Hi Mike, can you tell me a little about yourself and what you do?
My name is Michael O’Brien and I have been making stuff, going places, playing games, and enjoying the company of my friends and family for 51 years so far. I have been purposefully exploring the world of art and design since I was a kid and I am lucky enough to share the journey and both teach and learn in an elementary classroom that I have been teaching in for 22 years.
Specifically, I have worked at Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School in Alberta for the last 18 years. My own art ranges from drawing, to painting, to ceramics, to leathercrafting, to woodworking. All of these art forms compliment each other and learning techniques in one piggybacks onto the others - if you are paying attention to the process.
Lots of my work is seen on Instagram at @summercarverart.
An actual ad used by the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School!
How did you hear about Roarockit? What inspired you to bring skateboard building into the classroom?
Skateboarding has given me a lot in this life and when I was looking to provide alternative art lessons into my curriculum, the idea of building skateboards seemed like a great option. I always look to bring art and creativity beyond the classical presentation of putting something on a wall or floor of a gallery, and the skateboard culture has celebrated alternative art and design since its inception. It’s art on the move, and its everywhere.
Skateboard building in the curriculum is one of the most authentic cross curricular and experiential learning opportunities that I have seen in school, and as the unit grows so to does the realization that scientific inquiry, math, engineering, design, and physical literacy all accompany the journey. Our Phys. Ed department has embraced the skateboard building unit by implementing a learn to skateboard unit in its grade 6 curriculum, and our kids get to learn how to ride the boards they made. Full circle resonating lifelong education.
Ted Hunter [co-founder of Roarockit] was my professor at OCAD, and I don’t remember if he was running Roarockit at the time I was in school, but when I inquired and met up with Ted again, it seemed like the universe agreed with the idea of making boards in class, and so we started making boards about 10 years ago.
How do you feel this program benefits the classroom? How do you work this into your curriculum?
Forgive me for answering the question above before it was even asked, but its easy to get jib jabby when I talk about the benefits of this as a unit in school.
The program is an immersive experience that genuinely invites every student and teacher to introduce their observations and ideas about skateboarding throughout the unit. It might be during the conceptual design challenges that the kids bring up wild image ideas - and wild board shape concepts as well.
During the woodworking portion, the gluing and the sanding have made for great extensions to use the technology for more than just boards. I constantly have kids talking about building guitars, skis, chairs, etc.
The question of working this into the curriculum is a fair question, but if you reflect upon the fundamental purpose of education and curriculum, any courageous educator can see that the school curriculum does - or should - work itself into the skateboard building program instead.
There’s genuine learning that takes place when building a skateboard, and the knowledge resonates. Be it the science of adhesives, or the mathematics of figuring out the veneer layers, or the engineering of how strong the board will be under load. This program is a benefit to the learning community, and the curricular requirements answer themselves.
What have been the students’ reactions to getting to build skateboards in the classroom?
There’s a predictable intellectual lag that is experienced in the introduction of the unit - and it’s the 12 year old kids dealing with the realization that they can make something with their own hands that performs as well or better than something that they previously only envisioned as “something you buy”.
When the facts are embraced and the agreements to engage in the rigour of building the board is accepted, the journey really begins and the satisfaction is evident throughout the process.
The completion of the board will witness the satisfaction and joy on the faces of the students who made their boards - grade 6 kids have made over 500 boards here, 100% success rate - and the undeniable pleasure and confidence of knowing that should that student visit any skatepark, skate shop, or playground, that they are likely the only person there who made their own board, is a valuable experience.
Do you have any special stories to share of the effects it had on your students?
Every student who has engaged in the program has offered moments of success and challenge, and the completion of the boards has made for a lot of valuable conversations and moments of appreciation.
Seeing high school kids ride by after five years of having made the board is the kind of positive effect that goes beyond stories.
How were you able to get skateboard building started in your class, did you have to jump through any administrative hoops to get there?
Bureaucratic inertia is a reality that can move like square wheels, but luckily enough I work at a private school that has the courage to recognize the value of immersive projects like this, and the means to support it. There will always be hoops, but good art teachers always learn to jump and hula when necessary.
How did it turn out? Are the students riding their boards afterwards, or do they use them more as an art project?
Philosophically speaking, I don’t teach to art students, I share the journey of art as a practitioner who just so happens to have been on the path longer than the 12 year old artists who share the room with me. So we make art as artists, not art projects as art students, and the students make the executive decision as to what to do with the boards when they are done.
Sometimes the boards are just too valuable to ride, so they hang them in their rooms, and sometimes the kiddos just want to throw wheels on as soon as possible and they are shredding right away.
Do you have a history of skateboarding?
Skateboarding, like bike riding, is the first true independent freedoms that most kids experience growing up. It’s the first thing to allow them to be free from their parents embrace, and it’s the risks and rewards of riding bikes and boards that develop a kids courage and resilience. You only get better at skateboarding through a relationship with failure, and I like that struggle. I grew up riding boards while delivering newspapers as a kid in Toronto, and I rode boards through the streets of the city until I was deep into my twenties. No style, no tricks, just getting by with the grace of a deer on an icy pond.
Thanks for your time Mike! Any last words for the viewers back home?
At my age I realize that a lot of people behind the scenes and beyond my gaze have helped me get to where I am today in life, and at this point it’s my job to return the favour. Roarockit doesn’t owe me anything, and I am grateful to have been able to use their products to give back to a sport that I am grateful for. Because they help me return the favour. And I am available to anyone who might want to explore the program or brainstorm about how to get it rolling - because it’s worth doing. So reach out if you need a little help. I’ve made all the possible mistakes that you might face in this kind of work, so I can provide experience to the problem.
Read more:
Our First Interview with Mike O'Brien (2016)
Taryn O’Grady,
Roarockit Skateboard Company