Cars show draws crowd, organized by students

On a Sunday afternoon, a car show, trivia, cornhole tournament and car smash brought many visitors to ETSU’s campus.

Sarah Standridge, an assistant professor in Sport and Recreation Management at ETSU, helped facilitate the “Cars, Trucks and Bucs” event. Students were invited out to the fun, hoping to raise money for the department’s scholarship.

“This event is the culminating project for the Special Event Programming class,” Standridge explained. “Students spend the semester planning the budget, logistics, getting sponsorships and working on marketing and then get to see it all come together as the full event.”

The old car was donated by “HammerTime Auto Works,” and was meant for students to hit and smash with a sledgehammer.

“We charged $2 for people to swing for 60 seconds,” said Standridge. This mimicked a “Rage Room” atmosphere. Rage rooms have become super popular and are a great way to release stress or anger, or to use when feeling overwhelmed. Bringing a car to campus right before finals is thus a very smart idea. Students were able to smash glass, kick and hammer the car as much as they pleased. “I think it was a big success, students got a chance to work out some end of the semester stress. It was also something unique to our event to help draw people in,” Standridge expressed.

The environment was super laid-back, and everyone had fun! There were food and refreshments provided at the event, so people stayed a while and didn’t only stop by. The time spent with everyone celebrating their accomplishments, while raising donations was so reassuring. Standrige said, “The proceeds went to the Sport and Recreation Management Seed Scholarship.” This scholarship originated from that specific ETSU program, and this event every year makes that possible each year.

Standridge stated at the end of the day, “It’s always really rewarding to see all the planning finally come together into a successful event. It was great, we had about 120 cars. All sorts of makes and models too, so that was cool.” This year’s event had a fantastic turnout, one of the best!

Lastly, Standridge would like to add, “I think it’s great we have such a great support system in the local community that is always willing to come out and support ETSU and our students. I look forward to an even bigger event next year.”