Falls Church High School students can now fit in some of their recommended daily physical activity while they read and study at the school library, thanks to the addition of recumbent exercise bikes this year. 

At the end of the 2012-13 school year, Falls Church High librarian Laura Potocki wrote a Healthy Kids Grant to fund four recumbent exercise bikes and mats for the school library. The idea was to provide students with a way to do a stationary activity, and also to provide readers with a way to get some activity into their day.

The grant was approved in October, and after research and purchase, Potocki and colleague Carrie Kausch spent an afternoon assembling the bikes and setting up a corner of the library dedicated to well-being. They added magazine subscriptions to the library, moved periodicals to that corner, and hung framed posters focusing on teen life balance.

The bikes are used every day. Library staff members have made some changes to the rules of the library, giving students more freedom and responsibilities, with positive results.

Staff members are using the bikes as well. Library staff members hope to see more students reading and biking as the year progresses.