By Staff Writer Colleen Park

            Where can you see Corvettes, Mustangs and even Scions? Considering it is free, it obviously is not you going to a car dealership for that brand new ride.

            Next Saturday, Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) will be hosting a car show on the campus parking lot. The idea was launched last year but was never carried out until preparations began in January.

            All this is fine until you realize that it is a car show, with cars. Isn’t AVID’s goal to help kids achieve their academic potential and go to college? How do cars fit into this?

            As incongruent as it may appear, this car show is to be the culmination of community collaboration. Albertson’s is providing the food while raffle prizes are contributed from car dealerships, and other local businesses. Citizens of Glendale and other car enthusiasts provide the proceeds. AVID students are selling food and raffle tickets.

All spawned from an idea by AVID teacher Kari Vargas, the car show is expected to draw the attention of many car enthusiasts like herself. Drawing from her own experiences, she and her husband are both members of the Corvette club.

            The plan is multi-fold. There is the main event, the car show and free admission for spectators. For car owners, a small entrance fee of $20 is required to showcase their cars. With a goal of 100 cars, AVID has promises of attendance from the Corvette, Mustang, and the Scion club.            “Anyone who loves their car” is welcome to join. Even Hoover students can participate.

            There will be two competitions: a best in show decided by professional judges and the crowd favorite.

            For entertainment, Vargas has booked a band and AVID hopes to attract local performers and bands to exhibit their music.

            “It is a community affair,” counselor and AVID coordinator Rose Samore said.

            The next step is where AVID comes in. The students themselves will be selling the food, including hot dogs and other refreshments, all provided by Albertsons on account of the generosity of manager Jack Evans. They will also be selling raffle tickets for the “opportunity drawing.” The prizes include donations from local businesses such as gift certificates for Bennigan’s or B.B. Kebab, movie tickets from Mann theatres, and other contributions from Lexus, BMW, and more. These local businesses were personally contacted by the AVID students with little aid from the coordinators in late February.

“Students are learning to go out and get what [they] need,” AVID co-president Susan Zargarian (’07) said. “If we need the money, they know to go out to the businesses themselves.”

There is also a second raffle, with much higher stakes. In the 50/50 raffle, the winner collects half the money fundraised in the entire event.

            “[The car show] is a great way for us to get out there in a positive way,” Vargas said. “Hoover gets [somewhat] forgotten and hopefully it is also a way to show the people out there what a great program AVID is.”

            The car show will be fundraising for both the end-of-year senior scholarships and towards the field trip each grade level takes to see colleges. Freshman will travel to Orange County, sophomores to the San Diego, and juniors to San Francisco. Since AVID students are taught to be organized and more knowledgeable about colleges, it would be beneficial for them to actually see the schools.

            “It is one thing to look at statistics on a school in black and white or online,” Samore said. “It is a whole different experience to get on a campus and feel the atmosphere.”

            AVID co-president Maria Khachiyan (’07), feels that the visit to the colleges is an especially valuable endeavor as it benefits not just one grade but all students in AVID.

            “It is a chance for the students to broaden their horizons. By going to other colleges, they are not restricted [in interest] to schools in Los Angeles,” Khachiyan said.

            Vargas and Samore both see this as an opportunity for the AVID students to shine through. What they hope AVID teaches the students is organization and responsibility. With just a little help from the AVID coordinators, they are contacting businesses and setting the fundraiser into action.

            The car show is beneficial for the community as well, bringing people, businesses, and students together in this mutual effort.

            “It is a chance to come out and act as a community, an opportunity for dealerships and businesses to help the community by helping the children,” Samore said.

            As for the former confusion concerning the relation between cars and AVID, even Vargas herself remarks upon the unique idea, but says that it is a chance for students to see how to “think outside the box.”

            “This shows students to persevere and that anything is possible,” Vargas said.