If you have been an active student at NJIT for the past few semesters, you’re likely familiar with the sound of plastic wheels riding along the pavement on campus. Most notably during the day and afternoon, especially outside of Campbell Hall, the sight of skaters doing stylish tricks is nothing short of cool. To some, skateboarding can be seen as a pointless activity, but to the members of the Skate Club, it’s a way to relieve stress. To grasp a better understanding of what skating means and what it can offer to these students, a member of the official Skate Club has provided their insights on skating.

Enis Akil, a fourth-year Information Technology major and Director of Outreach for the club, provided several comments on the rising popularity and progressive milestones of converting the “unofficial skate club” into an official club on campus. One of the difficulties they faced was the fact that skating is “an activity that’s not exactly known for its organizational ability. There aren’t typically set times and practices,” he shared. “People just go out and skate when they can and invite other people to join them. Trying to make a skate club at the time just seemed very counterintuitive — at least to me.”

According to Akil, the members of the Skate Club always had an idea of making the club official; however, it wasn’t until the Fall 2023 semester that the idea took off. The group followed the same process that any other club would take in making their club official, including finding advisors and hosting general body meetings. What motivated the group to become an official club was the incoming freshman class, which had “a pretty shocking amount of skaters, and we felt that now was the time more than ever to go for it.”

Now that the Skate Club has finally joined the other various organizations on campus, the next step is to successfully integrate itself into campus life. It was important to establish a main objective for the club, and it was just as important to have one that resonated with those looking to join. Akil believes that the main difference between the Skate Club and other clubs on campus is that “skateboarding interacts with the environment around us in a way that no other recreational activity does.” 

What stood out, however, is how Akil was able to portray skating in a positive and productive light, comparing it to a “view of the world as a canvas to paint on.” The ability that skaters possess of “reinterpreting a space” to make it different in “your own way” would be “great to have at NJIT, especially for a school that prides itself on innovation,” he responds. It may not appear like it, but the Skate Club can bridge that gap between people and art and allow its members to express themselves uniquely.

Recently, however, the club noticed that the manual pad located just outside of Cullimore Hall was completely removed without warning. According to Akil, it wasn’t a decision or topic the club had even considered. They were certainly not expecting a piece of concrete to be removed over the weekend. After inquiring about the issue from public safety (Akil didn’t get a clear answer), he concluded that it had probably been planned. As a form of remembrance, the Skate Club held a small yet funny tribute to the manual pad, honoring all the fun moments they’ve shared with it.

As for the future of the Skate Club, it is still too early to decide what its fate could be, but the members hope it’s nothing short of excitement and adventure. They hope to have their goals “realized, such as building our obstacles, having a designated space to skate, making our custom decks, and putting on events for the skate scene in and around Newark,” Akil related. However scary it may seem to the ordinary person, it won’t deter the Skate Club from doing the thing they love the most — sharing their passion with other skaters.