Skateboarding isn’t something you would usually see at a middle school. You may not know it, but some students and teachers here at AJCMS skate!

Skating helped David Aleman, a math teacher at AJCMS, to get around college and was also a method for him to get himself together at times.

“When I was in college I would skateboard to class and whenever I had some time I like, maybe you skateboard downhill. It was just a way for me to relax, enjoy myself and I especially like when you want to listen to music while skateboarding,” said Aleman.

At a young age, Aleman started skating as he saw his own friends doing it. Because he struggled, he gave up and didn’t get back into it until he was older.

“I started skateboarding like around 10 or 11 years old. I saw a lot of my friends do it and I was like ‘Oh, alright I’ll give it a shot.’ It was really hard because I didn’t really know how to do my foot placement and so I kind of gave up and then I taught myself again in college,” said Aleman.

Students also view skateboarding as a relaxing and cool thing to do.

Diego Aquino, an 8th grader at AJCMS, said,” It’s just a way for me to get out of my house and connect with other skaters that I don’t even know. I can like zone out and forget about all my problems when I skate.”

Ever since Aquino started skateboarding, his life has been less stressful and full of new experiences and adventures.

“I’ve visited lots of skateparks and skate spots around South Central and in Downtown LA. I like seeing people skateboarding because it gives me a feeling that I’m part of a group, “ said Aquino.

Although skating is somewhat popular and helpful, there are still reasons why skateboarding is not a good thing to do at school.

“Unfortunately it’s a liability issue. As long as you guys are on campus we’re responsible for anything that happens to you and like if you were to fall and hurt yourself we are held responsible for you,” said assistant principal, Gabriela Dampier.

Even with all the caution taken, the school will still get complaints about kids not being responsible while skating outside. Although there are many cons to skating at school, it would still be a beneficial thing to do after school hours.

“It’s helped me like overcome challenges, it’s helped me learn about myself and kind of like try not to give up because if you give up you never know what you can accomplish,” said Aleman.