Rising Stars: Meet Cindy Okerlund

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Okerlund.

Hi Cindy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Upon retiring from teaching high school Health Education and Biology at Harbor Springs High School in 2015, I created and developed an educational biking program for 4th-grade students in northern Michigan that is supported by Top of Michigan Trails and guided by over 100 healthy, mindful adult volunteers.

Since its inception in 2016, our Kids Pedaling with a Purpose program has provided the opportunity, equipment, education, and guidance for over 2,000 fourth graders in our area to participate in an 8-mile educational bike ride on Michigan’s North Western State Trail each spring. Physical and mental health challenges facing our youth today are staggering. Childhood obesity has more than quadrupled in the last 40 years. Type 2 Diabetes has skyrocketed over the last 20 years.

There is also a growing concern over the effects of sedentary lifestyles on young people, with the rapid increase in juvenile obesity now being linked to spending more time in front of a screen and less time engaging in physical activities. Never before have children been so plugged in and so out of touch with the natural world.

Our Kids Pedaling with a Purpose program provides the youth in our area an opportunity to be outside, exercising and experiencing first-hand the beautiful area in which they live under the guidance of healthy adults who love to bike. Its goal is to get young kids turned on to a form of cardiovascular exercise that they can carry with them throughout their lives.

The 3 years our Pedaling with a Purpose program ran (2016-2019) prior to COVID-19, provided kids an opportunity to be outside, exercising and experiencing first-hand the beautiful area in which they live. Our goal then? Get more kids turned on to biking – a form of cardiovascular exercise that they can carry with them throughout their lives. Our goal post-COVID? Get kids turned on to exercising – with biking, as an option they can do throughout their lives – so they have a better chance of being healthy and strong as they grow up.

At the program’s onset, my focus was strictly on the kids, but the bonus of local community members participating was a wonderful surprise. These two generations not only bike together, but they also share a full day of experiential learning together. They are outdoors together. They exercise together. They have conversations together, and they appreciate our beautiful corner of northern Michigan together. It has become evident that the adults volunteering have benefitted as much and in many cases even more, than the youth participating.

The fact that a majority of our volunteers return each year, and many other people in our community have expressed interest in joining us, cements the unexpected benefit of connecting health-minded adults with young students. As a lifelong biker and health-oriented individual, it was remarkable to witness such excitement and love for our program by both age groups in our community. Our Kids Pedaling with a Purpose program continues to be a win-win for everyone involved, the young and the young-at-heart.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This school year is the 6th year our program has operated. We have tweaked many different challenges that have surfaced, and thus each year has gotten stronger. As with any developing program though, evaluation and adjustments are continual. Some examples representing this learning curve and the adjustments we made are described below:

1. During the first year of the program we borrowed a small trailer from a local organization (Town and Country Cedar Homes) to lock our bikes in at Spring Lake Park during the weeks of our program. This trailer only held 15 bikes comfortably. Each day we had to transport the additional bikes needed across M-119 from the Trails Center’s main office to the park. This additional work before and after each field trip required extended time for the adult volunteers involved in the program.

In between the 2nd and 3rd year of the program, we purchased a larger enclosed trailer that could hold all 28 bikes in our fleet, including two tag-a-longs and a side-by-side electrically-powered bike we had borrowed. We also had the opportunity to have the logo of Top of Michigan Trails and the logo of our Kids Pedaling with a Purpose painted on it for advertising and support. We were able to fit all of our equipment in this trailer and leave it at Spring Lake Park, easily accessible for each group. The transportation of our equipment was challenging and this trailer has proven to be a very valuable and purposeful part of our operation.

2. Each year, on average ~13% of the kids in Emmet County needed some type of accommodation to participate in our program. This is roughly 35-40 fourth-grade kids in Emmet County and the city of Charlevoix who could not ride a two-wheeler. Providing accommodations for all of these kids so they could participate added another layer of planning and preparation. It was challenging and took many extra hours of coordinating, researching, and lining up strong willing volunteer adults to help. But we did it, using a motorized side-by-side bike, tag-along, and tandems.

3. Establishing a calendar that accommodated the busy schedules of 11 schools and 21 separate classes for classroom visits and skill testing during the winter months, re-visits to work with struggling riders in April and 21 all-day field trips in May was very demanding. Add re-scheduling dates due to snow/rain days to the mix and it was definitely a little bit overwhelming! The support, cooperation, and flexibility of the schools, their Principals and teachers, and my team of volunteers were a huge asset in tackling all of these details.

4. Filling adult volunteer slots was definitely another time-consuming endeavor. Due to the liability coverage that was required for our program through the Top of Michigan Trails, we had to have a 1:4 ratio of adults to kids pedaling. Based on this ratio, we needed to have at least 8 volunteer adults riding bikes with each class that went out.

21 classes X 8 volunteer riders = 169 volunteer slots to fill. And this does not include other volunteer adults necessary to teach throughout the day. It took time to establish an online volunteer sign-up program – but once it was set, filling our 200+ volunteer slots each year went pretty smoothly. When it was all said and done it truly was amazing how many people in our community love kids and love riding a bike!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My classroom teaching in Harbor Springs was a chapter in my life that was very rewarding, on so many levels. I will always be grateful that I had that experience. I must admit though, my Kids Pedaling with a Purpose program which I created after I retired from teaching, goes above and beyond any experience I have ever had in public education. My classroom is now outdoors – in a very special and very beautiful corner of northern Michigan. The kids are learning and exploring the area they live, in on a bike.

Everyone involved is actively engaged, exercising, and excited to be there. I have over 100 amazing community volunteers working with me. And… I get to ride my bike while doing it! When I approached the Top of Michigan Trails Council about leading summer educational bike rides, I never imagined my simple idea would become what it has. I am so very grateful for the support I have received from so many, and how so many people in and around our area have embraced what we are doing. We all are indeed “Pedaling with a Purpose”!

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
If I were asked to give advice to others considering building a similar program, it would be “Plan. Plan. Then plan some more”. I worked on developing this program for a year prior to its 2016 launch doing just that – planning. Communication is also vital. Months were spent marketing school administration and teachers to trust me and believe in the program’s purpose. Once the schools agreed to participate, it was truly amazing how easy it was to recruit retired community members to pedal with us.

Pricing:

• My program has operated 100% on grants and gifts.
• The estimated cost per student to participate is $50.
• We have purchased a fleet of 30 hybrid bikes, 30 helmets, and 2 enclosed trailers to transport our equipment.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.trailscouncil.org
• Facebook: @Top of Michigan Trails Council