Sylvia Mejia, a school bus driver and cafeteria worker in Robeson County, revealed 10 words on her crossword-themed scratch-off ticket to win the game’s top prize of $150,000.

Mejia, traveling with family on Tuesday, stopped at Love’s Travel Stop on Hodges Chapel Road in Dunn and tried her luck with some scratch-offs, including a $150,000 Cashword ticket. As she played the game, she kept seeing more and more words revealed on the crossword puzzle on her ticket.

“I have 10 words,” Mejia shouted out to her daughters and grandson in the car. “I won the big one.”

The family then drove to lottery headquarters in Raleigh where Mejia collected her prize. After required federal and state withholdings, she took home a check for $106,126.

Mejia’s plans for her prize money include helping her children, paying off her car loan, and taking a family vacation.

“It feels good,” said Mejia as she got her check. “I always said one day I would win a big one.”

The $5 game began in October with three top prizes of $150,000. One more remains to be claimed.

Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $700 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.