All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
Breaking New Ground on the Biking Trail
Like any of the twenty-two boys on Woodberry Forest School’s mountain biking team, Efose Oriaifo ’17 loves the way the sport gives him time to enjoy the Forest’s outdoor landscape. And, after a difficult climb, he shares with his teammates the joy of “going downhill, feeling the rush of wind propelling me through the trails.” But joining the team was not quite as straightforward for Efose as it is for other riders because a visual impairment — an involuntary eye movement called nystagmus caused by albinism — could make it unsafe for him to speed on the winding forest trails.
“When Efose first expressed interest in joining the team, I was not sure about the extent of his visual impairment,” says Nolan LaVoie, Woodberry’s director of outdoor education and head coach of the mountain biking team. “Efose and I had a couple of conversations, and it became clear that we would need to get creative if we were going to make this work.”
Nolan’s vast experience in outdoor education had made him aware of another visually impaired cyclist, Erik Wiehenmayer, an adventurer who climbed Mt. Everest in spite of his blindness. Nolan thought Efose could join the mountain biking team if he used a tandem bicycle. So Nolan pursued the idea with both Woodberry’s athletic department and the national mountain biking league, NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association).
Since Efose is the first athlete in the nation to ride a tandem bike in league competition, Nolan drafted new rules for the league. Already committed to inclusiveness, the NICA adopted policies that allow for a sighted adult “pilot” to ride with a vision-impaired student “stoker.” Both riders wear high-visibility jerseys and communicate frequently so the stoker can avoid being clipped by a tree or thrown by a bump.
A native of Zoetermeer, The Netherlands, and previously educated in England, Efose came to Woodberry with only a little experience behind the handlebars. He picked the school for its all-boys environment and quiet rural location. He gained a further appreciation for its outdoor offerings when he participated in the Rapidan program during his fifth-form year. A top student, Efose captains Woodberry’s Science Olympiad team. He has several ways of coping with his vision challenges during the school day: “I sometimes use a hand-held telescope to see text on the board when I’m towards the back of the room,” Efose explains. “I also zoom in when I read articles online.” He hopes to attend Johns Hopkins University where he wants to study biomedical engineering. “I hope to produce new medical equipment to help cure all kinds of cancers and contribute towards genetic therapies in order to control hereditary afflictions such as Huntington’s disease and cardiomyopathy.”
Mountain biking has been rewarding for both Efose and his pilot, Nolan. The pair enjoy the exhilaration of the sport itself and the relationship they have built. “We get a chance to talk as well as enjoy the silence of riding,” Nolan says. “It’s hard to put into words the connection you build with someone when you are riding in nature in such proximity.”
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.