The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
1st Step teaches driving basics and life choices
Variety of teaching methods in driver's education classes
By Austen Smith, Editor
PUBLISHED: September 27, 2007
Instructors at 1st Step Driving School not only teach prospective drivers the ways of the road, they also teach valuable life lessons that can be used outside of the car.
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Co-owner of 1st Step, Kelvin Dobbins, is a retired transportation supervisor from Ann Arbor Public Schools and says he has been dealing with students for 31 years.
"We pride ourselves in providing the best quality of service and we have built a very good rapport with high schools around the area," he says.
1st Step provides driving instruction for Belleville High School, Ypsilanti High School, Lincoln Consolidated School District and Romulus.
Providing driving lessons with a family-owned and operated business boasting a small staff of instructors, which includes Dobbins' wife and co-owner Lakayshia, can be challenging. But 1st Step manages to educate students with a wide range of visual aides and teaching methods, and Dobbins says they always get their point across.
"We have a motto around here that we always reach students," he says. "No matter what, I always say 'I'm going to get him or her,' meaning I will educate this young adult and we will have this young man or woman prepared for the road."
One method used in the classroom are the traditional movies and educational material. Dobbins says the movies are supposed to demonstrate to the students that when you get out on the road, you have to be responsible even if you're not the one driving.
"I teach students that we need to be aware of who we are riding with. We need to know their personality and whether they are an unsafe driver," Dobbins says.
Another method he uses is having the students push each other around in a wheelchair.
"I have the students close their eyes, and tell them it's the same thing as not paying attention to the road while they're driving," Dobbins says. "Through doing this stuff, I get the (students) to really grasp what's happening out there on the road. They need to know that they need to be aware at all times. We get a great result."
Dobbins teaches driver's education in the Romulus and Lincoln school districts, while Lakayshia Dobbins and another instructor, Ron Palmer, teach at Ypsilanti. Another instructor, Rosalind Ross, teaches at Belleville High School. The groups' educational backgrounds come from all over the state with Lakayshia and Ross graduating from Wayne State University, Kelvin from Central Michigan University and Palmer from Eastern Michigan University.
Dobbins said at first it was hard as he was juggling between his former job at Ann Arbor Schools and First Step.
"I've enjoyed doing what I do," Dobbins says. "It's important that students get a quality education. If they fail in a regular class, than they get to take that over again. But if they fail out on the road then there is a chance they will die."
Dobbins says that none of their staff has ever been involved in a vehicle accident while instructing.
"We like to say that 'We all go home to our families every night,'" Dobbins says. "That is our responsibility and we take that very seriously."
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