Bill Reinhart, a teacher at Wayne High School, was instrumental in helping the district draft a grant proposal to bring the program to Huber Heights. Last month, district administration received word that the grant request was approved.
“This is designed to help students perform better in school by riding bicycles,” Reinhart said, adding that the program provides everything needed — around 30 mountain bikes, helmets, curriculum, and teacher training.
Reinhart said a board member of the Miami Valley Mountain Biking Association approached him with the idea.
“(The association) was looking to increase diversity in mountain biking ... and Huber Heights is a very diverse community,” he said.
A lifelong fan of biking, Reinhart was quickly on board with what the program had to offer.
“I’ve been riding since I was a young kid and I’ve always loved the joy of riding bikes,” he said. “I’m also a Type 1 diabetic and have always had good luck keeping by blood sugar under control. Looking back, I tie that in with the amount of biking I did as a child and as an adult.”
According to Matt Housh, director of curriculum, the Riding for Focus program has the potential to offer students more than just physical benefits.
“It’s all about teaching them how to ride, how to ride safely, and teaching them the physical aspects of it, but there’s also a reason it’s called Riding for Focus; it’s been proven to help with focus in general, whether a student has ADHD or when a student just needs to tune in and focus on a skill,” he said.
Incorporating the Riding for Focus program into the school day will allow an opportunity to learn and practice a skill that both Reinhart and Housh realize many Huber Heights students may not have.
“We know we have a lot of students in the district that either don’t have a bike or have never even learned to ride one,” Reinhart said. “We have a lot of low-income families in the district and that may prevent them from having access to a bike to begin with. And some of it is maintenance of the bike if they don’t have a way to fix it or pump up the tires.”
The district is collaborating with the Miami Valley Mountain Biking Association and Mike’s Bike Park and Bicycle Shop to successfully implement the program, Reinhart said. The two organizations will provide assistance with initial assembly of the bikes, along with yearly maintenance.
If the program is successful, Reinhart and Housh said there’s potential for expansion of the initiative outside of the school with the help of community engagement and partnerships like these.
“Dayton has a very rich infrastructure for bicycling and it’s all within access for Huber Heights students, so we want to show them that there’s a lot of different ways to ride bikes ... in a way that can be conducive to health and well-being,” he said.
Outride has established the Riding for Focus program in more than 200 schools across the country, according to its website. As part of the grant, the district has agreed to a three-year commitment that includes implementation of the curriculum, as well as data collection to gauge student success, both within the program and in the classroom.
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