By MARISSA DECHANT
Staff writer
Central Elementary students in Franklin are skating through school – but not in the way you might think.
Physical education teacher C.P. Mooney has been implementing a new longboard program with his third- through sixth-grade students since the beginning of the school year.
“They love it,” Mooney said. “They feel accomplished doing something they haven’t done before.”
Last April, Mooney got in touch with colleagues Jeffrey Smith and Tad Campagna, who own LOCAL 5 Longboards in Slippery Rock.
Smith, an outdoor adventure education professor at Slippery Rock University, and Campagna, a physics teacher at Butler High School, created the company several years ago. They craft the boards inside a horse barn.
With funding from the school’s PTO board, Mooney ordered 15 longboards. They were custom made for students, with a shorter board frame and “Central Elementary Dragons” logo on the underside.
Before the school year began, Smith and another Slippery Rock professor traveled to Central to create a curriculum plan around the boards.
Mooney said the idea is similar to that of the Skate Pass skateboard program that was implemented at Titusville Middle School. While Titusville was the first school in Pennsylvania to put a skateboard program into practice, Mooney said he believes Central Elementary is the first in the state to implement a longboard-based curriculum.
The program also comes in line with other intensive activities the school district has implemented in recent years, including rollerblading and archery.
Mooney said the longboard program has been a good challenge for himself and the students.
“It’s such a good activity for hitting all levels of ability,” he said. “I see kids who are scared to death have success, and other kids who are ready to do tricks on the boards.”
Mooney said he loaned the boards to Titusville Area School District and hopes the program catches on in other local schools.
“We’re providing students with something they can do for a lifetime,” he said.
