Students at Iowa Hill School are anxious to hit the road.
With the support of teacher Richard Marks, the five eighth-graders are building a unique physical education program for the one-room school.
“It’s hard to have a PE program with so few students,” Marks said.
Since the beginning of this school year, Marks and the students have been taking field trips to learn about the area, but also to get exercise. They’ve hiked to Taylor Creek to watch the salmon spawn, visited KVMR Radio and explored gold sites, including Donner Summit and the Dry Diggins.
On one of their hikes through the canyon, Marc Taylor suggested the group follow one of the original trails where they met George Prout, who once had a cabin next to the creek.
“He was gathering wood for his aunt,” Taylor recalled, adding they spent some time talking with him about his memories of Iowa Hill.
While they have enjoyed the road trips, the students would like the option of taking bicycle rides. Currently, there is one mountain bike at the school, but it needs tires and new brakes.
If they could obtain additional bikes, Marks said, he and the students could take short rides around the community or down the canyon.
And if they had a small trailer, they could pack the mountain bikes for rides on trails throughout the foothills.
Maintaining the bicycles will not be a problem, either. Two of the students – Anthony Lilley and Tristen Huff – know their way around bicycles, Marks said.
“They’re good at repairing bikes,” Marks said. “They’re able to do simple things, like replacing parts like brakes and cables.”
Over the past month or so, the students have approached bike stores in Auburn and Nevada City asking for their assistance in acquiring mountain bikes.
They have also asked for bicycles from Seven Hills Middle School in Nevada City, which offers a class in repairing bicycles.
Many of the refurbished bicycles are donated to homeless individuals at Loaves and Fishes in Sacramento, Marks explained.
In the interim, the students are exploring areas of personal interest.
Alex Thomas, who loves music and wants to become a disc jockey, had an opportunity to meet KVMR disc jockey Larry Hillberg and tour the Nevada City radio station.
“I was invited to be on his show and play a song,” Thomas added.
Ashley Chavez, who aspires to become a veterinarian, was able to meet with Dr. Chris Madsen.
“She talked about how she started taking care of animals and how to deal with animals that are badly injured,” Chavez said.
“As a teacher, my goal is to find out what are their interests,” Marks said. “Interviewing and finding out some subject that might be interesting and important in their lives.”
The students have also been tending a vegetable garden on the campus.
“We’ve also planted wildflowers around the school,” Marks said.

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How to help:
To donate mountain bicycles, parts and patch kits to Iowa Hill School, call teacher Richard Marks at (530) 913-9680.