The old saying goes that a dog is a man’s best friend, but some students at school would much rather care for a vehicle than an animal.

In the depths of the parking lot emerges a special parking place that the student body has largely called, “Hick Row”. It is there that a group of students, who refer to themselves as hicks, spend time in the morning and after school. What brings the group together is the love for their vehicles.

“It’s just a place for us to mess around in the morning,” junior Nathan Rohr said. “We spend a lot of time out here.”

All regular members on Hick Row drive what they solely call “pick-ups”.

“I’ve had to work on my engine out on Hick Row in the mornings,” junior Jacob Meis said. “Everyone parked back there has tools and is willing to help out for the sake of a pick-up.”

The members take pride in their vehicles and are excited to talk about them at any given chance.

“My pick-up is cool because it’s old and loud,” sophomore Lane Pfannenstiel said. “Add-ons don’t mean everything when put up against old pick-ups.”

Meis and Rohr agreed, but talked about things most of the members have that are deemed as cool.

“Most of us have CB radios and exhaust,” Rohr said. “You’ll get more status points if it’s a Chevy.”

Hick Row has become a place to fix up trucks, gain new friends, and for some, find a place to fit in.

“It doesn’t really matter who parks back here,” junior Jacob Meis said. “We’ve gotten all kinds of people, and all kinds of cars. This one person comes around a lot and parks a mini-van out here. That gets a laugh out of us.”

All members agreed that if you mess with one of them, you mess with all of them. Hick Row has become a family to this select group of students.

“Hick Row came to be as just a group of people that had a common interest,” sophomore Laura Montgomery said. “Living in the country and driving trucks is what most of us do. Since then it has grown into allowing anyone that drives a truck. Most of the individuals that reverse into the back row also have other common interests such as FFA, welding, woods and HHITA. It has really grown to be more accepting of other people in the past years.”