Jessica Herrick, 39, of Covington won a quarter-million dollar prize from the Georgia Lottery earlier this month.

Herrick, who purchased a new instant game Harley-Davidson® scratch-off card at Walton Truck Stop in Monroe, claimed the lottery’s top prize on Oct. 6 at the Georgia Lottery District Office in Duluth.

“I started screaming, and I called my husband,” she said. “It doesn’t seem real.”

Herrick, a registered nurse, and her husband, Michael, have five children. She plans to purchase a new home with her winnings.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $16.5 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.7 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.4 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

For more information on the Georgia Lottery Corp., visit www.galottery.com and www.lotterybenefitsgeorgians.com.