Madison Reporter

Vel Phillips Memorial High School’s Bike Club has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund in its inaugural year. Established in September 2024, the club is dedicated to promoting sustainable transportation and teaching students bike maintenance skills.

The grant, conferred at a citywide ceremony in April, will facilitate the purchase of essential tools, bike racks, and storage equipment. It will also fund an upcoming excursion to Trek Bicycle’s global headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin, where club members will tour the facility, interact with employees in engineering and design, and participate in mountain biking activities.

“This grant really helps us make biking more accessible for students,” Grace Riedle-Joranlien, Memorial art teacher and Bike Club advisor, stated. The club aims to empower students to ride to school and maintain their bikes, overcoming obstacles like flat tires or broken chains.

The initiative began through collaboration with the Wisconsin Bike Fed, a nonprofit organization that promotes bike ridership. Since launching, the club has attracted five to ten students regularly, teaching them to repair and refurbish bikes from the school's inventory. Riedle-Joranlien noted, "It’s been amazing to see students take pride in bringing those bikes back to life and getting them back into circulation."

Support from the Bike Fed has also enabled the club to provide helmets, bike lights, and bikes through programs such as Wheels for Winners, which offers bikes in exchange for community service.

The club has begun hosting after-school neighborhood rides and plans to expand these activities as weather permits. Riedle-Joranlien added, “We just did our first short group ride, ending with ice cream. The goal is to help students explore local bike paths, build confidence, and have fun doing it.”

The club has also started the “1,000 Rides to School” initiative, which uses QR codes at bike racks to track student commutes. Participants are entered into a raffle for new helmets, fostering a culture of sustainable transportation at Memorial.

“This is about more than just bikes,” said Riedle-Joranlien. “It’s about climate action, independence, and creating opportunities for students to lead. With this grant, we can continue building something that lasts.”

The Madison Metropolitan School District's involvement in the Youth Climate Action Fund is part of its sustainability commitment, seeking net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Projects like Memorial’s Bike Club offer students practical ways to contribute to this vision.