Twenty-five students at King George high school and two downtown elementary schools will be chosen Friday for an innovative, year-long project designed to teach mechanical skills, foster leadership abilities and bridge inter-generational and inter-racial communities.
The bold ambitions of the "Bike. Community" project will put students to work each building a bicycle, growing their family's circle of friends and taking on public speaking and education roles to promote the values of self-propelled transportation.
Participants will be immigrants and new arrivals to Canada.
"Often kids come in from countries where cycling is seen as something that poor people do and often don't connect it to the opportunity that we see it as," said King George vice principal Damian Wilmann.
"Parents are often hesitant," he added. "They feel kids are at risk on the street, which partly is true, but we're making education a big part of the program by teaching them road safety, how to get the right safety equipment and how to be safe on the streets."
Involving family, said Wilmann, is a primary focus of Bikes.Community, which counts the YMCA, Gordon Neighourhood House and PEDAL (Pedal Energy Development Alternatives) as partners.
The program runs from October to June and is tied to a Technology 10 course and may eventually be developed for school credit. Ten students from Lord Roberts and Elsie Roy elementary schools will also be selected.
The 11-to 18-year-old students stand to learn how cycling fits into the bigger picture of the environment, health and community. As they get cerebral about their two-wheelers, the students will be building them with their own hands.
"The students do the work. We're teaching them how to work on different systems and then we give it a safety check before they take them on the road," said Charlotte Hannah, a senior mechanic with PEDAL, a collective linked to Our Community Bikes that promotes cycling through education, workshops and the redistribution of recycled and refurbished bicycles.
Students will work on bicycles donated Thursday at a bike drive. The students won't build bicycles from a bare-bones frame, but they will examine different makes and models to understand and study diverse mechanical components, parts and tools. Students will then fine-tune and customize a bike that suits their riding interest and fits their size and style.
"In my experience, when someone is just learning, you want to give them time," said Hannah, who described the four Saturday clinics as "comprehensive."
"We're showing them how to do it, letting them try and then working out all the kinks that come with every single bike system. We'll give you the means to learn it, then perfect it and you can spread that knowledge with your friends and family and you don't have to rely on a professional to fix things that you can fix yourself."
The self-sufficiency and independence that come with greasestained fingers in the fall will be coupled with a public speaking tour in the winter and spring when the 25 students share what they've learned with other students. Throughout this time, parents and families will come together for potluck meals and one day of diversity training.
Students will be selected based on their leadership potential, commitment and their family's interest and willingness to learn, engage and build a community, said YMCA manager Linda Rubuliak.
"It is a really hands-on, non-threatening way to get together and meet other members of the community," she said, noting the ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity of the West End and Coal Harbour neighbourhoods that also includes a large LGBTQ community.
"One of the realities of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»and certainly the downtown peninsula is that over 40 per cent of people who live here are foreign born."
The program is free for students. The B.C. government put $149,000 toward funding the program for a year.
The first workshop is Oct. 29 at King George.
"There's something so nice-for adults and children alike-to build a bike. It's like you didn't even think you could do this," said Hannah. "They will be building bikes with us that they get to take home. Hopefully they can bring that knowledge back to their family." [email protected]
Twitter: @MHStewart
