POST FALLS — Her name might be Mercedes, but now she's cruising in a brand new Chevy.

Coeur d'Alene High School 2024 graduate Mercedes Ferra, 18, won a 2025 Chevy Trax SUV at Knudtsen Chevrolet's 85th Anniversary Party, held Thursday evening at the Post Falls dealership.

"I just cried," Ferra said Friday. "I was so very excited."

The young barista was among five recently graduated hopefuls who attended their safe and sober graduation parties and won the lucky ticket to vie for the new car, a Knudtsen tradition that goes back more than a decade.

The students were given remote key fobs and eagerly awaited their turns to press the buttons to see which winning key unlocked the car.

“At first I didn't think mine unlocked it, so I took my hand off the door,” Ferra said.

Knudtsen Chevrolet President Eve Knudtsen, who was standing by, encouraged her to double check.

"So I pressed it again," Ferra said. "Then I opened the door and I just backed up and was like, 'There’s no way.'"

"She opens the door and then it hits her," Knudtsen said with a laugh. "She goes, 'Did I just win the car?'"

Ferra's mom, Shanda Drapeau, said when the first three students' buttons didn't work, her heart was in her throat. Then her daughter won.

"I don't remember anything that happened after that," she said. "I remember screaming."

The sleek black Trax SUV, valued at $25,000, had 9 miles on it when Ferra drove it off the lot. It will replace her 2011 Chevy Malibu.

"I was telling the guy, 'I only won because I'm a Chevy girl through and through,'" the delighted Ferra said.

Ferra will study to be a veterinarian at Colorado State University this fall. She said she has already made the trip with her Malibu once but she was uncertain if her old car would be up for many more adventures.

"It took a million weights off mine and my husband's shoulders, because now she has reliable transportation," Drapeau said. "She’s so good. She works so hard. She deserves this."

Ferra said she is super thankful to Knudtsen Chevrolet for even having the car raffle. 

"It's obviously a sacrifice they made for me to have the car," she said. "I’m grateful to them."

Knudtsen said the annual giveaway is fun and exciting for everyone involved.

"We have been so blessed through this," she said. "We’ve gotten to know some great kids and their parents."

She discussed the selfless young man who won the car four years ago and handed the keys over to the young lady who went first after none of the contestants' keys opened the car. Brian Hansen won on the second go-round, but gave the car to Amy Palmer before he went on a two-year mission trip. Hansen was rewarded for his good deed in March of this year, when Knudtsen Chevrolet awarded him a 2024 Chevrolet Trax.

"It was amazing the calls we got, people saying we need to do something for this young man," Knudtsen said. "It was amazing that he did that."

Knudtsen reflected on the 85-year milestone of her company, which has been a family business the entire time.

"I certainly have been proud of the history of Knudtsen Chevrolet, starting with my grandfather and his brother in 1939," she said.

Her father took it over from her grandfather and great-uncle, then she and her brother, Eric Knudtsen, were partners until her daughter, Lauren Benedict, worked out a deal with her brother so yet another generation could have a stake in the company.

"My brother and I were blessed to be a part of this growing up and to be partners for a number of years," she said.

Through car giveaways and 85 years going strong, Knudtsen said she's feeling great about it all.

The other top students did not walk away from the party empty-handed. They were awarded new Apple laptops.

Laptop winners:

• Vaughn Higgins, Timberlake High

• Mica Easterly, Post Falls High

• Connor Carmignani, Lake City High

• Tucker Sitko, Lakeland High

    Knudtsen