Dane County High School Bike Clubs Visit Trek Factory

Students and staff celebrated the end of the school year, learned about bike-related careers, and met students from other schools with shared interests. The field trip combined clubs from three different schools – La Follete, Memorial, and East High School. Each club serves a slightly different purpose at its respective school, but all have one thing in common: their members are passionate about bikes! 

The students arrived at Trek Factory in the morning and kicked off the day with a team building activity and introductions. From there, students split into groups and were led through a tour of the facilities. Some favorite spots on the tour were the painting area, where colorful test frames decorated the walls, the workout facilities which had a full gym and climbing area, and the room where Trek’s professional athletes get fitted for their bikes and products, which had famous race bikes poised around the space.

Not unlike bikes, it was clear from the tour that Trek is a company made up of many moving parts and components. From painting frames, to building websites, to testing helmets, there is a vast network of professionals who work together to get high quality bikes into the hands of individuals. Students had the opportunity to talk with a few of those professionals and learn about their specialized skills that they put to use at Trek. After meeting frame painters, biomedical engineers, and computer programmers, Maggie Benton, a freshman at Memorial High School emphasized the wide range of skills utilized to operate a global bicycle company. In their words, “I didn’t know how many job opportunities there were at Trek… there’s kinda a place for everyone in the bike world, it’s really cool.”

After the career talk, lunch was served at the Pine Knoll Supper Club, a dining hall named cleverly after the restaurant where it is said the name behind the bike company was born. The last activity of the day gave students the opportunity to “wrench”; Trek employees brought out test bikes and guided students through the process of disassembling and assembling different components on the bikes. This hands on activity was educational, collaborative, and a load of fun. We wrapped up the day by reflecting on the experience as a group, where students spoke about fun facts that they had learned, friendships that they had made, and new perspectives that they would be taking into their future endeavors.

Throughout the day, it was clear to the Trek employees, chaperones, and Bike Fed representatives who joined the trip that they were accompanying an exceptional group of students. Everyone I talked to had essentially the same goal: get more people on bikes. Andy Nguyen, who was inspired to start the East Bicycle Repair Club after seeing his classmates riding bikes that were not maintained well, says that the biggest impact he has experienced in the club is “seeing students be able to repair their own bikes and even being able to repair other students’ bikes.” Lily Schmidt, a freshman in the same bike club, echoed similar sentiments, stating that her favorite part of bike club is “getting other people to get on bikes and enjoy bikes as much as I do.”

These students are the future generation of biking enthusiasts and advocates, and this trip gave them the opportunity to connect with one another, explore career paths in the bicycle industry, and celebrate their awesome accomplishments from the year. We can’t wait to see what they do next!