These are the boards this year ...

My experience building a longboard provided me with the opportunity to be creative, to problem-solve and to have fun! Not only was I able to exercise my skillz as an engineer, but also as an artist. My approach stayed true to the long boarding mindset--go with the flow and have a chill time. There was trial and error throughout the process, but errors became happy accidents that only added to the board's character. When I take the time to bevel the wrong edge, its no biggie, I'll just bevel both edges and make it a surfboard. But these adjustments were made in every step of the way. I love the old school 70's style of skateboarding so much it seemed to just bleed into my board. Its retro style will never falter and age will only add to its beauty. I will definitely be back to make more!

Pat

I started the week with a pretty ugly piece of wood and really thought it was not going to look great. But as the week went on the board got better and better. It was a real experience because we can see now that you can build your own board and not have to buy it. I am just in the end very happy with the end product of my board and think it looks great. We rode it around the back of the school and around the streets of Hanover. It rode great for something that was a block of wood a few days ago.

Clayton

Today, as I looked back on this march intensive, I realized a few things.  This march intensive showed me the power of DIY.  Instead of wondering about how I would keep skateboarding, I started wondering about how I would access a wood shop.  If I have a new idea for a board,  I can just make one.  In addition to this new found power, I also think I have found a new hobby.  Today was the second time I rode my longboard, and I think I will spend my summer on it.  

Tim

Today I finished coating my board and now I have to put grip tape on it.  I really like how the wood looks though and because the clear grip tape isn’t very clear I decided I want to use white sand as my grip.  Yesterday, me and a friend went to look for some sand but couldn’t find any so today the search is back on.  Once I hopefully have the sand, I am planning on layering it onto the board very thinly and covering it with a coat of sealant.  I’m hoping that the sand will let the wood show through easily.  By the end of the day, I hope I am able to ride around the parking lot and have some fun. 

Mahler

My boards all done and I'm pretty proud of it. It definently looks much different from how I imagined, but I think I like

it more then I would've liked my first design. It felt really good to build something, I haven't built something in a long time and it's nice to have a final product from your work, especially one that unique to you. I'm excited to have a board, I doubt I'll be going 60 miles per hour down hills, but this summer I hope to ride in town with my friends. If I have enough confidence, I'm sure this board will be by my side while I'm at college getting to classes and stuff. I'm excited to also just have another fun thing to do while I'm home this summer, the ability to just coast around during an afternoon sounds awesome. I think I've made my mum proud with the board, now I just have to get good at riding it.

Alma

Today we had a talk on concussions and the importance of wearing helmets. After this we are going outside to ride our finished longboards. I am very happy on how mine came out. I was skeptical about the boards at the beginning of the class but they have turned out very cool. over all this week has been very educational  and fun. My favorite part this week was the painting part, I was able to do what ever I wanted to personalize are boards.  

Kyle

My board is finally finished and it looks amazing. I showed a couple of my friends pictures of it and they said it looked super sweet. Overall this MI was an amazing experience. It was my first time in the workshop, using all of these tools, and getting to learn a lot about skateboards. We didn’t just put them together; we dug deep into how the trucks worked, how to maintain our board, and how to adjust it to get the ride we wanted. What it really comes down to it, it’s that we created something that we can use everyday and can be proud of. All it is is just a plank of wood, and we can sand it down, start over, readjust it, repaint it, and make it into an even better board. The possibilities are almost endless. All I wanted was a longboard that was more than just a board I bought from some skate shop online, but I think in many ways I got way more than just that out of this MI.

Pierre