Girls get rolling with after-school longboard building program

Trina Pauls — Grade 8 student, avid beader, and self-confessed "speed demon" — could barely wait to try out her new longboard.

"I'm so excited because I've been boarding for, like, five years now and my board is getting to the end of its life. So I'm excited to rock a new one," she said, while painting her own custom, bead-inspired design onto the wooden board. 

"I wanted to do something for my culture, so beading was perfect," she said about the colourful, floral design.

Also featuring some black trucks and yellow wheels, Pauls's board will be one of a kind.

"I just love how it's like, to my style." 

Pauls worked on the board all semester, as part of an after school girls' building program at Porter Creek Secondary School in Whitehorse.

The first part of the semester involved learning some skills through programming from Yukon Women in Trades & Technology. The second part was devoted to building longboards, right from scratch.

That meant cutting sheets of plywood, laminating them together, sanding them down, designing and painting the board, and attaching the trucks and wheels.

The whole process was a labour of love for Pauls, who credits an uncle with getting her into the sport when she was younger.

"He'd like hold my arms and I would get to, like, be on his board — which was pretty cool. So I think that may have started my career in the boarding community," she said.

"This experience that my school is giving me I think is, like, a really nice privilege to have."

Ready to ride

Teagan Wiebe, who is also in Grade 8, was likewise busy with paint and brush this week. 

"I'm glad that I'm just about done. I'm ready to ride it," she said, taking a break from working on her own decorative design — an exotic-looking turtle.

Being able to build her own board was "pretty awesome," Wiebe said, as it combined some things she's really into — art and carpentry. Also, turtles.

"I chose a Hawaiian turtle, just 'cause my grandparents like to go to Hawaii, and we like to go to Hawaii, and Hawaii's just part of our life — so I chose a Hawaiian turtle to represent that," she said.

"I technically am known as an artist, so I do lots of art and love art. So it was definitely the funnest part." 

Shop teacher Alexandra Morrison says the longboard building program grew out of the school's regular builders' club. The idea was to offer a more structured program, specifically for girls to learn some new skills.

"I feel like kids are really … engaged in school when they've got something they can actually use or take home," Morrison said. "I have rarely worked with such a positive group."

"Seeing them create something with that enthusiasm goes to my heart, as a teacher."

It was a pilot program this year, Morrison said, but there's a good chance it will continue next year — judging from the enthusiasm she's seen.

"They want to come back next year, and their friends are asking if they can come in next year," Morrison said.