Hats (or, shall I say helmets?) off to the high school guidance counselors who recently embarked on a 12-day bike tour that covered 400 miles and spanned more than a dozen campuses. God bless her soul, but my college counselor barely walked from her office to our homeroom. 

The initiative originated from a Florida-based counselor, Taylor Smith, who told The New York Times he wanted to fuse his love of cycling with the college tours he makes every summer, ones he says help him better advise his students. The unique adventure has since become an annual event, with counselors from across the country meeting up to pedal onto campuses in the name of research.

Among their most memorable experiences? According to NYTimes.com article, Kirk Blackard, a counselor at Christ School in Arden, N.C., said it was not “facts you can learn from the Web site,” but the personal stories he heard while settling in from long days of biking to eat in college cafeterias and rest up in dorms.

I’m thoroughly impressed — not only with the drive of these counselors, but how that drive illuminates an unparalleled commitment to their students. The way I see it, if they’re willing to don spandex bike shorts, pack up a change of clothes in a mini bike trailer, and sleep in a dorm after shackling their bike to the campus bike stand, I bet they’ll go to bat for their students when the time of need arrives. 

Pedal on!

– Gina LaGuardia