This fall, Urban’s garage has experienced a dramatic change. Once barely populated by bikes and the occasional scooter, it’s been taken over by precariously placed skateboards. Three of the freshmen skaters partially responsible for this transformation share their thoughts below:

Favorite trick:
Jeremiah Lerner ‘23: “Ollie 180. It’s something [I] can do every time and not mess up. [I] can do it on heavy stair sets and stuff like that.”

Lucas Nicholson ‘23: “My favorite trick is the tre flip, my favorite thing about it is because no one else can do it besides me and one of my friends”

Zach Crandall ‘23: “My favorite trick is probably a heelflip just because my friends can’t do it besides Rapha. And if you land one, you just ride away.”

Worst crash:
Lerner: “I ollied onto a box and slipped down and hit my back on the metal coping, and I cut my back really bad.”

Nicholson: “My coolest crash is when I was at Dolores Park and I was trying to ollie this gap and then I clipped the train track and then I like folded my arm and then there was a sort of bad thing for six months but I never went to the doctor.”

Crandall: “I was at Potrero del Sol skate park and I was trying to ollie the trannies (ramps) and I was leaning way too far back and then my wheel clipped the thing and I fell mad back and hit my head really hard and got a big bruise.”

Skating background:
Lerner: “I started skating like 3 years ago. I skate home every day but on a session probably three times a week.”

Nicholson: “I started skating two years ago almost and I skate every day pretty much.”

Crandall: “My dad used to skateboard so I got into it when I was like 7. I skate around 3 times a week.”

Challenges:
Lerner: “I feel like people don’t like the freshmen that skate. It’s a different culture than the rest of Urban. Some upperclassmen don’t like the vibes that some of our peeps are giving out in our grade. It hasn’t really affected me — you know, you just keep on skating, not really caring if people don’t like it or whatever.”

Nicholson: “The dean kind of messed with our vibes. One time I was skating out on Page and we were just seshing and stuff and Charlotte came out and yelled at me. So basically she said we can’t skate in the neighborhood. But I was at Waller today so… In the student center let me tech deck on the chairs, please. The seniors got mad at me. It’s a mini skateboard and it’s not appreciated here.”

Favorite park:

Lerner: “My favorite park is SOMA.”
Nicholson: “I kinda like SOMA cuz all my homies are there. I also like Fremont but don’t go there a lot.”
Crandall: “I like the Venice beach skate park in LA. It’s a fun park, they have a big street section.”