Math teacher Antwoine Patton’s hands shake as he reaches for the handle bar of his brand-new motorcycle. He slowly settles on the large, black leather seat, and moves his right thumb until it contacts the start button.

He smiles as he thinks about all he has done to get to this moment, and now he is finally here: sitting on his motorcycle seat with a motorcycling license in his back pocket.

He watches as a car zooms past him, and he knows , in that moment, it is time.

Patton pushes the start button, pulls the lever, twists the throttle, and before he knows it, he zooms down the street.

“My dad, all my life, he had a motorcycle when he was in college, and he had it up until a few years ago. He sold it, but because he rode it, I always wanted to ride a motorcycle. Always thought they were cool,” Patton said.

While Patton has big dreams to ride a motorcycle one day, his friends do not. In fact, Patton said they hate the thought of it.

“Yes, and they’re very against it. I only have two friends who plan on getting motorcycles, so we’re going to be our own little motorcycling group,” Patton said.

Even though Patton said most of his friends are against it, his teacher friends are not. They support him more than anyone.

“I think that’s awesome. If he is interested in doing that, and he wants the ability to feel the freedom of driving a motorcycle every day, I think that’s great,” math teacher Todd Mueller said.

Having a motorcycling license himself, math teacher Zachary Forsythe said he believes it’s a great opportunity for Patton.

“I think it’s awesome. It’s a lot of fun to have one, and it’s also just kind of neat to have. It’s just kind of a neat thing to have in your back pocket, even if you don’t use it,” Forsythe said.

Patton said he has been thinking about getting a motorcycle since he was young, but the inspiration really hit when he was in college.

“Probably about five years now. I had a friend out of college who had a motorcycle, so we would always talk about it,” Patton said.

Patton’s teacher friends said they were not shocked by Patton’s desire to get a motorcycling license, but instead, they were rather impressed to hear the news.

“But I don’t think I would have ever guessed. I never would have been like, had I met him the first time, ‘oh, this guy rides motorcycles’ but if he told me, I’m not surprised,” Forsythe said.

It’s amazing to his teacher friends to know how dedicated Patton is to this hobby.

“I think that’s something different, and I think that it is really cool that he is chasing his passion,” Mueller said.

While Patton plans to start slow, he would like to learn a trick in the near future.
“I’ll probably learn how to do just a wheelie wheelie, and that’s it. My dad knows how to do a wheelie, and he was satisfied with just knowing that trick,” Patton said.

Because Patton wants to learn how to do a wheelie on his motorcycle, he is sure to take the safety precautions seriously.

“I was planning on going overboard with it. I’m not going to be like one of those people who just wears a t-shirt and helmet, so I was gonna wear a helmet, wear long sleeves no matter how hot it is, protective gloves, a protective vest, long pants, and closed shoes,” Patton said.

Forsythe said he is excited for the day Patton gets a motorcycle. While some of Patton’s friends don’t approve, his teacher friends are grinning from the sidelines and cheering him on no matter what.
“I’m excited for the day when he gets it. When I see him ride up to work,. I think that will be a fun day because it will be the day where I get to see not only him riding a motorcycle, but I get to see what kind of motorcycle he decides to get,” Forsythe said.