"Bicycle Stories: What the bicycle means to me, my family, my community, my planet" will be a student-produced documentary film and presentation by the students of International High School at Union Square. IHS-US is a small Title 1 public school for recent immigrants (less than four years in the country), located in Manhattan. Our students come from 49 different countries and speak 33 different languages with diverse educational backgrounds. All are English Language Learners, many are over-age for their grade level, many have interrupted formal education due to political unrest or economic instability. A large population share a passion for bicycling.

Over the past four years, a bicycle program (made possible through partnerships with Recycle-A-Bicycle, Bike New York, and the NYC Department of Transportation) has grown at our school for students who are learning to ride for the first time, have left bicycles behind in their home countries, want to learn to fix and maintain bikes, and who want to just be active and outdoors and with friends. Each student has a story to tell for why they are so passionately involved in bicycling in this new city and what it means to them. For some, it is a symbol of autonomy or a wish fulfilled. It gives them a sense of power. For others, it is an environmental responsibility. "Bicycle Stories" will be a document of these stories, and a look at other schools around New York City who have growing cycling programs of their own.