The pandemic pastime to campus community pipeline
Written and photographed for The Daily UW
Note: I am a curious human and a creative storyteller; this photo essay exemplifies that. During the first year and a half of the pandemic when many students moved home as classes transitioned online, I remained in Seattle and on campus. My work within this story highlights my ability to turn simple observations into executed final stories.
Comparing this photo essay to “After a year of online school, some classes return to in-person,” it is clear I have grown as both a writer and a photographer. I spent over a month of intentional time within this campus community to understand not only the people, but the entire skating movement. This project culminated in the following detailed and cohesive story highlighting the people, the issues, and the community born out of a pandemic.
From left to right: Evan Schwitters, Ben Kim, Samuel Ofamn, and Moses Jung talk during a club meet up on April 1, 2022.Walk through Red Square on a non-rainy day and you’re likely to see a few skateboarders; you might even hear them before you see them — the sound of wheels over bumps in the bricks or the jarring snap of boards landing on the ground.
Skating has seen a surge in popularity during the pandemic. Just as people purchased bulk flour for their sourdough starters, so too did people set out to buy skateboards. Skateboard sales increased 118% by June 2020 compared to the previous year, according to skate and surf data provider Action Watch.
On campus, a similar boom has rippled throughout the student population. Since last fall, Skate Club at University of Washington has created a new, cohesive community of novice and experienced skaters, with local Seattle skaters still rolling through campus.
From left to right: A filming drone flies above Evan Schwitters, Moses Jung, and Daniel Ishchuk as they take a break from skating on March 11, 2022.
Moses Jung tre flips on Red Square on March 11, 2022.
David Robon does a backside crooked grind on a Red Square bench on March 27, 2022.THE FOUNDATION OF THE CLUB
David Robon, a second-year student and the president of the skating club, was a “crazy skier” before becoming a skateboarder. A combination of skiing injuries and free time during the pandemic led Robon to spend more time skating.
“I messed up and tore my ACL and meniscus,” Robon said. “And I was looking for stuff that wouldn’t have me voluntarily jumping off a cliff.”
In the spring of 2021, with classes still fully remote, Robon and a small group of five to six other skaters would meet up and hang out in Red Square several times a week; when classes returned to campus in the fall, their group grew.
“It kind of prompted this idea that we could create this central group,” Robon said. “We got enough people to start the club — why not just start it?”
A PLACE FOR EVERYONE
The skate club is home to skaters of all skill levels — including many beginners — of which bought a board within the past month.
“It’s not even, ‘Can you progress past this [trick]?’” Robon said. “It’s just about having fun.”
Carson Haverda (front) and Evan Schwitters (back) hug and celebrate after successfully landing tricks on March 11, 2022.First-year student Denice Melendez-Macin started skating in the fall after skate club member Carson Haverda posted a notification that the RSO was having a meetup.
Melendez-Macin felt nervous about joining a male-dominated sport, but said they were relieved to find a welcoming and supportive community of skaters of all skill levels and identities.
Denice Melendez-Macin rides through the C5 parking garage.Maddie Davis, a first-year student, was similarly anxious about taking up the hobby. She said her experience playing male-dominated sports growing up helped relieve some of that hesitation.
“I moved here from Texas, and nobody skates in Texas,” Davis said. “I’ve been wanting to skate because I don’t like riding my bike … I was looking through RSOs and I had already been trying to learn to skate, so it seemed kinda obvious to join.”
Davis began attending the RSO’s meetups in April. She now offers help and friendship to other girls in the club, as she knows how nerve-wracking it can be to try something new, especially in front of strangers.
Ben Kim (left) watches as David Robon (right) adjusts his skateboard wheels
Maddie Davis practices skateboarding on Red Square on April 1, 2022.
James Thompson kick flips over the central brick benches on Red Square on March 27, 2022.But the campus hosts more than just UW students — Seattle locals head to campus for the open space and community building it offers. The C5 parking garage — one of few large and empty covered areas in the U-District — is often filled with just as many non-students as students during rainy days.
Daniel Ishchuk leaps off of the stairs on Red Square.FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
According to members of the RSO, urban skating and skateboarding require patience and creativity. Using the built environment for skate practice is a form of radical rethinking, and the worldwide community of skaters is constantly evolving to find new ways of practicing.
Gigi Gonzales (left) shows photos from her camera to Samuel Ofamn (right).“Skating itself is a very expressive sport,” third-year student Curtis Anderson said. “Typical sports like running, football, or baseball don’t have the same kind of freedom to create and show your true self.”
Beyond the sense of personal freedom that skateboarding offers, Melendez-Macin views it as a practice that pushes social boundaries and norms.
“I believe skating is a form of protesting, since it is not allowed in a lot of places,” Melendez-Macin said. “It is in its history — people who skate are seen as ‘troublemakers.’ But I believe that skaters are people who like to be free of society’s rules and like to have fun.”
Art often finds its way into the skating club, from homemade, repurposed clothes to graphic design. Student, skater, and artist Daniel Ishchuk found a way to incorporate his interest in art into skateboarding. Ishchuk helped plan a skateboard decorating party with colorful grip tape, the textured tape applied to the top of boards to help shoes hold better.
“The two worlds collide very well,” Ishchuk said. “I think skateboarding is its own form of art really, and if there’s something unique to skateboarding and unique to art at the same time, it’s a dope vision.”
First year student Gigi Gonzales takes photos of skateboarders on April 1, 2022.
Carson Haverda (right) flies off of the concrete slope base of the broken obelisk on Red Square while Moses Jung (left) films.THE FUTURE OF SKATING ON CAMPUS
“It’s such an iconic Seattle skate spot and pretty easy to get to from wherever you are on campus,” first-year student Erik Perkins said regarding Red Square. “It’s got about every kind of skate feature you could want, and there’s almost always a couple other people to skate with.”
The spot is so iconic that it’s listed in Curbed’s list of “[Seattle’s] classic street skateboarding spots.”
However, UW policy prohibits skateboarding for any reason other than “transporting an individual from one campus destination to another.” The administrative code explicitly bans skating on Red Square and in parking garages — the two places most commonly used by skaters.
Raynor Wales glides over a metal rail in a campus garage.Violators are subject to fines and may have their skateboards impounded by UWPD, which the skaters believe unfairly undermines their community-building efforts.
“A lot of skaters I see are white, but I come from a diverse background,” Melendez-Macin, who is Latina, said. “[The UW skating community] is a good thing to give people a place to talk and hang out, and they’re taking that away.”
Robon is hoping to work on the relationship between skaters, UWPD, and the UW administration. With the Olympics formally recognizing skateboarding as a sport, and the approval of the RSO, Robon said the club has more leverage in advocating for skateboarding rights and opportunities on campus.
