Sk8atSHU brings skate tradition, neighborhood to Pirates

Even if you happen to’ve by no means touched a skateboard, Sk8atSHU is right here to assist college students get their ft off the bottom and on a board.

The membership’s president, Ben McGinn, a freshman physics main, mentioned skateboarding permits him to “clear [his] mind,” and he wished to start out the membership to construct a neighborhood round skateboarding. 

“It’s fun to skate with groups of people, the more people, the better it is, and the more fun I have,” McGinn mentioned.

Daniel Montgomery, a freshman Biochemistry main and the membership’s secretary, agrees with McGinn. 

“For me, skating has brought me what Ben said, ‘an opportunity to clear my mind’ and to give me something that I can work towards by setting goals for myself,” Montgomery mentioned. “ I want to be able to bring that to other people too.”

Sk8atSHU hopes to deliver collectively skaters of all ranges and create a welcoming area for college students within the tradition, creativity, and camaraderie of the game. Montgomery reiterates this mission. 

“The more people that can skate with you, it’s more fun,” Montgomery mentioned. “I think that’s also why I decided to, like, help be a part of skate club.” 


Clubs have distinctive methods of beginning up on campus. Blake Marasigan, a sophomore graphic design main and the vp of Sk8atSHU, defined how the membership made it out of the group chat. 

“This started as a group chat, with a bunch of skaters we were collecting on campus,” Marasigan mentioned. “If we saw someone skating, we were like, ‘Yo, you want to come to the group chat?’”

The e-board has excessive hopes for Sk8atSHU’s success. 

“We don’t really have a budget right now because we’re new, but next semester, I’m hoping to use the budget to make skating more accessible for people who can’t afford boards,” Marasigan mentioned. “It’s an expensive sport.” 

Apart from making the game extra accessible to SHU college students, Sk8atSHU hopes to deliver it to individuals who wouldn’t in any other case have given it an opportunity. To accomplish that, their predominant objective is to “get more people to show up,” in response to Marasigan. 

“Just like being able to teach other people and get them better at skating,” Marasigan mentioned. “We also want to do more board giveaways and stuff like that.”

The skating neighborhood is a significant draw for skaters and school college students. It’s a releasing medium for artwork expression for skaters, as Marasigan bolstered. 

“I wanted to integrate that into this community at Seton Hall because everyone is just so willing to help you learn how to skate, teach you about the mentality block and everything that you need to unlock when you skate,” Marasigan mentioned. 


Thomas Canela, a junior political science main, has been skating for the previous 5 years. He’s at the moment engaged on a “pop-shove-it and mastering an olly.” Canela hopes to affix Sk8atSHU for extra open skate periods and to follow at off-campus skate parks.

Haley Acevedo, a sophomore philosophy main, doesn’t skate, however she joined as a result of she loves skating tradition and supporting her mates. 

“I’m here to look at the boards and watch them skate,” Acevedo mentioned.

She additionally enjoys the welcoming neighborhood from Sk8atSHU. 

“I greeted them with a smile because they greeted me with one first,” Acevedo mentioned.

Starting a membership doesn’t come with out challenges. For McGinn, essentially the most troublesome side is attracting members.

“Not a lot of people [skateboard] and a lot has to do with the fact that it’s kind of expensive to start,” McGinn mentioned. “It’s a hard commitment to do because you don’t even know if you like it. So this, the club, gives people an opportunity to try, try it, see if they like it.”

A 12 months from now, Marasigan hopes the membership will maintain mixed occasions with close by school skateboarding golf equipment.

“I know there’s skating clubs in Montclair right now, and Rutgers had a skating club, so I’m hoping to come together with other schools and have a little collaboration,” Marasigan mentioned.

Sk8atSHU is screening Mid 90s, an indie movie about skating, on March 25 at 8 p.m. on the highest flooring of the parking deck. To discover out extra concerning the membership’s upcoming occasions, keep up to date by way of their Instagram.  

Blake Marasigan, who was interviewed for this text, is a photographer for The Setonian.

Thomas Canela, who was interviewed for this text, was a author for The Setonian’s News and Campus Life sections. 

Keira Bala is the videographer for The Setonian. She will be reached at [email protected].