Our Mechanic-In-Training (MIT) Program is a special one here at the Hub. It is one where we get the pleasure of being able to hire a few high school aged youth to work in both our programming and retail spaces. If we say we are about “Youth Development” this is where we put our money where our mouth is.
This year at the Hub we’ve developed a really strong team of mechanics to work our retail shop and for the first time we have paid staff devoted completely to running all of our programming. The four MIT Students that we have hired this summer will span both spaces and get their hands dirty in most of what we do at the Hub. It is a tall order for these youth that are between the ages of 14 and 16. I’m sure they’ll be able to handle it though.
This year we had over 20 youth apply for the program. Many of them were great applicants and I wish I had the capacity to hire more (hint, hint, please donate!) but I had to choose only 4. I want to use this space here on our website to tell you more about the goals of the program and introduce you to our MIT Students for 2012. Below you will see a few of the goals in bold and I will discuss one of our students. These four young folks will be working together towards all four goals, I’m just giving you a sneak peek of each of our students and what they are capable of.
Anyway, on to our students and program goals.
Communication/Leadership Skills
First is Leander from U of D Jesuit High School. Leander had come through our Youth Earn-a-Bike program last year and came back this year with an MIT application in hand. Leander isn’t from Detroit originally but is very excited about his new home and is excited to be a part of the bicycling community. To Leander, bicycles are great vehicles not only to move around the city, but as a vehicle to connect communities.
I’m excited for all of our MIT Students to get more involved in the ways we here at the Hub use bicycles to connect people together beyond simple mechanics. At the Hub, we want to help people become better bicyclists, but we also see a bicycle as a tool of empowerment and community building. Having young ambassadors for us through the MIT program students working in programming and the retail shop will be a great asset.
Mechanic Skills
Next up is Sarai from River Rouge High School. Sarai doesn’t have as much mechanical experience and hadn’t even heard of The Hub until she met me during a health and wellness event at her school (put on by City Year!). I handed her an application during the event and now I’m glad I did! Sarai is waiting to get her hands dirty so she can become better at mechanics. She has many brothers and sisters that she wants to be able to teach these skills to. This is a perfect match since Sarai wants to be a teacher and already has much experience working with other youth. Sarai also mentioned wanting to be the “mechanic of the house” when she gets older and starts her own family.
These skills will come in handy having Sarai work our Youth Earn-a-Bike program where all the MITs will be working every Saturday helping other youth learn how to build up bicycles. It is a goal of the MIT program to not only improve the mechanical skills of these youth, but develop the communication skills to share that knowledge with other folks interested in bikes.
Retail Experience / Customer Service Skills
Next is Kevin from the Academy of Critical Thinkers at Cody High School. Kevin already helps folks fix bikes in his neighborhood. He even taught his little brother so he could hire him as an employee. So maybe we can say he “trained” his brother who he now pays to help fix up bikes.
At the Hub we are devoted to offering free educational programming but not everyone is interested or has the time to learn to fix their own bikes. That is why we have a retail shop – to serve these folks when bike shops are lacking in the city and to fund all our programming. We are also devoted to giving all of our MIT Students experience in a retail environment. This will be a great experience for all of our MIT Students and I’m sure Kevin has a lot to bring to such an environment. Maybe one day you’ll see Kevin hiring our MIT Students at his own shop on the west side!
Teaching Skills
Finally I want to introduce you to Trevon, also from the Academy of Critical Thinkers at Cody High School. Trevon had an impressive application where he relayed stories of teaching his younger brother to start a lawnmower and to mow the lawn. Teaching a younger sibling a skill was a common story I saw with many great applications, but what made Trevon stand out is that his favorite part of teaching was knowing that his brother could complete the task without any assistance. Trevon had used education to bring self sufficiency to his younger brother.
At the Hub, being able to teach someone how to do something is one thing. But a higher level teaching skill is to evaluate lessons to ensure that a student has mastered that skill. To make sure the student is able to complete the task and trouble shoot on their own. Real education is empowerment. Knowledge is power and I think Trevon has that idea down. So whether it is working Youth Earn-a-Bike, working in our retail shop or helping develop our Fourth Annual Safe Streets Youth ride our Mechanic-In-Training Students will be a great asset and I’m sure they’ll gain much from the experience as well.
So that is a little more about what these youth will be learning this summer. Each youth will go through:
- Classroom Time: This is a time for the students to work with our MIT instructor, Heather, to master the mechanic skills they may or may not already have. Over a few weeks they will completely disassemble and reassemble a bicycle. Also, during the classroom time, they will learn safe riding skills, customer service skills and those communication skills to be a youth “ambassador” for The Hub.
- Youth Earn-a-Bike: Each Saturday the students will teach other students the skills they’ve learned during the week. Not only is this an opportunity to practice their mechanic skills, it is also a time to develop those teaching skills by keeping hands off of tools and instructing with words. Using only words to describe a complex mechanical task is no easy job, try it yourself some time!
- Youth Rides!: The students will help lead a limited number of our Youth Rides! and model safe riding techniques to the other youth throughout the summer. Also, the students will help develop and lead our Fourth Annual Safe Streets Youth Ride which will take place September 1st!
- Retail Experience: Finally, towards the end of the summer, the students will get a taste of our retail shop. Working our Youth Earn-a-Bike program will be very challenging and will prepare them for the business of our retail shop. The difference is between a free educational program and a customer exchange. So the MIT Students will balance customer interactions while also informing folks in the shop about all of our programming.
- The Send Off: Each student will leave our program with assistance in creating a resume or including their experience here at the Hub into their already existing resume. Maybe you’ll see these youth working at other bike shops, becoming teachers, or volunteering at different non-profits in the coming years. We’ll do our best to help them accomplish those goals, whatever they are.
So three cheers for our newest round of Mechanic-in-Training Students! You’ll see them around in many capacities this Summer if you come through. Encourage them as I’m sure they’ll be working very hard. I’ll give another update at the end of August as they prepare to graduate from the program.
– jason x