It started with 11 cars and a borrowed BMW.
Decades later, the Lloyd Comp Car and Truck Show has grown into one of the school’s most celebrated events, and Friday’s edition set a new record with 40 student competitors and a parking lot full to capacity.
“This is our record event,” said Victoria Oldershaw, the teacher who has organized the show for 13 or 14 years. “This is probably the best show we’ve had.”
The annual event, which dates to the 1960s, gives students a chance to display their vehicles and the mechanical skills behind them. It is organized entirely by a team of 15 Grade 12 leadership students, divided into management, prize collection and advertising teams.
For student Ty Graham, the truck he entered Friday is more than a project. It was his dad’s 2012 Chevy Duramax Diesel, and when Graham bought it, he decided to rebuild it himself.
“I wanted to redo it and keep it in the family,” Graham said. “So I just started building it out how I wanted, and now it is where it is.”
He estimates he has put roughly 250 hours of work into the truck, doing everything himself. His friends have taken notice.
“All my friends come out and get me to work on their trucks,” he said.
Graham entered the truck in the Best Custom Truck and Blood, Sweat, Tears categories. He is considering becoming a mechanic after graduation and placed fifth out of roughly 20 competitors at Skills Canada earlier this year.
This year’s team leaders, Libby Sherbinin and Haley Willis, described a push-to-the-wire final stretch that included late entries the morning of the show and a last-minute shuffle to fit every vehicle into the lot.
“We have 10 or 15 more cars than we’ve ever had in any of the past years,” Willis said. “Fitting them all into the parking lot was definitely a struggle, but we made it happen.”
Oldershaw, who got her start at the show as a new teacher simply asked to shadow along, said the event has become more than a display of polished paint and chrome. Students attend a safety meeting two days before the show and are expected to speak knowledgeably with judges about their vehicles.
“It’s about the love of the cars,” she said. “It’s not about just ripping around in them.”
That philosophy resonated with Gerry Duhaime, a community volunteer who helped judge the show on behalf of Just Cruzin’, the local car enthusiast group.
“These kids, I’ll tell you, they know what they’re doing,” Duhaime said. “They spend a lot of time and money and do a lot of the stuff themselves, which is really cool.”
Duhaime pointed to one student who had wired her own electronics as a standout example. He said the show reflects a broader shift in how young people engage with vehicles, particularly as automotive work grows more technical.
“With the modern sophistication of cars nowadays, it’s not just wrenching,” he said. “It’s doing electronic stuff, too.”
Sherbinin said the success of this year’s show belongs to the team behind it.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do it without all the help we were able to get from our leadership team,” she said. “We’re super thankful for how they all came together and worked hard to make this happen.”
Both Sherbinin and Willis graduate this spring. Sherbinin said she is confident the program is in good hands.
“I think we’ve got a lot of people trained up to kind of take over for us next year,” she said.
Willis said the show matters precisely because it creates space for students whose talents fall outside traditional school activities.
“A lot of these kids aren’t interested in arts or sports per se,” she said. “Having something to display like their cars and their mechanical skills, that are trades and kind of behind the scenes and aren’t usually noticed, is a really cool event for everyone from our school.”
The show drew more than a dozen sponsors. Just Cruzin’s own annual show is scheduled for later this month.
