They showed up outside the college's automotive shop as requested, still unsure as to why they were there. Then they saw the toolboxes.
For the fifth year in a row, the Northern New Mexico Street Rodders car club awarded two stocked toolboxes to a pair of outstanding college students.
Chee, of the auto body department, and Primrose, of the automotive technology department, are the 2009 recipients.
"I didn't know I was going to win the toolbox," Chee said. "I'm still speechless right now."
The retail value of each of the toolboxes and the tools they contain is about $1,200, said Street Rodders senior director Ron Balfour.
The award exists to keep students interested in automotive fields and to help them get their career off the ground. Chee plans to open his own auto body shop after graduation, and the tools are a good start.
"It really helps me out if I want to start a small shop," Chee said.
Primrose works at Sears and hopes to get a job as a race car technician in the future. Though the toolboxes came partially full, she's looking forward to adding her own tools to the drawers.
"I'm going to have a blast trying to fill it," Primrose said.
The Street Rodders leave it up to college instructors to choose the two recipients each year. They ask for deserving second-year students who are hard workers
Primrose embodies the attributes the Street Rodders aim to reward, her instructors feel.
"She has worked harder in these classes and applied herself more and she's really, really driven herself to be successful in the repair business," automotive technology coordinator Kerry Meier said. "I've been impressed with her and I don't really impress easily."
Chee believes his instructors selected him because of the work he did on a 1997 Chevrolet Camaro. The car came in totaled in the spring and couldn't make a left turn. A few months later, and it's like a brand new car, Chee said.
The Street Rodders paid for the tool boxes with a combination of fundraising money and donations.
"It's absolutely wonderful. It's going to make my job as a technician that much easier," Primrose said.
G. Jeff Golden:
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