Centre, foreground: Neil Cooke, Chair of Transportation, Math & Science at RRC; and Joyce Sobering, Vice-President, Sobering Automotive Centre Ltd., with the team that assembled the 1965 Cobra.

Students from Red River College's Automotive Department have found a new way to re-invest in the community, by using their skills to raise money for a local philanthropic group's scholarship fund.

Over the last year and a half, a team of students and instructors from RRC's Automotive program used their combined mechanical know-how to assemble a 1965 Cobra AC Replica Kit Car, which was supplied by the Red River Exhibition Foundation (the philanthropic arm of the Red River Exhibition Association).

The Foundation, in turn, was able to raffle off the car, putting the more than $40,000 in proceeds towards a scholarship program that helps individuals complete their post-secondary educations. Scholarship funds are used to support five industry sectors: Aerospace, Agriculture & Agri-Food, Automotive, Business, and Tourism.

On Tue., Dec. 14th, 2010, staff and students at the College were joined by Joyce Sobering of Sobering Automotive Centre Ltd., one of the Foundation's founders. Sobering said the Cobra project had a number of objectives: To showcase the skills and achievements of RRC students and instructors, to serve as a recruitment strategy for the automotive industry, and to raise funds to support all five of the Foundation's industry sectors.

"I think both the instructors and the students did a phenomenal job," said Sobering. "I was very impressed, not only with the finished product, but also with the time they committed to the project, and with their enthusiasm and skills."

Click here for more information about the Red River Exhibition Foundation.