They are seen skating down the stairway at Buley Library, zooming past students on the way to classes and hanging around campus with their boards.
It seems as if skaters on campus are on the rise.
Gabriel Blessing, freshman, finance and accounting major, says he has a passion for the sport. He says he spends about three hours each day skating.
Although he’s only been skating for two years the sport, he says, has made a huge impact on his life. Blessing says he has met new friends and now has a different outlook, finding peace within himself.
“Once you start skating you create this connection with your board from spending so much time on it,” Blessing says. “Skating creates a level of escape for me.”
Skating comes in all forms; every skater has a different style. While some skaters like ramps and half-pipes, others use the environment around them, this is a commonly known style called street skating.
As a street skater, Blessing finds the campus a creative skating space.
“I skate street [style]. That means I don’t really like to skate parks with all the big bowls, ramps and rails, I like to just kind of create my own obstacles,” Blessing says.
Freshman biology major, Dani Jabbour has been an avid skater for six years. Jabbour says skating for him is a hobby, usually skating every day to and from classes, and also with his friends.
“I think skateboarding to me is just a fun hobby to get away when you’re stressed,” Jabbour says.
Jabbour says skateboarding heavily impacts his life. It allows him to create new friendships with those who share the hobby.
Being a street skater, Jabbour finds a unique obstacle in the amount of people and the foot traffic here on campus. A favorite spot of Jabbour’s is to skate is the long stairway at Engleman Hall near the Bagel Wagon patio, where he does a trick called a “firecracker,” a balancing trick riding down the stairs. The trick gets its name from the steady impact of the board against the stairs, creating the sound much like a firecracker going off.
Although fun, Jabbour says he does not see skating as an academic distraction, in fact he sees the opposite.
“I think skating helps with school. It helps me get to class on time and when I’m stressed from homework. I skate to relieve stress,” Jabbour says.
Mason Boeger, freshman, studio art major, says he started skating his sophomore year of high school. Boeger instantly loved the sport, skating every day with his friends after school.
Boeger says even though he has not been skating as much recently as he has in the past, he has slowly been picking it back up at the university.
“Skateboarding has done a lot for me, especially in high school,” Boeger says. “I would be skating every day, hanging out with my friends and just going downtown doing whatever.”
Boeger says he sees skateboarding not only as an activity, but also as a way to learn more about himself. Boeger says he feels a strong sense of nostalgia when skating. Remembering those days when he’d be out all day after his high school classes, skating with some of his closest friends.
“During high school, I basically got my whole friend group from skating,” Boeger says.
Boeger usually skates three days a week, but whenever he has the free time he’ll be out skating around campus.
By Jay’Mi Vazquez and Tyrese Abdul-Shakoor
