Showing posts with label St. Helen's School of Newbury OH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Helen's School of Newbury OH. Show all posts

16 June 2014

Required: A Single Wheel

As a cyclist who teaches--and as someone to whom odd facts seem drawn the way flies are attracted by --well, you know-- I'm surprised I didn't hear about this sooner.

In St. Helen's  School--a parochial kindergarten-though -8th-gradeinstitution in Newbury, Ohio--unicycling was a required subject for many years.

No, not an elective.  Not an extracurricular activity.  A required course.

So, kids passed each other in the hallways, astride their single wheels.  From all accounts, accidents were rate.

That should come as no surprise, given the level of expertise St. Helen's unicyclists developed:  They were asked to perform at events from Worlds' Fairs to Super Bowl halftime shows--and Jimmy Carter's inaguration.



I could find no explanation of why they unicycling requirement was dropped.

I must say, though, that I am surprised that a school in Ohio rather than, say, California had such a requirement!