Student Cars & Shows

 

Jun 2 — Shel­ton, WA; Mason Coun­ty For­est Fes­ti­val Car Show-Off
Olympic High­way North, Shel­ton, WA 98584; 8:00am — 3:00pm; No Adm. Fee; Reg. Fee — $15; Shel­ton High School NJROTC Boost­er Club; 360 229 1889; njrotcboosterclub@gmail.com

Jun 8 — Mount Ver­non, WA; Skag­it Val­ley Col­lege Car Show
Skag­it Val­ley Col­lege, 2405 E Col­lege Way, Mount Ver­non, WA 98273; 8:00am — 3:00pm; No Adm. Fee; Reg. Fee — $10; Skag­it Val­ley Col­lege Auto­mo­tive Club; 360 416 7661; scott.hall@skagit.edu

 

 

 

In the Rearview Mirror:

 

 

 

 

 

 

High School Students Organize and Host Small Town Show

 

Country town’s high school students grow a car show

 

 

ACE: Auto­mo­bile Club of Echo High School

By:  Eme­line Denning

 

Echo Car Show, slat­ed for May 25 in down­town his­tor­i­cal Echo, Ore­gon that is spon­sored and orga­nized by the stu­dent car club will have 15 entry class­es plus “At least I have a car” class.

 

Although Echo High School may be small, it has its own stu­dent car club.  With less than 150 high school stu­dents in a town of about 700-plus,  Echo school is a small K‑12 dis­trict locat­ed 20 miles west of Pendle­ton, Ore­gon.  It may be small but it still pos­sess­es a lot of activ­i­ty.  The ACE Car Club was formed in 2002 when the now-retired shop teacher, Mr. Olsen, was approached by three stu­dents that had an inter­est in cars and want­ed to start a club.

Though Echo High School has no auto­mo­tive pro­gram, the club has been well received over the past 10 years with mem­ber num­bers vary­ing from 4 to 15 depend­ing on the year. Stu­dents are giv­en the oppor­tu­ni­ty to work on their own vehi­cles and oth­ers that are donat­ed by the local com­mu­ni­ty.  The stu­dent also do local fundrais­ers to finance club out­ings to local drag strips, car shows and what has become an annu­al trip to the Port­land Road­ster Show, as well as the expe­ri­ence of work­ing togeth­er to cre­ate what has become a very suc­cess­ful car show.

The club’s first car show was held in front of the school in 2005 with six stu­dent and teacher’s cars on dis­play dur­ing school hours. Every year more cars were invit­ed. In 2011, the show had grown too large to hold in front of the school and was moved to the foot­ball field;  local car clubs were asked to join. That year pro­duced 22 cars. At the end of the show, the club was approached by local busi­ness own­ers and the city about hold­ing the show down town in 2012.

In 2012, the club had only four mem­bers and the future of the club was ques­tion­able, how­ev­er; the mem­bers were ded­i­cat­ed. After Christ­mas break, plan­ning start­ed for what would be their biggest car show to date. Stu­dents sharp­ened their weld­ing skills mak­ing tro­phies out of old car parts donat­ed by sup­port­ers. Fly­ers were made and with the help of the city, local busi­ness­es, cur­rent Ag teacher Chel­cee Noland and par­ent vol­un­teer Rick Den­ning, the show proved to be a huge success.

The proof was in the result of the 51 cars that par­tic­i­pat­ed. The car show also gave the foot­ball and vol­ley­ball teams an oppor­tu­ni­ty to fundraise for camps. The foot­ball team served burg­ers and hot dogs while the vol­ley­ball team served refresh­ments (which they will be doing again this year).

This year the club has 14 mem­bers and has had an event­ful year! The club made a trip to the Wal­la Wal­la drag strip in the fall and has per­formed ser­vice to the com­mu­ni­ty by mak­ing repairs on the Ceme­tery dis­tric­t’s pick­up (bring­ing it back to life so to speak). As spring approach­es plans are in the works to have Les Schwab Tires come to the school and do a tire sem­i­nar for all of the students.

The Car Show plan­ning is in the works! Tro­phies are being made, fly­ers are made, being mailed and post­ed. It’s just around the cor­ner. Stu­dents and car enthu­si­asts are all look­ing for­ward to the show!

 

Car enthu­si­asts can  sup­port Echo stu­dents by bring­ing their cars out to the show on May 25. Con­tact Echo High School at 541 376 8436 or Rick Den­ning, ACE parent/volunteer at 541 571 4417 for details or vis­it www.facebook.com/ACEAutomobileClubofEchoHighSchool.

 

Edi­tors Note:  Eme­line Den­ning,  16 years old, wants to go into jour­nal­ism with a minor in music, sim­ply because she enjoys writ­ing and music.

 

Rick and his wife, Bren­da,  are the par­ents of both Eme­line and Ryan, age 18, who are both active mem­bers of the ACE Club. Rick, a truck tech­ni­cian uses his spare time to help at the school and car club. “Work­ing with the Club kids is excit­ing for me”, stat­ed Rick. “I’ve watched most of these kids grow up since grade school, and have seen a cou­ple past mem­bers con­tin­ue on in the truck or auto­mo­tive field.” Rick­’s next project is help some oth­er car enthu­si­asts start a domes­tic and import club in Her­mis­ton, OR.