TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Bicycles can be more than good exercise, or basic transportation. In Tucson’s Sunnyside neighborhood, a middle school is finding bikes help move students to better performance in school and life.
At Apollo Middle School they have a program that puts students on bikes. It’s for more than fun, more than exercise. The program is called riding for focus.
Students at Apollo Middle School are learning safe cycling but more than that. Riding close together, scanning ahead for hazards, signaling carefully, and sharing the road with courtesy builds focus, responsibility and courage.
Alejandro Grijalva knows he’s learning more than the basics of riding a bike.
“Some people think it's scary to do this, but it helps you learn. Helps you get out of the scary things you think the world has for you, and if you work as a team, it gets you unscary and stuff it's not that scary.”
Arnold Murrieta knows what he’s learning on two wheels can help guide him down the road to adulthood.
“Say you get a job where you like, have to be working with somebody like construction or something you got to like, have good communication to make something, to make sure something doesn't like, mess up.”
After a year of working with students on bikes, teacher Matthew Macias was able to continue the program with bikes provided by a program called Riding for Focus. For three years he’s watched students ride their way to better performance in their other schoolwork.
“They're motivated to get to class, motivated to get to class on time, because they were able to get on a bike and do something different. They got to leave their stress, you know, in the locker room, they got to de stress. They got to really work on their mental health, focus on themselves for about 45 minutes to an hour, and I think that gave him a little freedom.”
And some of the responsibility, discipline and courtesy they learn should help the students in a few years when they take to the road with a car instead of a bike.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
