OLATHE, Kans. — Olathe, Kansas, is getting the spotlight from the Drug Enforcement Agency and other cities nationwide for all of the right reasons.
The Olathe Public Schools Hispanic Leadership Lowrider Bike Club is a program created for teens where mentors are committed to kids, and kids are committed to their goals.
The club focuses on mentoring students, lowrider bike riding and participating in community events.
KSHB 41 has followed the club for years when the program was just a couple of years off of the ground.
But this year, the nation is starting to realize the special connection happening out in Olathe.
“You know little old Olathe, Kansas, working with big cities like Albuquerque,” said Erik Erazo.
What started as a new, small club a few years ago keeps growing.
“The data speaks for itself, our kids are graduating, going off to college, joining the military, becoming police officers — they are thriving,” Erazo said.
Erazo runs the Olathe Public Schools Lowrider Bike Club, an after-school program that is picking up national steam.
“El Paso, Albuquerque and Española,” he said.
Many representatives came to visit the club so they could replicate it.
They also had an opportunity to meet with district staff and local law enforcement to learn more about their partnership with the bike club.
“It benefits me knowing that we are helping kids throughout the United States," Erazo said. "We don’t get anything out of it besides starting another chapter and helping some more kids."
The students are ready to share their knowledge, too.
“It’s such a good spot to just hang out after school and brings me close to my friends and to your community Hispanic community," said Sarahi Rodriguez Cerceres, a senior student. "I learned more about my culture."
Meanwhile, representatives from the El Paso DEA and other city leaders want what also goes along with the program — combating teen crime and violence.
“Addressing crime and having something more for kids after school,” Jeffrey Hertz, with the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico, said.
The program is also expanding across the state line too at the Latino Arts Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri.
“This is an outlet they can have, and they love doing something it’s not for now, it’s for the future,” Deanna Munoz said. “It doesn’t mean they have to be an artist or a mechanic, but it gives them the skills to say, 'I can actually do something. I accomplished something and I’m going to go out there and do more.'”
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