Student drivers deal with their first cars.

Beep! Beep! Get out of the way! Juniors and seniors all across Northern are receiving their driver’s licenses and experiencing life on the road.

Senior Jenifer Huseman drives to school every weekday in her gray 2003 Hyundai Sonata. “It’s used. It’s still super nice, though,” stated Huseman. To pay for monthly insurance and half of her gas (her parents pay the other half) Huseman works at Yankee Candle in Dunkirk.

About a year ago, Huseman was involved in a sideswipe accident. “It was an unfortunate event, but it really made me a safer driver. I try to be aware of everything that’s going on around me now,” she said. Because of this, she’s on probation and can only drive family around. These aren’t the only rules Huseman has to drive by. She has to be home by the curfew her parents set for the night and, in order to keep her car, she must have a paying job.

Huseman enjoys the many features of her Sonata. “It has power seats and automatic windows, which I didn’t have in my old car,” she commented. Although these features are nice, there are some cons. “I wish it had a sunroof and my AC has to be recharged all the time,” Huseman said.

Huseman isn’t the only new driver at Northern. Junior Caroline Colgan recently received her license and drives the family minivan or Ford F150. Colgan made a deal with her parents that she doesn’t have to pay for gas as long as her grades remain high. With three younger siblings, her big responsibility is to pick them up from their afterschool activities and run to the store when needed. “It’s just a small task for me to repay my parents for an awesome first few months of driving,” Colgan stated.

Her favorite feature of the truck is the fact that it was her grandfather’s old truck. “Sadly, my Pop Pop passed a little over a year ago, but when I drive the truck, it’s like he’s sitting on the pleather seat right next to me,” Colgan commented. The worst feature of her prized Ford is the low gas mileage. Her parents pay for the insurance, because Colgan doesn’t have a job.

Be on the lookout for Northern’s drivers with their new and used cars. and, if you’re an underclassman, plan what you will be driving as a junior or senior at NHS.

–Madison Marinaccio and Olivia Reilly, Journalism One