Percy Pegler School has a new club rolling to teach kids bike repair skills.
Students can sign up for the Full Cycle Bike Shop and drop in and learn to fix bicycles after school.
“It’s a very special kind of kid that wants to come in here and fiddle with bikes and tools,” said Graham Campbell, one of the teachers heading up the program.
Many of the bikes currently in the club’s possession were donated by condominium associations after being abandoned, Campbell said, and rather than being sent to the dump, the students of Percy Pegler will give them new life.
“The kids here want to give back to the community, they want to learn a new skill, to use these tools, and that’s a really neat characteristic,” Campbell said.
The teacher also credited local cycling enthusiast and veteran Todd Martin for his role in seeding the initial program, when Campbell was teaching at Westmount School.
“In the last couple of years, I had been doing this in my classroom, and we fixed up five to 10 bikes a year,” Campbell said. “I moved up here to Percy Pegler and on the first day I saw an opportunity to really take it to the next level.”
Grade 6 student Millie McCance, a member of the club, said she enjoys the opportunity to tinker and become more self-sufficient.
“I thought it would be really interesting to get to fix a bike," McCance said, adding she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.
“It’s sometimes fun to get dirty, and when you finally figure out how to work with it, it’s really fun.”
With that skill set, McCance hopes to pay it forward.
“I feel like if I can learn how to do this, in the future I can help other people,” she said.
With the necessary tools and parts at hand, the students are able to pick up the know-how from local experts, such as cycling enthusiast and veteran Todd Martin, as well as Hudson Holst, lead bike technician at Wheel Life Cyclery.
“I get a lot of joy riding bikes and I can see that these kids get a lot of joy out of riding bikes," Holst said.
That passion is born out of his own beginnings in cycling, having self-taught as a youth.
“I really enjoy helping kids that I see myself in trying to get to the same place in life,” Holst said.
“I just want to help them be able to fix up their own bikes, help other people, and ignite that passion for cycling.”
The program also receives plenty of support from Ridley Cycle, Campbell added.
The teacher also reached out to Jeff Foss of the Rotary Club of Okotoks, rallied other service clubs, with Rotary, the Okotoks Legion, Optimists, and Kiwanis each pitching in $500 for a total of $2,000.
Coming together for the school program was rewarding for Foss.
“I like the idea that we’re collaborating, and showing kids that grownups can collaborate too,” Foss said.
That collaboration, Campbell said, would go a long way.
“The money’s going to go to parts to fix the bike, and disposable things like chains, grips and things like that,” Campbell said. “And that way we’ll be able to take the bikes we get, and no matter what’s going on we can figure it out and get them rolling again like new.”
