Throughout our childhoods, getting the chance to hear that your parents are picking you up was extreme happiness. Getting to skip the long bus ride in the comfort of the family car all changes as students turn sixteen and get their license. Joy goes from parents driving to getting to own and decorate your own car.
Hadyn Brooks has upgraded her car while still in high school.
“I used to have an old Ford Explorer SUV that was my mom’s, and it started to not have heat and not have air conditioning. And then the windows didn’t work. And I had worked since eighth grade, so I was able to save up enough money, and I bought a Tesla off of my mom. Now, I get to have the Tesla instead of the old SUV,” Brooks said.
Brooks not only gets to have a newer and nicer car—she also gets to have fun with it.
“Very nice to have extra fun features. It’s got little whoopee cushions in all of the chairs. It’s got karaoke. There’s a big little screen in there that has a lot of different fun games and features that you can do,” Brooks said.
Opportunities to buy a personal car have risen from all over. Braylon Ford found himself in a position to take advantage of one of those opportunities.
“One time I just went on to marketplace, and I was just looking around, and I was like, ‘Oh, what is this?’ And it was a dealership up in the Ozarks. They’re like, ‘We got this Mustang,’” Ford said.
Not only does owning a car have much fun in itself, Matthew Lamb, an RHS senior, has found community in sharing this fun.
“I feel like the reason why I want to do this [car modifications] is because of the car community that I’m part of, which is called Street Dreams Auto Group. They are based here in Rolla. So it’s a community, basically,” Lamb said.
Countless possibilities of personalization and renovation make owning a car for the first time so meaningful.
“I’ve done everything for it. I put my heart and soul into that car,” Ford said.
