Interview conducted by Amalia Weix of Mrs. Riedle-Joranlien, Art Department Chair and supervisor of Bike Club.

What are the main goals of Bike Club? What is it about?

Riedle-Joranlien: It’s a new club, so we’re still kind of determining what it will be. Ben Varick from Wisconsin Bike Federation is sort of the engine behind it. And so the overall goal is to support students in riding their bikes, particularly [students] riding their bikes to school. And so [Ben] is gonna be coming in–and he’s been doing this at East High School as well–and he’s gonna teach us how to maintain and fix our bikes. And then from there, I’m hoping that we can kind of expand to other kinds of bike related things. Like maybe we do, you know, an ice cream ride where we ride our bikes and go get ice cream, maybe we–Ben had an idea about potentially painting a mural, thinking about the bike infrastructure around school and how to better support [riders in the area]. So based on the club members interests, we’re hoping to kind of build their bike related interests and support that wherever it may go!

When does the club meet?

Riedle-Joranlien: We are going to be meeting Mondays at lunch, in 1709, and we’ll start on September 23rd. It’ll start as a kind of a meet and greet situation and then maybe we’ll learn a little bit about bike maintenance and start to do some brainstorming to figure out what we’re gonna be doing.

Is there anything that interested students should know in particular before coming to the meeting? Anything they should have prepared?

Riedle-Joranlien: Not really, if they have ideas about ways to kind of promote bikes and having fun with bikes we would love their input as we kinda figure out what this club is and could be. But for the most part they can just show and meet some people and maybe learn a little about bike maintenance!

First meeting recap: September 23rd

Attending students, Mrs. Riedle-Joranlien and Ben Varick introduced themselves and brainstormed about what they wanted to do in the club. Plans were made to create the club google classroom with Ms. Reidle as supervisor, and to go on Spartan News to help recruit. Afterwards, Ben taught club members how to remove a worn out tire from a wheel and replace it with a new one.