Skateboarding at Dartmouth: Synopsis

Riding Dartmouth: Over 300 years of history and architecture clashes with a few kids who want to ride it…but not really destroy it.

Extreme skateboarding and the Ivy League – what do they have in common? Nothing really, except one or two kids here and there like me. We are the few neighborhood skate punks who broke the mold and somehow got through the Ivy League admissions process reminiscent of post-9/11 airport security. Sorry Mr. Admissions Officer, I forgot to write in my application that I would be conquering all the 8-stairs on campus and incessantly scraping paint off all the railings with the trucks on my skateboard. I’m glad you liked my accomplishments though.

Dartmouth College’s campus features plenty of ramps, curbs, ledges, stairs, rails, and construction zones that are just begging to be ridden. I really enjoy the absence of “No Skateboarding” signs here. No one thought to put them up. After all, what good ol’ Ivy League boy would ever want to skateboard? The idea seems preposterous. When students want recreation, they will of course join the crew team. Or the sailing team. Or maybe the golf team (get out the plaid pants…you know you love them). The plain fact is we skaters are way too few and far between to even be noticed. And thank God. It makes it a lot easier to have fun.

Of course, we all miss our “crews” back home, our buds who we would see regularly at the local skate shop, who we would play Skate with after school. Sometimes it is lonely being one of the few skaters on campus, not to mention one of the very few out of that group who actually can land tricks. But the good thing about feeling like an “outcast” is that I can get a lot more heartfelt about what I am doing. When I cross another skater on campus, I treat him like family. We feel elitist about what we do. We feel united by a common bond. Not like back home, where every kid on the block can varial-flip.

In short, while I know my kind are a small group who are never going to grow into larger numbers, I feel confident that we will never die out, because our situation brings us close and makes us strong. There will always be at least one or two Ivy League kids who skate hardcore. You might see us occasionally in the street. And we will always be underground. It is like The Casualties say, “We’re the f***ing punks, we’re few but we are real, the way we f***ing feel, this noise is for real.” Skate hard.