After the camera crew packed up, and the photographers left, Dominic’s parents went right back to work getting her settled into her new home at McMaster. They helped her unpack and got her organized before returning to Mississauga.

After the initial shock wore off, Dominic’s parents decided to put half the money aside for a family emergency fund and to use the other half for her education. Dominic’s appreciative of their generosity but is planning to be sneaky at least one more time.

“They won’t take the money for themselves,” said Dominic. “I’m hoping that once I go back home, I can force them to do some nice things for themselves or I will just book a massage appointment for them and then they have to go”.