DRIVE 2021: Saturday Morning TV

Despite different look, CC comunity thrives in historic DRIVE

Jack Smith ’21

There’s been a buzz in the air of Catholic Central recently. The students, faculty, and staff waited eagerly and worked tirelessly for perhaps the most important event of any school year, but of this school year especially. The DRIVE has come and gone, and with it, a breath of fresh air, new traditions, and a slice of normalcy.

The DRIVE is Catholic Central’s annual fundraiser for tuition assistance. Each year, the Shamrocks are tasked with selling raffle tickets to anyone and everyone they possibly can. The raffle tickets are drawn in April for a $20,000 grand prize along with a few additional smaller prizes.

The majority of the money, however, is used to help future Shamrocks pay for their education. Last year’s total was $606,514.13. The expectations for this year were high. Then came, of course, Covid-19.

Many thought DRIVE was simply canceled this year. But without it, a major source of school spirit is lost. It was, therefore, vital to make sure that this great tradition could continue under the circumstances. Mr. Carrier personally ensured that this long-standing tradition was not lost.

Despite the restrictions brought about by Covid-19, Mr. Carrier and Student Activities guaranteed that DRIVE would maintain its characteristic of being student-driven.

Mr. Carrier explained, “The students still picked the theme, still decorated the homerooms and the hallways, and still made sure that the school had a completely different feeling for a time being.” Giving the school a different feeling was especially important this year because of the general dampening brought along by Covid-19.

As we saw, many aspects of DRIVE looked very different this year. Mr. Carrier explained that the goal of Student Activities was to make it look as DRIVE-ish as possible without certain key components, such as the live assemblies.

Instead of live assemblies, DRIVE became more of a live television broadcast, fitting to this year’s theme of television shows. Mr. Carrier said that the biggest challenge was to try and create the same kind of atmosphere without having the student body gathered together.

This atmosphere was maintained at a smaller scale, as the student body was able to gather in the halls and sing the Hand Cheer, Alma Mater, and DRIVE Song together. Also, the laughs and cheers of the live studio audience made the broadcasts feel more like an actual assembly rather than a simple video.

Perhaps the most notable additions for this year were the Wheels of Fortune and Misfortune.

The Wheel of Fortune changed the whole dynamic of the cash drawings, allowing students to spin and take a chance of doubling their money at the risk of losing half of it, or even all of it.

The Wheel of Misfortune, as Mr. Carrier explained, “provides a way to bring some discomfort into the challenges rather than just having a bunch of kids sign up for challenges they want to do. We’re going for quality over quantity.” We saw, for example, some students take a dip into a hot dog bath, while other students, and even some faculty, flew down the ice cream slip and slide.

Another part of DRIVE that was new was the introduction of the mural. Due to Covid-19, the 2020 Boys’ Bowl mural was not able to be completed early in the year. However, Mr. Dent and his Advanced Art students worked together to ensure that this year would not go without a mural, and they definitely provided. When the coverings dropped at the final assembly, revealing the Star Wars-themed mural, a combined DRIVE and Boys’ Bowl atmosphere was felt. It was unlike anything the school has seen in at least the past year. And then, the totals upstaged all else. Mr. Carrier hoped that we would raise enough money to make a substantial difference in the lives of those seeking tuition assistance.

He stated, “That is the ultimate goal of any DRIVE.” This year, however, Mr. Carrier hoped that “as a school, with everything we’ve been through this year, we are able to fully immerse ourselves into the fun and exciting atmosphere of DRIVE.”

While the whole DRIVE was very impressive, anyone watching the final assembly, in person or through broadcast, saw that the spirit was not lost. The Shamrocks raised $600,578.13, a task which seemed impossible merely a week before.

On top of that, the seniors (and the juniors) defeated the freshmen. The freshmen lost the DRIVE! The standard is now set for generations of Shamrocks to come.

As Fr. Fulton said in his speech on the final day, “The best motivation for the Shamrock Nation is telling them they can’t do something.” DRIVE 2021 has proven Fr. Fulton’s words to be true, and it served this year, and will serve for many years to come, as the one of the purest examples of the Catholic Central spirit.