05 Aug Pedaling with a Purpose Offers Day of Exercise, Learning

Kids Pedaling with a Purpose is a day-long field trip for fourth graders in Emmet County and the city of Charlevoix. It’s designed to engage kids in significant exercise in an experiential outdoor classroom.

This school year’s program concluded in June.

Each all-day educational bike ride starts at Spring Lake Park. Students arrive by school bus at 9 a.m., and after donning bicycle helmets and bright vests, they rotate through four 15-minute classes: map reading, trail etiquette and riding safely with a group, a nature hike, and a practice ride on the bike that they will be riding that day with a volunteer.

Once the classes are complete, kids and volunteers ride to the Hiawatha historical site on Round Lake, which is just off the North Western State Trail. At that site they have a history lesson on the Hiawatha pageants that were held there in the early 1900s.

Included in this storytelling lesson are the assimilation challenges that the Odawa people faced during that time. This history lesson is often taught by Eric Hemenway, the director of repatriation, archives and records for the Little Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

This stop at Round Lake also includes another short history lesson, often presented by Lisa Loyd, daughter of the late Horace “Huffy” Huffman. Huffy was a retired bicycle maker and later executive of the Huffy Bicycle Corp., founded by his father, Horace Huffman Sr., in 1924.

Inspired by his love for northwest lower Michigan, Huffy devoted much of his retired life to establishing and growing Little Traverse Conservancy, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, and the Top of Michigan Trails Council.

From Round Lake, the fourth graders ride north to Oden State Fish Hatchery for a lunch picnic and a tour led by DNR Hatchery Interpreter Christine Steensma. Steensma teaches the hatchery’s history, purpose and production of rainbow and brown trout that are raised to stock area lakes.

Students also learn about fish reproductive cycles and are shown giant tanks holding trout in various life stages. Not only do kids get to see large trout in crystal clear ponds, Steensma also lets them feed the fish, a delight for students.

Once the tour is complete, volunteers and students pedal back to Spring Lake Park. In all, kids hike over a mile and ride bikes eight miles while absorbing age-appropriate lessons that conform to the state’s core educational standards.