2024 Car Smash . . . A Big HIT!

Thank you to all who participated in the wounded warrior car smash today. IT WAS A BIG HIT!

Thanks to the teamwork and organization skills of Peer Leadership and Rotary Interact. Thanks to Electrical Occupation juniors Jhenavesza Miller, Mackenzie Mohr, and Coulter Street, the Wounded Warrior organization and Del’s Garage were contacted, a date was set (and rescheduled due to rain), posters were created, a commercial was videoed (and narrated), and today — the car arrived, ready to be smashed by the students and staff at LCCTC.

There were lots of lessons learned through the planning process. “The more we work together and communicate, the quicker we get our tasks done,” states Jhenavesza Miller, Electrical Occupations junior and Peer Leader.

Her partner in crime, Coulter Street, also a junior EO Peer Leader, agrees but states that it wasn’t always smooth sailing. “I learned how to adapt to changes and overcome challenges.” There was a lot of work behind the scenes to make this event happen, but the sign of a great event is that you never see the struggle. Peer Leaders are well-trained to make sure that they work through “what if” scenarios to avoid struggles during events.

“We had a good time for a good cause,” states Peer Leader advisor and Rotary Interact, Mrs. Donna Pasterik. “So many kids said it felt good to hit that car! and asked me when we would do it again!”

Even LCCTC’s staff got into the fun. Cpl. Hoyland took on the role as THOR, Ms Cozza took the opportunity to release a little physical frustration with a sledgehammer, and Mrs Caiazza channeled the stress of being a principal and took it out on that poor car, donated and delivered by Del’s Garage. 

LCCTC Peer Leadership would like to thank the LCCTC community for the support, the Oil and Gas program for the use of the sledges, the Welding program for the brooms and huge shovel, the Machine Tool Technology program for the giant shop vac and for making THOR, the Norse god-worthy sledgehammer.

In all, $204 was raised for the Wounded Warrior Project of Western PA.

Even though the Wounded Warrior Project will ultimately benefit from the fundraiser, Jhena and Coulter’s hard work paid off:

“I love helping veterans,” Jhena states, “because many people have served our country in the armed forces in my family.”

Coulter states, “I just think it’s great that we give back to the veterans,” states Coulter. “After all — they gave so much to us!”