MOUNTAIN BIKING
At Holbrook Indian School (HIS), we want our students to find wholeness. Many of them have experienced a high level of trauma, which produces the phenomenon known as the affective filter. An affective filter makes it impossible for a student to learn and retain information. Each traumatic experience further prevents students from learning at the same rate as their peers.
One of the approaches we use at HIS to address affective filters is our Mountain Biking program. Studies have shown that physical activity improves brain function, which is beneficial in reducing or reversing this issue. Exercise helps prepare the brain for learning, and through physical activity, such as mountain biking, HIS students have the opportunity to feed their brain the oxygen it needs and awaken their brain through improved blood circulation.
For students like Kaiss, mountain biking is not only beneficial for mental health, it also contributes to a more positive perspective.
“Change of environment can do wonders for a person. It’s changed me,” said Kaiss. “It’s like you’re on an edge, you know, and if you lean too much to one side, you’re gonna fall. You’re gonna hurt yourself. It’s just like looking out for yourself because where you look is where you go on a bike. And you want to look for the good paths, you know, that’s where you go. But if you take the wrong path you end up getting hurt.”
Our students enjoy biking trips on Sundays before the start of the school week when physical activity can have an optimum impact. The combined benefits for our students’ physical and mental health prime them for learning.
Stats and Facts
Students who engaged in physically active lessons, on average, improved their academic achievement by 6 percent.*
Physically active and aerobically fit children consistently outperform their inactive and unfit peers academically on both a short- and long-term basis.*
*National Center for Biotechnology Information
Evidence suggests that mathematics and reading are the academic topics that are most influenced by physical activity.
— National Academy of Sciences
Support Mountain Biking
When you give to the Mountain Biking program, you’re giving students needed physical activity in the great outdoors that will improve their physical and mental health, support their learning, and set them up for developing lifelong healthy habits. Programs like this are only possible through the generous support of people like you.
If you would like to find out more about the needs of our Mountain Biking program, contact us.