By Brandy Voirin/ reporter
The shattered blue and red glass is hauntingly familiar to NE student Ashton Harty.
She slammed a sledgehammer into the front hood of a green four-door Saturn with the words “Smash Me” in white spray paint.
Bogdan Sierra Miranda/The Collegian
Rather than taken into police custody, she was shown to a tent past cheering student applause into a parking lot utopia called the Car Smash.
“I’ve smashed a car before,” she said, “but never legally.”
NE student ambassadors held the group’s first Car Smash fundraising event on Sept. 25. Students walked the glass-laden parking lot eagerly awaiting a turn with the sledgehammer without getting stopped for bad behavior.
“What’s also great about the car smashing, No. 1, there is no clean up, and No. 2, I won’t get arrested,” she said.
Everyone seemed to be taking a swing at the car for different reasons. A blonde-haired woman in workout attire lined up for a swing. NE biology professor Kristen Byrd said she was roped into the event by a former student.
“This was a favor to Anthony [Jackson],” she said. “He wanted me to kick smashing a car off my bucket list, and although it’s not on the list, I came out anyway.”
Supporting student ambassadors is important because they represent the TCC community, Byrd said.
Bogdan Sierra Miranda/The Collegian
“Money helps the students do their jobs of giving back to the community,” she said. “So I paid $5, took one swing and let Anthony finish the four swings.”
Ambassadors passed out much-needed water to handfuls of participants while student Rick McNeely played tunes in the DJ booth.
McNeely insists students obtaining good grades while having fun is an option.
“Deadlines, school and work — it all takes its toll on you,” he said. “But becoming involved and giving back was a huge stress-reliever.”
NE student Rebecca Reyes didn’t seem to mind smashing the car in a dress.
“I stood back for a while,” she said. “But this was so gratifying. My boyfriend recommended which side I should hit, and I’m glad I did it.”
After the third swing, Reyes easily knocked the right rear view mirror on the asphalt as students cheered.
