Saturday afternoon Carleton students took out their aggression by bashing a car to smithereens with a sledgehammer. The event didn't turn up on the police blotter, though, because it was done for charity.
Two RA's from Nourse, Will Cole '08 and Sarah Hashmall '09 organized the bashing of the car. They picked up an aging Volvo donated from Johnson's Auto Salvage in Faribault, parked it in the middle of an empty parking lot behind Nourse, and disconnected the electricity. Then the real fun began.
For $1 admission, any student passing by could have the privelege of wailing on the car with a 20-pound sledgehammer. It's not as easy as it looks. My own pathetic attempts barely made a dent in the chassis. Will was the one who did the most of the hammering. Between him and the other students, they managed to bash in all the headlights and taillights, snap off the moon roof, and severely distort the doors. The windshields were more difficult because they were made out of safety glass.
All the money raised from the Car Bash will be donated to Ruth's House of Hope, a battered women's shelter in Faribault. Will also added, "It's fun to smash things."
In the spring of 2006, RA Alyssa Hursh '08 put on an incredibly successful car bash in hopes of providing a bit of pre-finals stress relief for students as well as donation money to the Ruth's House charity. This year the event organizers were able to raise $99 for the shelter.
