By Michael Gorman
THE VANGUARD NovaNewsNow.com
The Boys and Girls Club community centre on Water Street is filled with tools, smells like a garage and, for the Grade 6 class from South Centennial School visiting this Wednesday, is heaven on earth. Since January, the 26 apron-clad students spend every Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the community centre taking apart and rebuilding old bikes as part of a program called Peers n' Gears.
The program is the brainchild of Joe Quercia, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club. The bikes, unclaimed lost or stolen bikes donated by the RCMP, will be stripped to their frames and rebuilt with new parts. At the end of the project, every student in the class without a bike will receive one; the rest will be sold for donations of $20 or more to the public to raise money for next year's group.
To measure the success of Peers n' Gears, you need look no further than the class' disappointment when school skating trips or Valentine's Day parties fall on Wednesdays. The group is probably the only class in Canada hoping that if they are going to get a snow day, it isn't on a Wednesday.
Quercia says the program is about more than fixing bikes. While the students are aquiring a new skill, they are also learning about team work, how to make a business plan and building self-esteem.
Nicole McCarthy, the class's teacher, says her students look forward to Wednesday as much as the weekend. "The students love it." She says the program especially benefits students who respond better to a hands-on approach to learning. "They feel accomplished . . . They're the ones that are in there hands-on. I see skills with them that I've never seen in the classroom, like leadership skills. "(The) team work is unreal," she says. "(They learn) when to ask for help and things like that . . . it goes way beyond just fixing a pedal on the bike or cleaning it up." These themes aren't lost on the students, either.
While each of them has a favourite part of the process — Andrew Hill and Kayla Wallace both like taking apart the wheels on the bike — they also know they are learning other skills. "You have to work with the people in order to get the bike done; you have to work together," says Kayla. "It's really fun." Eoin MacLean, whose favourite part of the process so far is working on brakes, says he likes learning about the different tools and what they are for. The program also appeals to one of his favourite hobbies. "I like taking things apart," he says. Sydney Dulong says she is able to take the things she learns with her class and then work on her own bike at home. Andrew says he is also able to work on bikes at home, helping his brother who already knows a thing or two about the process. Watching the five groups surround their respective bike and pass tools back and forth, it's clear they all give the program the thumbs up.
It seems Boys and Girls Club of Canada does too; Quercia says they are considering making it a national program. While his goal for the program is to get enough bikes so he can also offer Peers n' Gears to the Grade 6 classes at other schools, talking to the students suggests some goals are already being met. "I think it's really good," says Kayla, when asked what she thinks of the program. "They give people bikes who don't have bikes."