The Student News Site of Mount Vernon High School

The Mustang Moon

The Student News Site of Mount Vernon High School

The Mustang Moon

The Student News Site of Mount Vernon High School

The Mustang Moon

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Lauren McCollum’s sophomore summer experience

Lauren McCollum

By Connor Bilden

On a cool summer morning the blinding sun peeked over the horizon as a car cranked over in the old middle school parking lot. Inside the car was Lauren McCollum in the driver’s seat, along with her driving instructor and her friend Annie Leopold. At the time McCollum was 15, and headed for her sophomore year. The car they were in had a decal on the side that said “Mount Vernon Driver’s Ed” and the back said “student driver.”

Driver’s ed started shortly after freshmen year ended. The class was taught by Mr. Boots at the old middle school in Mount Vernon. Although driver’s ed might seem boring, a few of Lauren’s friends, Leopold, Caroline See, and Nicole Theobald, took the class at the same time she did, and this turned a boring class into a fun one.

During driver’s ed class they would have breaks. McCollum and Leopold would go to Skillet Cafe and get smoothies. Sometimes they had speed and agilities early in the morning before driver’s ed so they would set an alarm and try to take a short nap during breaks. Some other people in the class would go to the store CarePro and get snacks and drinks, McCollum said.

McCollum’s favorite part about driver’s ed was the last instructed drive that she went on. She and Leopold got to drive to Chick-fil-A and eat this putting an exciting ending to her driver’s ed class. Her least favorite part of driver’s ed was sitting through the long boring classes that lasted three hours. She said, “I almost fell asleep in class a lot.” Her least favorite drive that she went on was the fourth drive. During this drive they practiced merging and exiting. She was nervous and said, “I’m just a really bad driver so going into it I knew it wasn’t going to go well.”

McCollum offered advice for people who are going to take driver’s ed. “Don’t get nervous;” she said, “it can be fun because the teachers are really nice and it’s also nice to be with your friends.” She ended up passing and received her certificate like most people do, but she doesn’t have her license yet because she is 15.         

     

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