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‘Lucky’ Metro student wins car from The Regency
Jenny Ramirez-Tobias has always been considered by her family to be
lucky.
“
My mom used to call me Jenny Benny Lucky Penny,” said Ramirez-Tobias. “Which
is kind of embarrassing.”
But that nickname faded out with time, and Ramirez-Tobias got used to
her mother calling her by her real name. That is, until Dec. 30, 2005
when she won a 2005 Volkswagen Jetta in a raffle for students living
at The Regency, Auraria’s student housing community.
According to Carmen Lerma-Mendoza, the contest was open to all students
who had signed leases since the opening of The Regency last September,
including those who had not yet moved in. The cutoff date was the night
before the drawing at 5 p.m.
After graduating high school, Ramirez-Tobias started college at CU-Boulder,
but quickly realized the school was not for her. Transferring during
the second half of her freshman year to Metro, Ramirez-Tobias moved home
to Arvada and started driving to school.
Wanting more of a “college experience,” Ramirez-Tobias found
The Regency and moved in Dec. 1, 2005 and has since discovered a relatively
new side of the campus community.
“
It wasn’t like I was at a traditional school, it seemed like it
was a community college when I was first coming here (Metro),” Ramirez-Tobias
said. “But then when I moved into The Regency I saw, like for example,
how people were going to basketball games… when not many people
were going to games before.”
Waking up around noon on Dec. 30 after a fight with her best friend that
had kept her up until 4 a.m., Ramirez-Tobias showered and decided she
would relax around her room until she had to go to work at five.
The raffle drawing was scheduled for 2 p.m. that day, she knew that,
but her roommate had gone back to California for winter break, and Ramirez-Tobias
didn’t feel like going down to the lobby by herself. So she plopped
down in front of the tube for a bit, expecting a slow afternoon.
At around two, her phone rang from a number she did not recognize. Ramirez-Tobias
didn’t answer, instead letting her voice mail take the call. It
was then that a funny thought entered her mind, “I wonder who won
the drawing? Wouldn’t it be funny if…”
Doubtfully, she checked the message on her voice mail. It was from Angelique
Salazar, leasing manager for The Regency.
“
Jenny! Oh my gosh! You won the car! Call me back!” Salazar yelled
on the message.
Now trembling with excitement, Ramirez-Tobias hung up the phone and stood
with a blank stare for a moment before her phone rang again. It was her
mother, who had also just been called and was ecstatic on the other end
of the line.
Ramirez-Tobias, still in shock from the good news, told her mother to “hold
on a sec,” then hung up on her as she walked out of her sixth floor
dorm to the elevator.
“
I was so glazed over, that elevator ride was so strange,” Ramirez-Tobias
said.
As the doors opened on the ground floor, the crowd that had originally
gathered for the drawing rushed over, congratulating her and cheering.
“
I was like, ‘Um, okay?’” Ramirez-Tobias said. “All
of a sudden they were pushing me into the car and taking pictures. I
remember someone saying ‘Get in, its yours!’”
“
I think for all of us, it was exciting and really emotional to see a
student who can use something new like that win,” Lerma-Mendoza
said. “It’s nice to see how we can affect the students and
their families in such a positive way.”
After calling her mom back, Ramirez-Tobias was able to get her new insurance
information faxed over, and with a set of expired temporary tags, she
took her new car for a spin around town.
Ramirez-Tobias signed a year lease at the beginning of December, just
missing the cutoff deadline for the raffle drawing, and could see herself
staying at The Regency after that.
“
I feel a lot safer living in The Regency than I would at an apartment
downtown,” she said.
Surprising to her, she hasn’t been asked for too many rides yet,
but she has become a dorm celebrity of sorts.
“
I would walk by people at the dining hall and hear ‘She won!’ and
things like that,” Ramirez-Tobias said. “Everyone thinks
I’m very lucky now, they want me to buy them Lotto tickets and
Powerball tickets.”
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