Remembering Your First Ride

Everyone remembers their first car. And many Arrowhead students are in the midst of purchasing their first cars. They range from Jeeps to Saturns, and from hand-me-downs to brand spanking new.

A senior who wishes to remain anonymous has a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. He says he uses his Jeep to participates in street races and avoids trouble by using a radar to detect police officers.

Kris Dominski, a teacher at AHS, remembers her very first car, a 1973 Buick Century, as a “Beast” with an old fashioned radio.

First cars can come with a lot of problems. Dale Destache, a mathematics teacher at Arrowhead, bought his first car from his dad for $500, but there was one problem: it did not run. So he restored the car himself.

Sometimes first cars can be a learning experience. They are the cars to get dents, scratches, and, “blown out speakers,” according to junior Claire Lauterbach who has had the speakers in her 2011 Jeep Wrangler replaced twice.

Students learn that cars do not just keep running on their own: they need to have the oil checked, steering wheel aligned, and trie air checked on a regular bases according to Robert, a mechanic at Erv’s Auto Repair in Hartland.

Senior Kailee Sagal’s first car was a Honda Civic which was later crashed. Sagal was driving down an icy hill during her first Wisconsin winter as a young driver and slipped right in to the back of another car. The other driver perceeded by driving away Sagal says.

Junior Brandon Urbaniak says he doesn’t have a license currently, but hopes one day he will have a 2012 Jeep Wrangler.

“With all the memories that I have of that time in life, it is the memories in that car that are the stories I tell my kids about when it comes to driving. Driving during a blizzard snow storm and doing a 360 on the highway, crashing my dad’s Lincoln into the garage, and my cat jumping out of the window are just some of the memories I have with my little yellow Volkswagen,” said Virginia Kesow, former AHS graduate.