Cycling around the island to show their love for this land, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
The director of student affairs of Mado Middle School in Tainan, Kao had been an educator for twenty-five years, loving cycling, he’d taken over a hundred students to cycle around the island for eight years contiguously to date, and added in giving back to the local communities, proved, that the most valuable things you learn in school, is NOT in the books! “At first, it was, a chance that presented itself to me…”, Kao told, that about a decade ago, he’d found, that the conversations his students had were all about online games, and the internet, after thinking hard on how to change his students, he’d not used the scolding methods, instead, he’d counseled them like a friends, and, had the inspirations, of the cycling along with him.
The school teacher took his students out, on the weekends first, ride for twenty, thirty kilometers per weekend, then, added the distances on. As the program was slowly on track, he’d started taking the graduating class, after the academic exams are over every May, he’d set up the trip of twelve, thirteen days in July during the summer vacations to cycle around the island, and, they’d stayed at the local hostels, the cheaper priced hotels, as well as the homes of the students’ relatives, other than this year, the activities were halted due to the outbreaks, it’d continued for eight whole years on end, and it’d left that unforgettable memory in the students who participated. Kao smiled, that in order to give more meaning to the trips around the island, he’d assigned for the activities of beach cleaning along the way, from Pingdong to Taidong, to Hualien-Taidong areas, to the western coastlines; they’d also made visits to the Genesis Foundation, the Taiwan Funds of Children & Families, to offer their services as volunteers, or to donate the goods to the charitable foundations.
a photo of the man, with his students, courtesy of UDN.com
To set the parents’ minds at ease, Kao also held a Q&A session for the parents before they’d set out, and offered the bicycle repair lessons before the students set out with him.
Kao said, that there were, the risks of cycling around the island, a few years ago, there were the fender-benders that involved his students, but thankfully, there were, only, the mild abrasions on his students.
And, this, is an educator who took his students along, on these, adventured, showed them the meaning of giving back to the communities, leading by example.
Life, the Obstacle Course 