Building Community

Building Bikes, Building Community is a project that pairs at-risk teens with Western Michigan University students to build bicycles for children who would not otherwise have the opportunity to have a bicycle of their own. The Office of Service-Learning hosted this a pilot project in 2011, and this time partnered with the Office of Sustainability, which runs a Bike Stable for the campus community to repair and learn to repair bicycles.

In late June, small groups of WMU and Lakeside Academy students gathered to work in teams to build a bike. Once completed, the bikes were safety checked and each WMU/Lakeside team presented their bike to a local elementary student who has set a positive example for other students in some civic activity—and who would not otherwise have the opportunity to own a bicycle.

The Bike Stable, housed in the Office of Sustainability, holds an open shop twice weekly to educate bicyclists on how to maintain and repair their bikes in an effort to encourage more non-motorized transportation.

The Office of Service Learning engages students in a variety of ways in multiple activities. Service-Learning is a mutually beneficial endeavor in which course learning objectives are met by addressing community-identified needs—putting academics into practice.

To learn more about the Offices and their initiatives, please follow the links below:

Office of Sustainability

Office of Service Learning

The Kalamazoo Gazette recently featured on article about June's event, to read it, please click here.
The photo above features students working on a bicycle in the Bike Stable at the Office of Sustainability.