bessie Stringfield

The AMA Bessie Stringfield Award is bestowed by the AMA Board of Directors upon an individual — or in this case individuals — who has been instrumental in bringing emerging markets into the world of motorcycling.

Brian Schaffran and Molly Vaughan have done just that by helping local schoolkids increase both their confidence and knowledge by revitalizing an old classic.

“We’re essentially bringing shop class back,” Schaffran said. “It used to exist in all the schools until recently, except instead of doing lawnmowers and birdhouses, we’re doing motorcycles, so that’s the hook.”

The husband-and-wife duo are five years into a program they call Motogo, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that serves as the educational wing of their Skidmark Garage — a community garage where members pay a fee to have access to tools, equipment and a workshop bay — that is designed to teach middle school and high school students to solve problems through working on motorcycles.

“Our mission is really to redefine failure,” Vaughan said. “People often think failure is a steppingstone to success, but we’re trying to teach that sometimes failure is the success.”

Working with more than a dozen schools in the Cleveland area and built on the pillars of working with your hands, self-confidence, authenticity, equity and community, Motogo offers schoolkids the chance to rebuild 1970s Honda CB350