Outride grant to bring 30 specialized bikes to Morley Stanwood Middle School

MORLEY STANWOOD — Morley Stanwood Middle Schoolers will soon be able to get their energy out before class thanks to an Outride bike grant that will bring 30 specialized bikes to the school.

MSMS was among 89 grant recipients across two Outride programs which aim to aid communities in serving thousands of youth and community members across the US and Canada.

The bikes will be provided through Outride’s “Ride for Focus” initiative , which promotes cycling as an outlet for students to improve their cognitive, physical and socio-emotional well-being.

Morley Middle School Principal Dale Rogers said his hope is the bikes will help restless students focus in class.

“We hope with the research that the grant has done that we can get our kids out on bikes,” Rogers said. “We’re (hoping) that some of our ADHD and kids that have trouble focusing in class that riding the bikes will give them focus when they’re in their academic classes so that they will do better. They will have less behavior problems.”

Rogers also said he is excited that the bikes may help some students learn to ride a bike, an experience some of his students haven’t had.

According to Outride, schools are provided with everything they need to get their 6th-8th grade students riding, including bikes, helmets, curriculum, teacher training and an opportunity to attend the organization’s annual gathering in Morgan Hill, California at Specialized Bikes HQ.

Outride has established over 350 Riding for Focus school programs across the USA and Canada impacting 50,000 students.

Since 2014, Outride has partnered with more than 300 schools and granted over $2 million to over 212 cycling programs, impacting over 50,000 youth annually.

Rogers said he plans to keep identifying new potential grants to help fund student resources.

“We will continue to search for grants that will help our students be prepared for the future,” Rogers said. “Anytime the staff comes up with an idea that they would like to do, then we go out and search and see if there might be a grant that will support that idea and we pursue it.”

For more information on Morley Stanwood Middle School and its initiatives click here .