There is no shortage of community-service minded students at Pickaway-Ross.
When a teacher asked two students in the Engineering program if they could adapt a bike for his daughter, they got right to work.
The 15-year-old has dyspraxia, which causes her to have low muscle mass and balance issues.
Michael Hodge (right), who graduated from Huntington last month, and Dylan Carver (below), who graduated from Chillicothe, got to work on the project with only a few weeks left in the school year.
“I looked at Dylan and said, ‘We have to try, just trial and error.’ ”
The young men discussed how to attach brackets to accommodate large training wheels on a 26-inch bike. Another factor was that the bike has multiple speeds and gears.
Michael and Dylan were not deterred.
After experimenting with different brackets, the pair found a way to attach brackets that would accommodate the training wheels. But a few days later, the bike was back in the shop because a bracket had bent while the bike was being ridden.
Dylan said this time around, the key to success was providing more support to the brackets.
The project “definitely put our learning into reality,” Dylan said.
Both students said they were happy to help the teacher and his daughter.
“She can enjoy something that we take for granted,” Dylan said.
“And she can ride safely, that's the important thing,” Michael said.