Back on the road: Weber-area high school students repair, donate unneeded bikes to kids
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- In this undated picture, high school students from Weber School District’s bicycle repair class present Valley View Elementary students with refurbished bikes.
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- In this undated picture, high school students from Weber School District’s bicycle repair class present Valley View Elementary students with refurbished bikes.
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- In this undated picture, high school students from Weber School District’s bicycle repair class present Valley View Elementary students with refurbished bikes.
OGDEN — A group of 10 students from high schools around the Weber School District spent the last semester learning to fix bicycles — and, later, giving them away — as part of a class at Weber Innovation High School that blends technical education with community service.
According to Weber School District Career and Technical Education Director Rod Belnap, bicycle repair is among the CTE course offerings statewide; however, only a handful of districts are actually teaching the class.
“With the state’s emphasis on the outdoors, we felt this was a great opportunity to introduce students to the many opportunities that there are to pursue careers and interests in the outdoor industry,” Belnap told the Standard-Examiner. “We felt like this was a chance to introduce students to and develop a skill that is in demand. Even if they don’t pursue a career in the outdoors, they have acquired a skill that they’ll use for the rest of their lives.”
The district’s magnet course has been taught for the last two years by Mike Blodgett, an avid biker during a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Taiwan who returned to the hobby later in life and, eventually, started repairing bicycles at The Bike Shoppe in South Ogden.
“One day, I was watching the Tour de France with my wife and one of the guys riding had a derailleur malfunction — he couldn’t shift gears,” Blodgett told the Standard-Examiner. “The repairman for the team rode up in his car, leaned out with a screwdriver and manually adjusted the derailleur, so the guy could climb the hill coming up. I looked at my wife and said, ‘That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I want to go work at a bike shop.'”
Students from Roy, Fremont, West Field, Weber and Bonneville high schools travel or are bused to the Innovation High campus during school hours for the class, which, according to Blodgett, sees them learn through hands-on experience with bikes, as opposed to lectures and testing.
This past semester, the class engaged in a project called “Gearing Up for Good,” during which old bikes were collected, repaired by students, then donated to kids at local elementary schools.
“I’ve seen a couple of community efforts to do things like this,” Belnap said. “And with us teaching the class, I thought, ‘Wow, what if we could do this within our own district?’ You know, there are students who cannot get around.”
Roughly 20 bikes were collected for the project, which received $2,500 in funding from the Weber School Foundation to help pay for materials. Students then inspected the bikes and made the necessary repairs — replacing tires, adjusting brakes and more — to restore them to working order. At the conclusion of the project, the students themselves presented the bikes to students at Birch Creek Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary, Valley View Elementary and Lakeview Elementary.
The experience was meaningful for the students in the class, their teacher and Belnap alike.
“We offer free and reduced lunch to students who are underprivileged, but getting that lunch in the summer can be challenging. So, one of the students (who received a bike) said, ‘I’ll be able to go over to the school now on my bike,'” Belnap said. “That’s when I realized that, for many kids, a bike isn’t just fun — it could be a necessity.”
“I felt like every single one of my students was touched,” Blodgett said. “I think, when you give to somebody, there’s no greater joy than that. So, I was happy my students got to experience it.”
Blodgett, who has already agreed to continue teaching the class next year, added that he’s eager to see the project continue.
“People do go hungry right here in Ogden, and people are in need of basic stuff — right here in Ogden,” he said. “We could all pitch in a little more and just help out.”
