To a student in financial need who has attended ABE or SOAR (Steps to Opportunities, Academics & Readiness) programs classes before entering the School of Environment and Geomatics. If the fund is not awarded based on the previous criteria, it will be awarded to any student in financial need.
William George Ernest Thacker was born in Mission, BC, January 20th, 1984, and died in Whitecourt Alberta, Wednesday May 27, 2009, while riding his motorcycle.
William is remembered as a loving son, brother and friend who participated in life wholeheartedly. He is also remembered as an outstanding Sea Cadet in Prince George, an enthusiastic student at Selkirk College in Castlegar, and as a member of many groups in Victoria including Island Riders, Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club, The Commissionaires and Victoria Fish and Game Club. In addition to formal groups, he enjoyed nature, creating art, and talking with and helping whoever was around him.
Here is a sample of William’s writing:
To Ride a Motorcycle
There are as many different reasons a person chooses a recreational activity as there are activities. Some people ride motorcycles, no matter what discipline a person rides the reasons are as diverse as the riders. Some of the common reasons to ride are: the rush of the elements, the sense of freedom, and the joy of individuality.
When out on a motorcycle, it is often as if the wind and speed of one’s passage are taking all of one’s troubles away. For a time, the rider can become one with the wind and the elements of the world, travelling freely, one becomes joined to the machine, part of the vibrations, and through that a piece of something greater. All of a person's concerns seem insignificant in comparison with holding on to a small part of oneself.
Often when out riding it is as if the rules of the world no longer apply. A person can truly be themselves without the inhibitions forced upon them by society. This sense of freedom on a motorcycle can often carry “go anywhere the wind blows” feeling. Even a short run cuts a person off from the world. Due to the limited space of motorcycles it is often impractical to bring along such connections to the world as cell phones, laptops, or even an am/fm radio. Even if it is possible to bring them it is not possible to use them while riding. Unlike cars, while riding one is completely cut off from the world, aside from that in direct proximity to the rider.
While to an outsider, one rider in gear on a bike might look much like the next, though nothing like anything they’d understand, to other riders looking at the details of gear and bikes each rider and machine is as unique and individual a fingerprint. Some may try to copy riders or machines that impress them, but each rider ends up changing his or her machine in small unique ways to suit their style. Whether it is polished or chromed parts, different tires, exhaust systems, foot pegs, control levers or even mirrors and seats, riders will often change their bike to reflect and express themselves, their desires, and how they ride.
No matter the logical reasons a persons might give for owning a motorcycle, the most common reasons to truly ride one, come more from the realm of pathos. It is all about the feelings one encounters when out riding, and logic often has nothing to do with it. Whether the rider is after the “James Dean” attitude and image or the “speed racer”, for those minutes and hours that they are out there, all of the rider’s dreams can be true.
©William Thacker October 28, 2006
Written for English 092 at Camosun College