Whether repairing bikes or petting dogs, it was a hands-on experience for many of NCSSM's J-Term students. (left to right: Cesar Campos, Gilbert Herrada Luna, Sophia Koehler, and Shruthi Meenaksh (photos: submitted)
January Term, the special session at NCSSM that allows students the opportunity to engage in unique learning experiences, is always filled with an incredible diversity of short-form courses. In an interesting and unexpected twist, two separate courses – one in Durham, and one in Morganton – focused on objects that have a unique connection: bicycles, and the dogs that chase them.
Granted, the “Bikes for a Cause” course in Durham, and the “Dogs! Dogs! Dogs!” course in Morganton did not explore this not-quite symbiotic relationship. What they did do is give participants the opportunity to learn while having a great time. You might say they were happy as, well, a dog chasing a bike! Have a look.
Keep pedaling!
Ashley Torruella, from Spring Home, NC, kept skinning her knuckles on the bikes she was helping recondition in the Bikes for a Cause J-Term, led by NCSSM-Durham computer science instructor Michael D’Argenio. Not surprising she chose this social-good course, considering the former Southern Nash High School student is a hands-on person with a heart for others. “I really wanted to do this course, because it’s helping people who need bikes, and it’s also providing you with a useful skill,” she says.
For two weeks, Ashley and her classmates learned the intricacies of bike repair by stripping down a number of donated bikes for reconditioning, while repairing broken bits and pieces on others. Some bikes only needed minor adjustments to parts such as derailers or brakes. Others needed a new innertube in the tire. Still others wound up like Frankenstein’s monster – a mishmash of parts that got a solid frame back on the road again. It was all completely new to Ashley, who had ridden lots of bikes but never knew how to repair one. “I didn’t even know a tire had an innertube in it!” she says.
“J-Term is such an incredible opportunity for students to dive into special interests,” D’Argenio says. “It’s been such an enjoyable experience that not only am I planning on doing the course again in the future, I’m also going to start offering campus service positions to students to become a bike mechanic. These students will hold “office hours” to help folks on campus fix their bikes, teach the basics of bike maintenance, maintain school bikes, and connect with local bike organizations to find events and other opportunities.”
Though inner tubes were initially a mystery, Ashley now feels completely in command, except for one problem: several of the bikes she worked on were too tall for her to ride. With just a few days of the J-Term left, she finally found one that fit, and took it out for a test ride. “I had it on a little bit too low of a gear setting, so I was kind of flailing my legs around trying to pedal,” she says, “but it still felt really good to ride it. I know that I’m really privileged to be here, and to have all the things that I do, so to be able to learn a skill and help a bunch of people at the same time, it’s really like the cool cherry on top.”
All bark
In Dogs! Dogs! Dogs!, led by NCSSM-Morganton math teachers Hannah Schwartz and Jennifer Fisher, students spent nearly two weeks learning about and working with dogs of all sorts. Some of the students’ time was spent practicing their training skills (think “sit,” “stay,” and “paw”) with friendly, if not always accommodating, rescue dogs fostered by, or the personal pets of, Schwartz and Fisher. For a more professional look at high-level training, students also visited a professional trainer who shared with them a bit about canine intelligence and psychology, then impressed them with her dog’s flawless run through an agility course. When not out and about with the pups, students made an assortment of items such as snuffle mats, chew toys, collars, and leashes to be donated to local rescues.
Justin English, a Morganton senior from Ranlo who went to East Gaston High School before coming to NCSSM, grew up around dogs. Since moving to Morganton, however, he hadn’t seen his pets back home very much. Dogs! Dogs! Dogs! let him experience again the calm and joy of spending time with man’s best friend.
Though Justin says he knew the “basics” of how dogs behaved – “if they’re growling, then you need to get away, or if their head is held down low, and their tail is tucked under their legs, they’re uncomfortable” – he was surprised to find just how much more information dogs communicate that he had never picked up on before.
“One thing that dogs do that I didn’t notice before was that they turn their head when they need to deescalate a situation. Being able to actually see that in action, and learning that I could send those same signals to the dogs to deescalate any situation, to make myself seem more friendly, was just really cool.”
Though an incredible learning experience for the students, the most touching part, says Schwartz, was seeing how the dogs helped so many of the students become more confident. “When they were working with a dog in front of the group, it was almost like doing a presentation,” she says. “We were asking a lot of them as far as their confidence in the dog, but also in their own confidence in being able to handle and guide the dog. It was really great to see them grow in that way.”
