From Passenger Seat to Behind the Wheel

I sit behind the wheel of my silver SUV, unlock all the doors, and scroll through Spotify to find my playlist made specifically for these moments. Once the music starts playing, I turn around and tell the four freshmen girls filling my backseat to buckle up. We drive to Chick-fil-A from YoungLife, talking about our homecoming dresses, the math teacher no one enjoys, and all the recent boy drama.

In the short drive, we catch up and make plans for the next week. These Monday evening drives with a rotating group of girls have become the highlight of my weeks. As we get to know each other better, night drives turn into morning coffees at our favorite local coffee shop and rides to football games with dinner before. However, it wasn’t always like this. I had to earn the long-awaited privilege of a license first.

From days at Drivers Education to countless hours driving with my dad, I knew that I could not wait to get my license. Getting there was the hard part.

For a busy teen, it was not always easy to find time to drive. I drove to school and back each day with my parents, but those minutes in the car did not even come close to how many hours I needed to have.

My dad came up with the solution: we would drive to Asheville, get lunch, and drive home.

One Saturday morning, we got up early to start the journey. With morning coffees and soft acoustics in the background, we started to talk about everything that had been going on with us. From school to friends, and even to his work, we discussed everything that we had been too busy to catch up on. With two hours in the car each way, we had a lot of time to discuss.

Over that day, although it may seem like an inconsequential Saturday, my dad and I became much closer. We had never sat for an entire day and just talked before.

That day ended up being my favorite part of the process to get my license. Now, my Monday night drives are my favorite part of having that license.

The lessons that I learned through the process of getting my license has propelled me into the driver’s seat, leading others in conversation. I always feel better driving these girls, as I know that my driving abilities allow them to be safe. Rather than speeding to get to Chick-fil-A faster, I know to drive the speed limit to keep them safe. Driving has allowed me to help protect these younger girls as we move from place to place.

As we drive, I remind them that seat belts are important and have to be worn in my car if they would like to ride with me. I keep the music at a low volume, as having friends in the car and music playing is a distraction when my main focus is keeping the people in my vehicle safe.

During my YoungLife and Chick-fil-A drives, one girl in particular, Katie, became someone I encouraged and built a relationship with over the past two years. As a member of my field hockey team and one of my neighbors, she became someone I drove often.

A few months ago, three full years after Katie and I met, Katie’s mom approached me at a school event. She shared how her daughter deeply valued our time together. Katie had hoped an older girl would hang out with her as friends in her grade were difficult. Our drives had become a source of friendship for her, a way to hang out with someone older and to have someone to go to events with.

Mentoring Katie and other girls has allowed me to better my school and YoungLife community because I am able to make the girls feel seen and known, something I would have loved when I was their age. Being in community with younger girls allows me to encourage them with a slightly different perspective than their peers.

Now, it has become routine for new girls to hop in my car after a YoungLife event or before a game, knowing that I will always be happy to take them home, listen to all the craziness surrounding Homecoming, or invite them to coffee the next week.

Sweetly, Katie has a license of her own. She also often takes friends to school events, building relationships in the same way as our friendship grew. The weekly drives that we shared have turned into drives with new friends, building relationships to help engage our community.

As she starts to drive, my hope is that the safety I encouraged while driving continues onto her car full of girls.

Thanks to my Driver’s Ed experience and my parents, all of these drives are possible. I know to tell each of my friends to buckle up, making sure that they are safe as we get on the road. Driver’s Ed allows me to navigate my city with ease, making both myself and my parents feel more comfortable with me being on the road.

Without my license, many of my friendships with these younger girls would not be as fruitful. Our drives allow us to be together regularly. They allow our parents to have one less thing to do, as many of them drive multiple children to extracurricular activities daily.

Driving has turned from a necessity to get around into a way to build community. It has become a way to keep my friends and other drivers safe. By encouraging the people in my vehicle to buckle up, not put their feet on the dash, and refrain from texting while driving, I keep us all safe.

I love my community, and by keeping my driving safe, I do my part to protect that community from harm related to teen accidents.