Parolin's key turn wins car giveaway

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: JESSICA THOMPSON
Jennifer Parolin grins with excitement after winning the keys to a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze.

Jennifer Parolin, a mature student enrolled in the Practical Nursing program at Fanshawe’s Woodstock campus, is the proud new owner of a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze given away by the Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) and rebuilt by Fanshawe’s School of Transportation Technology.

“It doesn’t feel real that [the car] will be coming home with me, that is where I’m at right now. I am very excited and I can’t stop smiling; I can’t wait to drive it,” Parolin said.

The event was suspenseful when it came time to actually go one by one to see which of the 14 people present held the key to unlock the box with the Cruze’s fob inside.

As numbers were picked out of a bag by FSU president Alan Bushell and FSU’s VP of entertainment Kevin Kaiser, the 14 contestants stepped forward in hopes that their key would be the one to win the car.

But as the final person stepped forward and tried his key, the box remained locked.

It was then that John Said, publications and communications manager of the FSU, stepped forward and handed Parolin her key back announcing she was actually the winner.

Parolin had first tried her key, but it didn’t go in so she accepted her fate and chose a consolation prize of two movie tickets.

“[John Said] came around and said ‘I know who won’… he came around [to] everyone looking at them and then paused in front of me and I thought he would keep walking and then he looked at me a bit longer and handed me the key, I didn’t accept it right away because I didn’t believe it, I was pretty excited,” Parolin said.

According to Bushell, the event went smooth from start to finish and this will hopefully not be the last FSU car giveaway.

“There has been absolutely no resistance, this has gone so smooth, everything has gone according to plan, even the tow truck delivery of the vehicle was on schedule… so I think this is something that we need to look to in the future,” Bushell said.

The project was funded by the FSU and students in the School of Transportation Technology repaired the car.

“This really shows that the FSU is students serving students; it was funded by the students, rebuilt by the students and given back to the students,” Bushell said.

President of Fanshawe Peter Devlin also made an appearance at the event and was overjoyed with how the day carried out.

“I think things went marvelously well, but that’s because the student union did a great deal of planning to make this happen,” Devlin said. “I think we are the only college in the country to give away a car, certainly one that has been built by their own students.”