Troy's first-ever Skate Day held

Students gathered around the fountain waiting for “Skate Day” to start.

Advertised around the campus during the previous week, Skate Day is what Phoukhanh Songvilay, a freshman graphic design major from Auburn, hopes to be the first of many meetings.

“We’ve just seen a lot of skaters around, riding,” Songvilay said. “We’d just hoped to get a group together because it’s always more fun to ride together than alone.”

On Nov. 11, they did just that and attempted to gather a group around the fountain.

When asked how they advertised for the event, Songvilay said, “We just decorated some cards and posted them around the campus.”

The cards were colored note cards that said the time, date and place of the event and named it as “Skate Day.” Songvilay says that he didn’t expect any people to come out the first time.

“Maybe just 10,” he said before the event. “It’s an attempt.”

Shannelle Impelido, a freshman criminal justice major from Honolulu, and a friend of Songvilay’s, said, “Our crew, about five of us, go skating every night, and we see other skaters. We wanted to make new friends and learn from each other.”

When asked what she felt that they hoped to accomplish, Impelido replied, “A lot of skaters do tricks, and we wanted to meet with them and trade ideas. We wanted to make them feel comfortable on their boards around other skaters and in public.”

Impelido expressed an interest in meeting new people who share this pastime, and her hope is that the group can have more events in the future.

“Maybe this could be something that we do, like, twice a month,” Impelido said. “It’s also a way to let others know that skaters are active on campus.”

For those people on campus who skateboard, Songvilay and Impelido encourage them to keep an eye out for more “Skate Day” events in the future.

Anyone with a passion for skating is welcomed.