Twenty students in the greek community on campus rolled out of bed bright and early Sunday morning to participate in a Study-a-Thon.

The students gathered at Manhattan Loft for a full day of quiet and intense studying. The student who studied the longest without distraction or breaking received a $200 scholarship from Rho Lambda, said Rho Lambda vice president Lauren Anderson.

The contest was still going as of press time.

The motivation behind the event is to promote scholarship and academics within the greek community, Anderson said.

Fewer students attended the event than in the spring, she said, likely because they switched the times from evening to morning.

“The early morning might have been a deterrent,” she said, but the time change worked better for the venue.

Despite the early time, students who came were dedicated to their studies.

“It was kind of rough but it was worth it,” said journalism junior Ashton Giaume.

She said the Study-a-Thon was a great opportunity to study in an environment without distractions or disturbances, and to also support the greek community.

First-year clothing design student Corissa Funk said the Study-a-Thon was helpful because she has many tests coming up.

Two hours later, Funk had switched from studying for an introduction to design test to writing a paper, and gone back again.

“Your mind does start to wander at times,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I can go for a few more hours.”

Funk said she was disqualified for dozing off after eight hours.

She said she accomplished a lot of her work, but that more breaks would have helped her productivity.

One of last spring’s winners, civil engineering junior David Dombrowski, attended the event and was the only male student.

He said he has tests in environmental engineering and transportation engineering on the same day, only an hour apart, and was studying for them.

He said the spring semester event worked well for him.

“I got a lot done, and even if I didn’t win, I still would have been happy with the work I got done,” Dombrowski said.

Julie Hasan, owner of Manhattan Loft, is a University alumna and former member of the University’s greek system.

She said she hopes students have a good experience at events such as the Study-a-Thon, and will return to her establishment as customers.

“We think it’s positive to support the student groups and the different events they put on,” Hasan said.

Director of publicity for Rho Lambda, Jamie Carlton, said she tried to get the word out in several ways, including attending different organizations’ meetings and sending a Facebook message.

Some students came for part of the day just to utilize the quiet study space.

Marketing and entrepreneurship junior Allison Evans arrived at the event at 11 a.m. During her seven hours studying, Evans said, she wrote an entire 10-page paper.

“I’m really proud of all of the participation,” she said. “Especially from my house.”

Alpha Chi, which Evans is president of, won the $50 scholarship for having the largest concentration of members at the event.

She said the spring Study-a-Thon probably will be at 10 a.m. in hopes of attracting a larger audience.

The Study-a-Thon ended at 5:30 p.m. after 9 1/2 hours, Anderson said.

The final five participants decided to split $300 in scholarships, a portable DVD player and a test-prep course through Kaplan, she said.

The winners were Tracy Canton, Dombrowski, Christina Johnson, Emma Johnson and Stephanie Purkate.