Re-printed with permission of The Daily:

Student wins dorm makeover and meets Seahawks’ Jermaine Kearse

Andrea Chen - Wednesday, September 30, 2015 6:38 pm

After entering a Facebook contest for a dorm makeover, freshman Merrisa Delazerda was shocked to find out she had won.

The Creative Life (TCL), a TV brand, filled Delazerda’s dorm with school supplies, new bedding, a printer, and a TCL Roku TV. TCL also arranged a way for Seahawks’ wide receiver and UW alumnus Jermaine Kearse to help Delazerda celebrate her winnings by visiting her newly upgraded dorm room.

“It just keeps getting better and better,” Delazerda said. While meeting with Delazerda, Kearse recalled his time at the UW, from living in the North Campus dorms and relaxing in the HUB, to attending his college courses. Delazerda and her family, who are huge Seahawks fans, took photos with Kearse and had their jerseys signed.

“I love this school,” Kearse said. “I spent four years here. I met a lot of great friends, best friends here. So coming back is always a lot of fun and [I] get to meet new people.”

Meeting with Kearse was a relaxed, private affair. Delazerda was able to ask questions about his time at the UW and his experience as a student-athlete on the football team.

“I’m a huge Seahawks fan, always have been, my whole family’s Seahawks fans so it [was] just crazy when they told me the news. I couldn’t help myself, I had to tell my brother and mother,” Delazerda said. “It’s so cool.”

Kearse’s advice for Delazerda was based on advice he would have told his freshman self. Encouraging freshmen to take advantage of the experience and to meet new people from different backgrounds.

TCL uses social media as a platform to raise awareness about their products. The brand was interested in doing a “back to school” program to reach the college audience. Aside from the dorm makeover, the brand also did a scavenger hunt on the UW campus, where they posted the locations of nine sites on their social media networks and the first person to arrive at each location was given a TCL Roku TV.

The brand chose to be on the UW campus due to the business partnerships they have with other companies in the area like Amazon and Costco. TCL plans to have more promotions in the future in order to continue building a relationship with college students and younger generations.