Zaden Brandimore, a junior at LOHS, has committed to biking to school everyday along with many other high school students that share the same passion for cycling and helping the earth. However, in his push to support green initiatives, Brandimore noticed some issues with the school’s accommodations for bikes. 

“I’ve noticed that the bike rack that is most used is almost always filled up to full capacity. And that is the only bike rack in the entire school that is usable year round because all of the others get rain,” Brandimore said. The limited bike rack space at the school can be a major inhibitor to students who are just trying to reduce emissions on the planet. 

As Brandimore and other students have said, the value of the most-used covered bike rack cannot be overstated, and neither can the deep need for additional ones as well. New bike racks would mean that there is even more space available for the students who bike to school already, and it could accommodate even more bikers in the future, especially in rainy Oregon winters. 

Brandimore explained some of the benefits, “It’ll reduce our reliance on cars for our forms of transport. It will reduce greenhouse emissions for the school and the city. It’ll promote better infrastructure for Lake Oswego routes and hopefully a lot more.” 

Despite all of these advantages, Brandimore still faces obstacles in the way of the path towards a greener school. “It’s been hard because the political willpower isn’t there. People don’t see the bikes, they don’t see people cycling to school, all they think about are cars and so it’s not really on the radar for most people.” The lack of awareness of the cycling community by the City of Lake Oswego seems to be the main setback in the future bike rack construction. Brandimore predicts that the new racks would be used extremely often, and he hopes the people higher up in the school district will do their part and consider his proposal. 

Hope lingers among those who have caught wind of the potential project. Brandimore continues to push for a change that could greatly affect our impact on the planet as a school and community. In the end, Brandimore added, “I’m inspired by the kids who are biking to school everyday. I bike to school everyday and just this community of kids who don’t take cars who don’t fill up the streets– those people are my inspiration.”