Driver's ed

From The Extended Group

Drivers ed took different forms for different group members, many taking the class at Shorewood or at Shorecrest high school to varying degrees of success.

Summer 2001: Shorecrest High School

It was around this point that the state of Washington imposed tougher driving restrictions on those with permits and so called "graduated licenses" meaning those group members which recieved their licenses after this point could not drive with others in their cars until 50 hours of behind-the-wheel driving and 6 months had passed. Irregardless, in the summer of 2001, group members Brett, Terry, Andy, and Lukas began taking morning driving classes at Shorecrest high school in eastern Shoreline. Opting to take the 10 o'clock section due to the fact that it wasnt too early in the morning, nor too late thereby ruining the rest of the day, the group members carpooled to the school. Lukas and his dad would pick up andy in the mornings and in the afternoon, Andy's sister would drop Lukas off. Terry and Brett would ride-share as well, but the particular arrangement is not known. The class was predominantly made up of Shorecrest students and group members were split up due to alphabetical seating arrangements. Lukas and Andy were placed fairly close to each other, as were Brett and Terry, although no two group members shared a car. The class teacher was a portly man named Mr. Zentner with the physical appearance of an elastic-shorts wearing Rodney Dangerfield. His sense of humor and his willingness to pick on certain kids seemingly for his entertainment, as well as his propensity to hike his elastic-shorts very high made him a comedic figure to group members. The class was not especially entertaining, but Mr. Zentner had a way of keeping things interesting. People were placed in cars according to alphabetical arrangment. 3-4 students were placed in each Ford Taurus for practice driving, along with an instructor who rode in the passenger seat with an emergency brake to avoid accidents. Lukas was in a car with a sophomore named Dennis from Shorewood, a nerdy homeschooler, and Mason Park, although Mason dropped the class after 2 days. Lukas's instructor was Mr. Hall, a colorful figure in his later 50's who referred to Lukas as "Petey". He was popular because of his sense of humor and how he would buy slurpies for his students. (Note: authors recollection of other drivers is sketchy, please fill in details) At the end of the summer, group members received certificates of completion and then were required to finish an additional several months before a license could be applied for.

Anecdotes

• David Lind reported riding in Terrys car that at one point, Terry, not knowing whether to go right or left in a fork in the road, simply drove up onto the median, possibly the origin of his drivers statement: "Terrence, you butt-head"
• Andy became enamored with a girl in his car named Jessica, who quickly became named "Shorecrest Jess". It was later found out that she had a boyfriend, but not until much later. This friendship led to several encounters in which she was visited at the local Starbucks on 15th NE.
• Lukas committed a major faux pas where during break-time, Jess was giving Andy a hard time about his head obscuring the view of the front of the classroom, claiming he had a big head. To drum up support for her case, she asked Lukas "Do you think Andy has a big head?" Lukas was a bit surprised and without thinking responded "Yeah, but not as big as Terry's". Unbeknownst to Lukas, the classroom had become quieter in this period and his statement was heard by a fairly large percentage of those present, causing some laughter. At this point it was too late to recall the statement, so conversations simply resumed around the room.