North by Northwestern

Contestant Neal Sales-Griffin encourages people to vote online for his team in the “Livin’ Large” challenge.

A car parked next to the Rock this week may not catch your attention at first—but look closer. Two NU students, SESP sophomore Neal Sales-Griffin and McCormick sophomore Mario Montes Sujo, will be living in that car for the next five days with the hopes of winning a brand-new 2007 Chevy Aveo.

Sales-Griffin and Sujo were chosen to be contestants in the Chevrolet Aveo “Livin’ Large” Campus Challenge. Competing against teams from six other universities, Neal and Mario have to live in the car until the contest ends on Nov. 3 at 11 p.m. They must stay in continuous contact with the car for those five days while providing entertainment and encouraging people to vote. Each student from the team with the most online and text message votes at the end of the competition will win a brand-new 2007 Chevy Aveo.

“I mean people can stay over but I don’t really think they’d want to ‘cause space is kind of limited,” said Sujo.

More than 100 people showed up yesterday evening to support Neal and Mario as they kicked off the competition. Northwestern University Marching Band provided an energetic drum line performance while crowds cheered and danced.

“We came out here to support Neal,” said Music sophomore Ian Weinberger, co-captain of the NU drum line. “We might be back before the week is over—it was fun.”

The support for Neal and Mario goes beyond school organizations. Friends and strangers continually show up to speak with them, take pictures and receive free T-shirts that handed out by Chevy representatives.

“I think they have a very good shot of winning, they’ve been fighting these big schools all day in terms of votes,” McCormick freshman Brendon Divincenzo said.

Sujo said he wasn’t worried that teams from other universities will win simply because their schools have a much larger undergraduate population.

“We don’t have any solid numbers, but at least on Facebook our group has 1,300 members,” Montes Sujo said. “Last time I checked, that was way more than any of our competition.”

To keep busy for five days, Neal and Mario outfitted the car with snacks, lots of music and, of course, their laptops. Since all contestants must live blog and use a webcam, Neal and Mario are constantly checking the progress of other teams at www.aveolivinlarge.com.

If Neal and Mario happen to need anything else, a team of four NU graduate students from the school of Integrated Marketing Communications will be around to help them.

“We worked with the Chevy team to help publicize here on campus, to help get the students interested and to help coordinate the logistics and approval process,” IMC team member Leticia Diaz said.

A member from the IMC team will also walk Neal and Mario to and from class to make sure that they follow all the rules.

“We’re really proud to have such an involved university to be a part of, and we just love everyone who comes out and supports us and votes,” Sales-Griffin said. “We’re here to win this car, to represent Northwestern and to make the world know this is actually a good car to live in.”

To vote, view information about the teams, watch the competition via webcam, or blog with the teams go here.

For a complete schedule of the events at the Rock, check out their Google Calendar here.

NBN will be covering Neal and Mario’s competition throughout the week. Check back for an audio-slideshow, interviews and updates.

Photos by Lauren Hock.

More than 100 people came to the NU Drumline performance at the Rock.

Chevrolet Aveo Livin’ Large representatives hand out t-shirts to people passing by.

Northwestern University police officers will be standing by 24 hours a day to ensure the contest runs smoothly and safely.

“I’m out here to help the cause so Mario can win a car and just all-and-all trying to represent the school,” said McCormick freshman Brendon Divincenzo.