Local company's employees help John Young Middle School students build bikes

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- Students from John Young Middle School joined employees of Cummins Sales and Service to build bicycles Wednesday. The company shut down for the morning so employees could help 30 students build their own bicycles.

“I would ask people, do you remember your first bike and the answer is always yes, of course I remember my first bike. But did you ever build your first bike?" said Trey Gardner, General Manager of Cummins. “We came up with the idea of building the bikes at the school with the kids”

“Basically the first thing we did was we took everything out of the box and then we just started using teamwork and we just started reading the instructions and putting the handlebars, the tires, taking the bolts off the tires then putting them back," seventh grader Cheyanne said.

“I worked with a gal named Emily. She was a great student," Cummins employee Ken Daniels said. “She jumped right in. She took active, you know and she listened to instruction real well. That’s something that is good for students, good for anyone is just listening.”

“It’s awesome, it is. It’s a special thing because they took their time instead of going to work they came here and built bikes with us," said Cameron, a seventh grader.

“I basically built the bike from scratch. With putting the tire on, my seat, the brakes, my pedals, and my steering wheel," said Bradley, an eighth grader.

“Having someone to work with and show us what to do and build the bike that was my favorite part," said Chance, an eighth grader.

The students took home the bike they built at the end of the day.

Cummins also made sure each student who got a bike also received a helmet, lock and gloves.