The Philadelphia Skateboard Academy has been a work in progress and a culmination ideas and of the services we have provided for the last decade. It started as Gear for Groms (After School Program serving elementary / middle school students) and kept developing as we worked with various civic and educational groups such as A.S.A.P, United Communities, Franklins Paine, S.A.N, P.E.C, Philadelphia Pa
rks and Recreation, The Collective Philadelphia, Franklin Institute, Action Science and Bureau of Lectures to name a few as well as the various stunt show companies we have worked for spreading positive messages through this activity. We want to engage youth in learning through doing and skateboarding is a great conduit for this to happen! Not only do we teach basics to training high level performers in their skill we also teach students about the processes that make skateboarding happen! We run building / design workshops (equipment/parks etc.), civic duty (clean ups /painting etc.), the science /mathematics of skateboarding, character development, events, educational after school programming, summer camps and The Philly Cup Series at this time. We know that skateboarders see the world in a different way, so we show them the different ways they can use what they learn in school and on the skateboard and apply it to "the real world" and how they can be successful on and off the board! Since the growing success of these types of programs over the last decade, Parks and Recreation of Philadelphia at this time seasonally hired for the past 2 years, veteran Professional Skateboarder, AJ Kohn to develop educational programming, events / promotions and park maintenance with great success! So much so that this year our group was given a grant to hire /train and mentor 6 youth workers who became our summer camp youth instructors working for the city! In year 1 AJ had 6 summer camp locations and served hundreds of students, in year two with the additional staff and word spreading the guys served over 1,000 students this past summer at 40 scheduled locations with in the city limits (had over 50 rec centers apply for the program). The program is proving so popular we are looking to expand into more summer camps, skills workshops and after school programs as well to offer more job opportunities to our community through skateboarding! Support what we do to make our city a better place!
