Cota shows it is never too late to learn how to ride a bike

You may not be able teach an old dog new tricks, but you can still teach teenagers how to ride bicycles. For students mastering the art of bike riding for the first time under Psychology and US History teacher Ali Cota, there is no such thing as being too old to learn.
“A few years back, when we were covering stages of development in Psychology and I asked students how old they were when they learned certain things,” Cota said. “One person brought up how he never learned how to ride a bike before so that’s how it started.”
Every year since, Cota has taught students to ride bicycles over Thanksgiving break.  Anyone can learn, and usually one to four students do so each year.
“It’s an important life skill,” Cota said. “There’s nothing wrong with not knowing how to ride a bike, some people just never got around to learning it.”
Senior Robbie Diaz was one of the students who learned how to ride a bike last year.Bike guy
“It was quite the adventure,” Diaz said. “I sucked at first, but picked it up in five days, which is pretty good considering I don’t have much motor talent.”
Diaz said that they went to a park to learn and Cota helped stabilize him at first, but he picked it up later on.
“I have no physical balance,” Diaz said. “That’s why I was a bit scared about riding a bike at first.”
Diaz said that Cota is great for being not just an academic teacher, but also someone who can work with him, collaboratively, on nonacademic areas.
“I’m extremely thankful to her for helping me ride a bike because I would have just drove around and never learned instead,” Diaz said.
Cota credits her willingness to teach students how to ride a bike as being more than just a teacher figure.
“I’m not just a teacher, but also a mom,” Cota said. “I would not want my own kids going to college without knowing how to ride a bike and the same logic goes for my students.”
Junior Ken Lyndon-Williams also learned how to ride a bike last year.
“To be honest, I was just scared about falling when trying to learn how to ride by myself,” Lyndon-Williams said. “It seems dumb since everyone else knows how to ride a bike, but I bet some people were scared when they were learning too.”
Students who learned how to ride a bike have been able to apply it in college, Cota said.
“I’m always glad when students are able to use the things they learned in high school later on,” Cota said.
If students would like to learn how to ride a bike,  they can talk to Cota.

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