Bethany teacher to bike Britain

Feb. 14—GOSHEN — Bethany Christian Schools teacher Josh Weaver was one of over 100 teachers statewide to receive a Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program Grant of the Lilly Endowment Association.

His fellowship, the British Bicycle Pilgrimage, begins in early June.

"Every project that Lilly funds is designed by the teacher itself for something that they want to do," Weaver explained. "It's a unique project. No other teacher has done this project before. The Teacher Creativity Fellowship is meant to be a little bit like a sabbatical. It restores energy for teaching and it something that's rejuvenating or relaxing and something that you want to do but it's also meant to be related to what you have to do.

"They don't want it to be professional development... They like it when teachers are in the position of learning something new because they like that it reflects on our methodology and what it means to be a learner."

Weaver, a high school social studies and Bible teacher, will be using his funds and learn to build a bike and then travel through England on that bike.

"The core of the idea is that you learn something knew but you also connect it to your professional life, but it's also relaxing," Weaver said. "I bicycle a lot, for exercise, and also for fun. I'm not particularly athletic but I enjoy it and I've done it my whole life."

He'll travel to England and visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ironbridge Gorge, which is recognized internationally as a major contributor to the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. Nearby, in Coalport, he'll visit Bicycles By Design, where he'll spend a week learning the craft of building a custom bike.

"I really love history and that idea of manufacturing or building something in a place that was so instrumental in the history of manufacturing and building was appealing to me," Weaver explained. "As a contrast too though, as we have, within our planet, become industrialized, there's a lot of population that's involved with industrialization.

"Building a bike in a place that has a history of manufacturing is interesting but also how building a bike is a greener way to think about transportation. I'm trying to intentionally engage that history."

After he's finished, he will take his new bike through the Cornwall Celtic Way. Since the spiritual route is a walking and hiking path, he'll have to remap it for his biking from, while still hitting the same spots along the way.

"Celtic spirituality often thinks about the connection between spirituality and environment," Weaver explained. "Celtic cultural heritage would go back much further than Christianity but the sites that are on this pilgrimage trail are primarily early Christian sites... Some of these locations probably have a longer history prior to Christianization."

The bike construction and trail exploration will take about three weeks.

From there, he'll travel to the Isle of Man, known for its cycling competitions, where a physical challenge awaits.

"I'm going to compete in a race," Weaver said. "I'm also going to do some other rides around the island. I'm curious about the history of cycling and so I'm plugging into a place that's kind of iconic in cycling."

Weaver said the idea had been in his mind ever since Bethany Christian School science teacher Calvin Swartzendruber was selected as the recipient of a $10,000 2014 Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship, retracing the footsteps of early chemists and physicists and video journaling the entire experiencing.

"It takes time, it takes a lot of teaching and a lot of planning and its hard work to put together a proposal that's what Lilly is looking for but that you're interested in doing for yourself," Weaver said. "I never quite felt like I had the right combination of ideas but I felt like something clicked this year and I could see the vision for things. I could see adding components that made it more robust and felt good to me about how I'm spending my time both learning and teaching."

After he'd finally developed a solid plan, Weaver said creating the proposal actually became fun.

"Although, when you're putting the work in, there's no guarantee that you're going to get it so that's a little daunting but I feel grateful that I received it," Weaver said. "I feel honored to have been chosen and I'm very grateful for it but there's loads of talented teachers out there — plenty more than 100."

Weaver's fellowship is worth $15,000.

"It's a really amazing program that's unique to Indiana teachers and I think teachers should be grateful that we have this opportunity while also thinking of ways to plug into it," Weaver added.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.