Surprise Visit Highlights St. Gerard Majella's $50K Win in U.S. Cellular's Calling All Communities Campaign

Students, teachers and administrators at , celebrated their $50,000 win in U.S. Cellular’s (NYSE: USM) 2012 Calling All Communities campaign today as several associates from the wireless carrier made a surprise visit to the school. The group arrived before the first bell to officially congratulate the school and present the principal with an oversized check for $50,000.

After a six-week campaign in which more than 180,000 votes were cast for more than 1,300 schools nationwide, St. Gerard Majella, had rallied enough votes to land a spot in the winners’ circle of 18. The contest awards $150,000 to the school that garners the most online votes and the next 17 schools receive $50,000 each.

“What a year, first Blue Ribbon and now the U.S. Cellular Calling All Communities Champs,” said Chris Guthrie, principal of St. Gerard Majella. “This all started over a bag of Cheetos and a small group of moms. Their enthusiasm caught fire and ignited the entire SGM community.  I have never met a group so committed to a project.  It was through their efforts that we were able to come out a winner.”

St. Gerard Majella first showed up on the . When the last list was released on October 16, St. Gerard had climbed all the way to number 8 among all the schools across the country competing for the money, but continued to rally votes during the final week of voting in the hope that they could hold onto a spot in the top 18.

“We’re inspired by the tenacity and spirit of this year’s winners, who harnessed the support from their friends, families, PTAs, alumni and local businesses to encourage voting from the first day to the final weekend,” said Nathan Waddell, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in Missouri. “We can’t wait to hear about how the schools plan to use the winnings they worked so hard to earn.”

U.S. Cellular’s ongoing commitment to education through Calling All Communities has brought $4 million in funding to schools across its footprint. Since the campaign began in 2008, more than 2.2 million votes have been cast for thousands of schools. For more information about U.S. Cellular and Calling All Communities, visit uscellular.com or facebook.com/uscellular.

About U.S. Cellular

U.S. Cellular rewards its customers with unmatched benefits and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier has a strong line-up of cutting-edge devices that are all backed by its high-speed nationwide network that has the highest call quality of any national carrier. By the end of 2012, 58 percent of customers will have access to 4G LTE speeds. U.S. Cellular was named a J.D. Power and Associates Customer Service Champion in 2012 for the second year in a row. To learn more about U.S. Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or uscellular.com. To get the latest news, promos and videos, connect with U.S. Cellular on Facebook.com/uscellular, Twitter.com/uscellular and YouTube.com/uscellularcorp.