On Monday, a graduation ceremony will be held for students who participated in the United Lowrider Youth Leadership Bike Club.
Over the last 10 weeks, several students at High Tech High Chula Vista joined the program to learn how to build their own custom lowrider bikes and also develop their leadership skills.
It’s a program of the United Lowrider Coalition and it was brought to the school’s campus in partnership with High Tech High Chula Vista, according to the club organizers.
The students graduating on Monday are part of the second cohort, an all-girls group, and the program started over two years ago. The first group was all boys.
Along with building bikes and developing leadership skills, the 10-week program includes learning to work safely with tools, taking part in activities focused on teamwork, self-worth and personal growth, keeping journals that mark students' progress, attending classes and meeting with mentors.
'A new beginning'
During the first class, students unwrapped large rectangular boxes. Inside each box was a bike frame which students convert into custom lowrider bikes; when finished, they’ll get to keep them.
Luzciana Gonzalez, one of the students in the program, shared how she felt when she opened her box.
“I was actually super excited … It felt like really, like a new beginning to understanding the culture of this,” she said.
Fellow classmate Ariana Cerda was also excited to join the program.
“Not only is it a bike club, it's an all-girls bike club," Cerda said. "That's not something you see too often. So just being able to be a part of that overall is really exciting.”
'Not necessarily what it seems'
Mentors include educators from the school and members of the lowrider community, who played a role in ending the no-cruising ordinance in National City and beyond three years ago.
One other mentor is Mauricio Gandara, who was a student in the first cohort. He initially joined to learn more about the lowrider community.
“The more I learned about it, it made me realize like it's not necessarily what it seems. There's a lot of team building and a lot of discipline involved,” Gandara said.
Teresa Garza, one of the program’s mentors and a member of the lowrider community, shared what program organizers hope students gain from the program.
“You know, we want them to feel confident. We want them to be able to express themselves, respect each other,” she said,
Garza also compared building bikes to the traditions of lowrider culture and transforming cars into moving works of art.
“You know, we do different paint jobs, different patterns, it's to our liking, and that's what we want to see out of the students," Garza said. "You know, use their imagination, build their bikes the way they want to see them.”
'Girls don't really build stuff'
They also want students to learn safety and proper tool handling.
One other mentor is Marcos "Rabbit" Arellano. He showed how easy it is to hurt yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.
“Or if you're working this way," he said while holding a pair of pliers and pointing the tool at himself. "You're looking at it trying to take something off and it gets loose, guess where it's going to go? Right into your eye,” Rabbit said.
No experience with tools is necessary to be in the program, but mentors say all 10 of the students in the current cohort have some level of experience with tools, including Mia Garza, the granddaughter of Teresa Garza.
“I like to say I grew up in the garage … And my grandpa would call me out, say, Mia, bring me a socket wrench or bring me a Phillips screwdriver. I would know immediately where everything was,” Teresa Garza said.
Valentina Sullivan also has experience working with tools. She said it’s opened new ways for her to connect with her dad and other family members.
“I'm not just a girl and like, because usually in our culture, girls don't really build stuff, and they're kind of just on the side, just like kind of watching," Sullivan said. "But I was able to kind of like break through that cultural norm and build with him and be able to even talk to some of my uncles about stuff that I've done too.”
After graduation, a new cohort launches in the fall at High Tech High Chula Vista.
It’s also expanding the program, with one starting at Southwestern College's National City campus. Students ages 13 to 18 from all over San Diego County are welcome to apply.
Anyone interested in learning more about the program can contact the United Lowrider Coalition.
