If you were at the Badgers’ season opener against Utah State, or you’ve walked past the union, or you saw the truck parked on Library Mall—you’ve probably heard that #SamHasMentosGum.
UW-Madison incoming freshman Sam Jeschke successfully finished distributing 43,000 bottles of Mentos Gum Tuesday night at Camp Randall, completing the challenge before the Sept. 6 deadline.
With the challenge complete, Mentos Gum will pay for one year of Jeschke’ tuition. The gum company will also bring rapper DJ Khaled to campus for a free concert, after Khaled sent a message to UW-Madison’s students at the football game Friday. The concert—exclusive to UW-Madison students—will be held at the Kohl Center at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 30.
Jeschke and UW-Madison’s students are not the only beneficiaries of the #SamHasMentosGum event. The Wisconsin Union will receive money from the deal that will help fund student programming, according to UW-Madison spokesperson Meredith McGlone.
Stephanie Creech, the communications manager for Mentos’ parent company, said the challenge was created to demonstrate that sharing Mentos Gum is a great way create a lasting connection between people. She said UW-Madison was “eager” to host it.
“[Moving to college] is a big time in a freshman’s life, and we are here to prove that Mentos is a great way to help make connections,” Creech said.
Jeschke, who had to fill out an application and go through a series of interviews before becoming the face of the challenge, said things have been hectic since becoming “Mentos Man.”
“At first, I honestly didn’t even understand what was happening, but then I got into it when I learned what it was all about,” Jeschke said. “I have been able to meet so many people from across campus that otherwise I probably wouldn’t have gotten to meet.”
UPDATE Sept. 5, 2017: This article was updated to confirm Jeschke completed Mentos’ challenge.
