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Youth from Rainbow Center’s High Country Academy (HCA)
program are learning how to operate and ride minibikes courtesy
of the National Youth Project Using Minibikes (NYPUM) project.
“High Country Academy helps youth focus on themselves
to enable them to succeed in a school environment and beyond. We
use a variety of techniques to inspire appropriate behaviors
in youth, and one incentive is the NYPUM program,” HCA
administrator Jamie Morrison said.
After completing the preliminary study in a classroom, youth
who earned their weekly privileges for achieving appropriate
behaviors were able to learn how to ride a minibike last Friday.
“This (riding) is awesome,” said a 14-year-old boy
attending HCA. “I hope we get to come back and ride again
soon.”
The NYPUM program teaches teamwork, fair play, trust, respect
for property, discipline and other social skills through minibike
riding, outings, individual and group meetings, and NYPUM rodeos.
The first ride involved identifying the bike parts and learning
how to correctly operate it.
Morrison said, “The first ride goes kind of slow, but
the more the kids learn, the more they will be able to do. I’m
looking forward to taking them on a trail ride and having a
NYPUM rodeo at some point.”
The North Wilkesboro Rotary Club allowed this inaugural ride
to take place in the Worth Evan Tomlinson Rotary Park. A future
NYPUM site will be located next to the High Country Academy
program at 8996 U.S. 221 in Fleetwood, Ashe County. Until the
site is complete, the Rotary Club is helping to launch this
program to benefit youth currently enrolled at HCA.
“As Rotarians, we are always eager to help our community
in any way possible,” Rainbow Center campaign chairman
and North Wilkesboro Rotarian John Matthews said. “We’re
happy to allow the youth at High Country Academy to use our
park for learning how to safely operate and ride these minibikes.
I would also like to invite anyone interested in this program
to come down and watch them ride sometime.”
The mission of NYPUM is “to provide at-risk youth of
America an opportunity to develop self-esteem, strong values
and a sense of responsibility, using the minibike as a motivational
tool.”
The establishment of this local project is a collaborative
effort between Rainbow Center, NYPUM, the American Honda Motor
Co. Inc., the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, Brushy Mountain
Motorsports Inc. and the North Wilkesboro Rotary Club.
High Country Academy is a day treatment program of Rainbow
Center. The program is located in Fleetwood and helps youth
from Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes counties with identified behavioral
problems. HCA teaches appropriate behaviors, provides counseling,
requires parental involvement and offers basic academics.
“On behalf of Honda Motor Company and Brushy Mountain
Motor Sports, regarding the NYPUM program, we are very excited
to be a part of helping to shape these children’s lives,”
said Greg Taylor, owner of Brushy Mountain Motorsports. “We
truly can now see the benefits of positive re-enforcement coupled
with training and the dedication that the locate NYPUM personnel
bring to table.”
Brushy Mountain Motorsports is the local NYPUM sponsor, having
assembled all 14 minibikes that will be used at HCA. The
company will continue to provide support to the NYPUM program
as it grows, and it also serves as a liaison between Rainbow
Center and the American Honda Motor Co. For more information
about Brushy Mountain Motorsports, visit www.421powersports.com.
For more information about NYPUM, visit www.nypum.org/index.php. To
support or learn more about this local NYPUM project, call High
Country Academy at (336) 877-4161, or contact Koren Huskins
at (336) 667-3333/khuskins@rccfs.com or Matthews at (336) 262-4435.
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