Senior Greg Carenza will soon be giving his 1988 Oldsmobile back to his father due to an unexpected surprise.

Carenza will soon be the proud driver of a brand-new 1998 Mercury Mystique, thanks to winning a Golden Key National Honor Society raffle.

Carenza won the automobile for a two-year lease period during the international convention of Golden Key, held this year in Atlanta, Ga. Carenza and six other Iowa State representatives attended the five-day convention with more than 1,000 other Golden Key members.

“The convention was a blast. … Our section of Golden Key won a Key Chapter Award. It shows that we worked hard, and that we met and exceeded our goals,” Carenza said.

But the most exciting and rewarding part of the convention was the afternoon of Aug. 9, the third day of the convention, when the grand drawing was held for the car.

“They had everyone’s name in a huge glass case, and they had various prizes to give away. There were two cars to give away — a brand-new Mercury Mystique, and a brand-new Ford Escort,” Carenza said.

“At the convention, people tried to keep the suspense going. They read off the names really slowly. Then they read ‘Greg,’ and I kept thinking, ‘There’s no way, there must be more than one Greg here,’ and then they read off ‘Scott,’ and then ‘Carenza.’ I was more shocked than anything else. I’ve never won anything that big in my life,” he said.

Carenza said his fellow Golden Key members were ecstatic for him.

“They were just going crazy. We couldn’t believe out of that many people that someone from our chapter had actually won something,” Carenza said.

Ford Motor Company gave him the star treatment, he said. Not only did he get his picture taken with the Mercury Mystique, he said he got to pick out the color scheme for the vehicle.

He chose a toreador [cherry] red for the exterior and a prairie tan for the interior.

The car also comes with all the luxury features, including CD player, air conditioner and leather seats.

Carenza said he has the option to buy the car after the lease expires and is almost certain he will do so.

“I will probably buy the car, if the price is reasonable. At least I’ll know who put all the miles on it,” Carenza said.

Carenza said he doesn’t mind that he won’t receive the car until the first week of October as Ford is currently building the new Mercury Mystique for him.

“My parents were really happy. They were planning on giving me a new car for my graduation. Now that’s off their shoulders. They’ll probably just help me pay off the car when I decide to buy it,” Carenza said.

Carenza is an elementary education major. He said he joined Golden Key because he wanted to meet new people, build his resume and get involved with programs relating to his major.

“It was definitely a worthwhile experience. My advice for future members would be to get involved early, get to know people, don’t just show up for the induction ceremony and that’s it. There are a diverse group of people in Golden Key, and it was a lot of fun,” he said.

The requirements for participants are: juniors with a GPA of at least 3.33. Future applicants, as was the case with Carenza, are approached as early as their sophomore year, and if their grades hold up, they are inducted as “lifetime” members of the Golden Key Society.

ISUniversity has more than 1,000 members.