An anxious crowd gathered in Principal Linda Huff’s office waiting for John McBride and his Turning Point students to arrive. They knew what Mr. McBride didn’t: that he had been chosen by Jenny Jones to receive a grant of $20,000 for his work with the cycling team in Turning Point. Jenny’s Heroes, a grant program of the Jenny Jones Foundation, awards deserving individuals cash grants to further their efforts in making a positive impact in their communities.
Turning Point is an intervention program created a few years ago to serve students who were failing academically. It allows high school credits to be earned at the middle school, and prepares at-risk students to pursue their high school careers. As a part of Turning Point’s P.E. program, Mr. McBride introduced cycling to his students. Before long, under John’s direction, the cycling had taken on a life of its own. Over the months, student and staff involvement has grown. Presently, the team has six racers and has posted wins in Yuma and Tucson.
The goal is to help the students through the after-school program by developing three tiers of cyclists: beginner, intermediate and a traveling competitive team, Mr. McBride shared. "I want to field a team in U.S. Cycling Federation sanctioned events, "McBride said.”If you win races you can gain recognition, sponsors, earn points and advance to higher competitive levels. But that's not our major goal. It's a step toward college. All the major colleges have bike race teams and I want to get these kids in to college."
When John finally got to the office, he was met with a crowd of glowing faces, and a phone call from Jenny Jones. "I have some very good news for you, you got the grant," Jones said. "I think what you're doing is terrific." More than once Jenny spoke of the passion that she sensed as she perused the team’s website. And then to everyone’s surprise she announced to Mr. McBride that she was increasing the grant total to $25,000. The local GearUp program had already agreed to match Jones’ $20,000 grant. The combined dollars will certainly allow the program to expand, which is one of McBride’s goals. “We’d like to have twenty kids next year”, he commented.
If you’d like to learn more about Team Turning Point, checkout the team’s website at:
Team Turning Point
Congratulations Mr. McBride, and best wishes as your students pedal their way to a brighter future.
