Olathe's fourth annual Culture Fest takes place Friday at the Johnson County Square from 5-8 p.m., featuring food trucks, live music, and a special car show highlighting the community's successful lowrider club.
The event is part of the "Vehicles for Change Fest" week, celebrating a program that has achieved a 100% high school graduation rate for its participants since 2018.
What started as a small group of students and mentors building a lowrider bike in the Olathe school district has expanded into a nationwide effort with 14 additional clubs in cities in California, New Mexico, Kansas and Colorado.
"The idea really took off," said Erik Erazo, executive director for student community engagement in Olathe School District.
Erazo's club, which celebrates Hispanic culture while providing opportunities for students to learn from mentors while each student makes a bike over four years of high school, has become a model that other cities want to replicate.
"I don't even think that growth was in my mindset then, but once it got going, specifically because of the graduation rates, it's a model that people liked and really wanted to try," Erazo said.
This year, the Olathe club has 40 total members, including 10 seniors, all on track to graduate.
RELATED | Lowrider bike building program gives juvenile offenders a lesson in discipline
Beyond academic success, the program has positive relationships between students and local law enforcement through consistent mentorship in building their individual bikes.
"Now we have kids that are extremely comfortable with law enforcement and the idea is make sure everyone feels comfortable where they live, and that's where the community policing comes into place, that these kids feel like home and they are navigate this city because they know everybody and are a part of their community," Erazo said.
Other citiy leaders across the U.S. came to "Vehicles For Change" conference, this time hosted by Olathe, Kansas, where there goal is to come together to continue to learn how to serve students and communities better and grow interest.
"It's really simple when you break it down it's about relationships," said Sgt. Logan Bonney of the Olathe Police Department.
Bonney has been mentoring students in the program weekly since 2018.
"It's fun to see them grow and succeed and get jobs and careers, it's been really, really rewarding for me," Bonney said.
Bonney said the consistent presence and availability to answer questions have strengthened bonds with Olathe teenagers.
"It's really built a great relationship with our community too, to where now we have people calling us, 911, the police department, who normally may not have," Bonney said.
"I hope what it does for a student is they know they have a network of people who are going to support them," Erazo said.
The Olathe Lowrider Bike Club's success has earned national recognition with a bike at the DEA Museum.
RELATED | Olathe Lowrider Club gaining national reputation
However, now, the group has been invited to the Smithsonian Museum's Folklife Festival in July, where five students will build a bike on the Washington Mall for visitors to see.
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