When I was in school, they put me in alternative education because I was a "troubled kid." I never liked classes anyway. My parents had gone through a messy divorce, and algebra was the last thing on my mind. My escape route was always my bike. It was the best part of my day, it could completely re-set the tone. I worked at Ernie's Cycle Shop starting freshman year of high school, and it was my safe place.

One day I said to my teacher, "Hey, there's a lot of science and math in fixing bikes, why don't we make that into a class?" A lot of the kids in Westbrook couldn't afford bikes of their own. So my boss at Ernie's, Bruce, stepped up and donated some old yard sale bikes that the kids could fix up.

When they join the Westbrook Bike Project, these kids aren't just getting a charitable gift. They're learning how to build and take care of these bikes themselves. They're learning how everything in the world is made up of nuts and bolts; they're learning how to break free of a culture of instant gratification. When the kids get to take these bikes home, they've earned them. We're proud of them, and they're proud of themselves.