SALT LAKE CITY, Ut. – A Louisiana student's mistake went viral and led to opportunities she'd never really considered.
Kaitlynn Lovelady applied to the wrong college and tweeted about it, but she never expected the response she got.
Lovelady, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette student, needed a change of pace when she applied for community college.
She typed in SLCC, submitted an application and paid a fee to what she thought was South Louisiana Community College.
"I was just, like, oblivious," Lovelady said. "I go and I fill out everything, and it was, like, 'Oh, OK.' I didn't realize until the very end of the application process that it was Salt Lake City."
She sent out a quick tweet Wednesday, which read: "I just applied to SLCC for summer class only to realize it's Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake City, Utah instead of South Louisiana Community College. Goodbye $40!"
She had no idea Utah would take notice.
"I wasn't expecting to get that much attention from it," Lovelady said. "When you look at a tweet, you can see how many have seen it. I had over 30,000 interactions with that tweet."
The tweet caught fire, with most people saying the mistake might be fate.
The Utah National Guard replied, "Best mistake you'll ever make."
Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox retweeted, "Kaitlynn, we don't know each other but trust me when I tell you that might be the best $40 you've ever spent."
"I was surprised. I was, like, the lieutenant governor. I was, like, that's kind of a big deal," Lovelady said.
"The thing that was all said throughout was how much people love Utah, and they all wanted her to have an experience to come here and see this beautiful place," said Salt Lake Community College's Sarah Reale.
Reale said the mistake happens a lot on social media and has offered to reimburse Lovelady. A Utah businessman offered to pay for her flight to Salt Lake City for a campus tour.
"Whether she chooses Salt Lake Community College or Southern Louisiana Community College, we're just excited she's pursuing higher education," Reale said.
Lovelady said she would take the Salt Lake City businessman up on his offer of a free flight. She's going to visit the campus next month. She says it will be the first time she's left the state of Louisiana.