Jordan Gibson pedals the bike hard and fast, flying across the parking lot at the Waltham Township building.
"It feels like I'm going so fast," he calls.

Gibson is taking his maiden voyage on a bicycle he helped build as part of an enrichment program in its fledgling stages at Waltham Elementary School, where he is a seventh-grader.

About 15 to 20 junior high students have signed up for Roger Hegland's class on automotive repair and welding. Hegland, a custodian at Waltham who restores show cars as a hobby, is volunteering his time after school to teach the students some of what he knows about mechanics.

"It's an automotive class, but it's also electronics and mechanics. I wanted them to be able to do something with their hands," he said.

That aspect of the class has appealed to the students. Tim Wheeler, an eighth-grader, said school is not really his thing but the class has given him an education in things like welding and body repair.

"It thought it would be fun to learn something," he said.

Hegland said he was also that type of student, preferring working with his hands to sitting behind a desk. His enthusiasm for what he does is contagious - "He's the coolest guy ever," said Wheeler - and he likes to see the students learning.

Nathan Ball, a sixth-grader, signed up for the class to learn skills like welding, something he's watched his dad do at their rural home.

"It's pretty cool," he said.

One of their first projects was to build bicycles using scrap parts and broken down bikes. They have made several so far, including a tandem bike. They hope to build seven to raffle off, with the proceeds being donated to an animal shelter.

"I wanted them to learn what it's like to build a bicycle," said Hegland. "How to do the body work, the engineering, how to design it É I thought it would be nice to show them things I've learned throughout my life. That's how I learned."

The class has offered students access to someone in the school community they normally would not come in contact with. And that, said Waltham principal Cleve Threadgill, was a big incentive in creating the program.

Eventually, the district would like to open up enrichment classes in other subjects, drawing on expertise from those in the school community to offer the students something more than what they experience in the classroom.

"This is our litmus test with Roger," he said. " É We've asked people to take account of their talents and bring that experience to the kids."

So far, some offers have included calligraphy, woodworking and Soduku, a Japanese number puzzle gaining popularity, but Hegland's class is the first to get off the ground. And Threadgill appreciates his willingness to make such a big time commitment.

"It's neat to see how he's connected with the students," said Threadgill. "He's not just the custodian to them. He's built a relationship and a rapport. That's good for our school