For Michelle Brasseur, a recent foray into cycling began, rather appropriately, with a book. The marketing and communication specialist for University Libraries at Wright State University is a member of OhioLINK’s Pelotonia team. After reading “The Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom,” Brasseur was inspired by the book’s empowering message for women as well as its cover figure, Katharine Wright. Wright is sister of the famous Wright Brothers, who owned a bicycle shop in Dayton, not far from their namesake university.
“It had a picture of Katharine Wright on the cover that’s actually from our archive and I didn’t realize that until after I started working here” Brasseur said.
Brasseur wears a lot of hats during her daily job routine, including helping spread the word about OhioLINK and its services to students. She told us she tries to make sure that students “appreciate that it doesn’t just appear out of nowhere” and has been a user of OhioLINK since she was an undergrad. A Columbus-area native, Brasseur was familiar with Pelotonia and loves “being able to say that ‘100 percent of donations will go to cancer research projects’” while she’s out fundraising.
For Matt Shreffler, head of information delivery services for University Libraries at Wright State, a different female figure urged him to join OhioLINK at Pelotonia: Michelle Brasseur! When he was a relatively new staff member, Brasseur introduced the idea of joining OhioLINK’s peloton to Shreffler, which he was more than eager to do.
Shreffler said he loves a good challenge and was excited for the exercise. He also mentioned that he has run in a half marathon before, so he’s no amateur when it comes to extensive training for strenuous sports. As the head of information delivery services, “that’s our fancy name for the circulation department,” Shreffler’s experience with OhioLINK has been mostly through grad school and working at the University of Dayton and Wright State University, both member institutions of OhioLINK. In his current role at Wright State, Shreffler says he’s much more involved with OhioLINK than ever before. He’s on the Intercampus Services Committee and is “making a lot of these big decisions with OhioLINK” on behalf of his university.
During these past couple months, Brasseur and Shreffler have been spreading the word about Pelotonia to the Dayton area through creative fundraisers. They have held fundraisers at restaurants and even hosted a guest bartending event, but nothing was quite as lucrative as their old-school bake sale in the Wright State University Student Union. Who can resist homemade goodies? Both Brasseur and Shreffler expressed how supportive their library staff and community has been in their fundraising efforts.
“It’s been fun. We’re really doing something great,” Shreffler said. “It’s amazing that we have OhioLINK to support us. I’m really thrilled to be on this team.”
As the Pelotonia kick off events get ever closer, we are excited for both Matt and Michelle’s first Pelotonia experience. No matter what you ride for, every little bit counts. Thanks to all the researchers and good luck to all Pelotonia riders out there!
