Campus Character: Sierra Young

For most four-year-olds, a major accomplishment might be a successful count to 10 or a particularly imaginative finger painting. For Sierra Young ’12, it was her first solo spin on a toddler-sized unicycle.

Since long before Young was born, unicycling has been a family affair. Her father, known to fiddle with bicycles as a child, founded a unicycle club at MIT and later in Cle Elum, Washington, where Young would grow up. On occasion, he would visit her elementary school to teach his skills to local students.

“A lot of my classmates knew how to ride, or at least who my family was,” she said.

With a community of enthusiastic cyclists back home, Middlebury students’ reactions to her cycling were initially surprising.

“Here it seems way more of an oddity than it did at home,” she said.

Though she herself has little recollection of the learning experience, Young’s family tells her that she could cycle on her own before her fourth birthday. Her first unicycle featured a 12.5-inch wheel and a block of two-by-four attached to each pedal to allow her feet to reach. Outfitted with knee and elbow pads and a helmet, she was well-equipped to learn from the rest of the family.

“My brother and sister were riding as far back as I can remember,” she said.

Though older riders often find the learning curve challenging, Young experienced a smooth transition.

“I don’t remember it being frustrating,” she said. “It was more like my dad just put me on it, and I was striving to be like my older siblings.”

Since coming to Middlebury, she has dabbled in activities from tutoring to the meditation club. Her summer job résumé includes leading hikes as an interpretive park ranger and teaching English at an elementary school in Paraguay. The joint Geography and Environmental Studies major and active member of the DREAM mentoring program can often be seen wheeling around campus on her mountain unicycle.

While it serves as an effective mode of transportation to her classes and activities, it also provides a great deal of recreational opportunities. Young and her family have traveled all over the country for trail rides and unicycling competitions, including UNICON, an annual national convention that was held in Washington in 2002. Events include the long jump and the slow board, where riders try to take as long as possible to cross a ten-meter plank while maintaining forward motion. Depending on the event, cyclists can enter competitions individually, in pairs or with full club teams.