The sun was blaring down and the grass was poky and brown, the green leached away by the summer heat. It was the middle of the day and junior Avan Booher was four years old and watching his grandfather reach elbow-deep into the engine of his car while he sat on his fathers shoulders. It’d been like this since the start of summer and the three of them would work outside for hours as they tried to fix the old Mustang. Eventually, the weekend before the Fourth of July, they got the car to run and celebrated by riding around playing old music with the windows down. Since those first hot summer days working and riding around with his grandfather and father he had fallen in love with cars.
“I was interested in my grandpa’s Mustang,” Booher said. “I grew up working on it with him and my dad and just kinda knew that that’s what I wanted to do ever since.”
His grandfather who bought the car new in 1968 ended up giving the vehicle to Booher’s father when Booher was in Middle School.
“We still have it, but it doesn’t run,” Booher said. “I plan on fixing it up though so that I can ride around with them again.”
The car is now at Booher’s father’s house with a cracked engine block, the estimated price to replace: around 7,000 dollars. Booher is currently working to find a job and save up for the new engine because he feels as though the car is an important family heirloom.
“It just reminds me of my family – especially my dad – and a lot of good memories from when I was younger,” Booher said. “It’s something that’s been passed down in my family and I want to be able to pass it down too.”
Along with the familial importance, Booher holds a deep love for the car itself and other classic cars like it.
“I mostly like Mustangs and other muscle cars,” Booher said. “But I like the classic ones most of all.”
Booher believes his love for classic cars over modern ones stems from his upbringing, where his father and grandfather would bring him to work on their own classic vehicles.
“I was probably five or six when I [first] worked on my grandpa’s [1968] Oldsmobile Cutlass and it kind of showed me that that’s what I wanted to do from then on,” Booher said.
After a few years of watching, Booher became old enough to start applying himself too and began his research.
“I wanted to be able to do it on my own.” Booher said.
When Booher got to high school new opportunities opened for him, one of which being the chance to work at the career center in the automotive department with students from both Bryant and other nearby districts.
“I’ve always known that I wanted to work in the automotive industry, so it seemed like the best option,” Booher said.
Once started, at the career center Booher first learned about engine repair and performance and brake systems.
“I love automotive,” Booher said. “It’s probably my favorite class that I’ve had over the past two years.”
Booher enjoys his automotive classes because they are engaging and he finds his instructor easy to pay attention to.
“I like my instructor,” Booher said. “He can be funny but he’s also just good at teaching.”
Booher’s automotive classes also work to provide a sense of community to him.
“Most of the people that I’ve become friends with this year and last year come from automotive,” Booher said. “It really gives me a place where I feel like I belong.”
But Booher’s time with his friends is coming to an end, especially for those that come from other school districts.
“I graduate from [automotive] this year and I’m excited to finally be moving forward,” Booher said. “But I’m gonna miss the people I’ve met and the different things that the career center has.”
But with the change will come new opportunities for Booher.
“My plan is to start working in a garage next year and then once I graduate go to trade school,” Booher said. “I’ll already be a good option for places with the experience I have [from the career center] too.”
It’s with that experience from the career center and his future experience that he will work towards his end goals. By the time he’s 30 he hopes to be able to move overseas to Germany, where he plans to open his own car restoration shop and sell American made cars. It’s in that shop that he also plans to grow a collection of his own vehicles.
“I’ll collect all the old Mustangs and some Camaros too,” Booher said. “But I really wanna be able to buy my mom a house in Italy; she’s always wanted to live there.”
He realizes that some of these goals might be considered unrealistic but he believes with perseverance, dedication and his experience from the career center he would be able to make it happen.
“Like I said, it’ll take a lot of effort, but it’s what I want and at some point maybe I’ll be teaching my own kids how to take apart an engine.” Booher laughed.
But none of these dreams would have formed without his love for cars and his experience at the career center. So while some may only see a car as a way to move from Point A to Point B, Avan Booher sees them as an intriguing collection of parts that holds old memories and paves the way for new ones.
