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Trashin' & Thrashin'

Bringing awareness to cleaning and maintaining local skate parks


Miles Fischer came up with the idea to clean up skate parks from his experiences as a child.
Jared Hegg / Mainstream
Miles Fischer came up with the idea to clean up skate parks from his experiences as a child.

While the Roseburg Skate Park is tucked away behind Fred Meyer’s grocery store, it is front and center in the minds of five students who cleaned up the park as part of their coursework for their Small Group Discussion class this term.

The purpose of the Small Group Discussion course is for students to work on their communication, problem-solving and critical thinking skills in small groups. Instructor Paula Ursey gave her students the freedom to design their own projects and facilitated them throughout the duration of the term.

“Students were to work in small groups using the skills they learned in class to work on a project to better their community. I wanted students to work together to apply what they used in their text to their projects,” Ursey said.

In class at the beginning of the term, students pitched ideas for potential projects within the Douglas County community.

Some of the projects pitched included a fishing trip for veterans, a food drive for Project C.A.N.S and numerous others.

According to Ursey, in order for a project to be chosen, at least five students needed to express interest.

Miles Fischer proposed his idea, which he called “Trashin’ and Thrashin’.”

Robert Martin, Miles Fischer, Harmeen Sohi, Josh Russell and Michael Lewis cleaned up local skate parks for their Small Group Discussion project.
Jared Hegg / Mainstream
Robert Martin, Miles Fischer, Harmeen Sohi, Josh Russell and Michael Lewis cleaned up local skate parks for their Small Group Discussion project.

Fischer wanted to bring awareness to cleaning and maintaining local skate parks and used the assignment as an avenue to make that happen. He hoped to spend an afternoon cleaning up the skate parks in Roseburg and Winston.

Fischer got the idea for the project based on his experiences skateboarding as a child.

“When I was a kid, we had inadequate funding for the skate park. Skaters often get a bad rep. With this project, it was all about the kids,” Fischer said.

Michael Lewis took part in the Feb. 21 clean-up at Roseburg skate park.
Jared Hegg / Mainstream
Michael Lewis took part in the Feb. 21 clean-up at Roseburg skate park.

His project caught the eyes of classmates Josh Russell, Robert Martin, Michael Lewis and Harmeen Sohi. The five students were going to be working together for the remainder of the term on their project.

“I chose this project because it sounded fun,” Robert Martin said. “I was looking forward to being outside and doing manual labor.” 

The students spent countless hours working on the project this term. “We invested our time, energy and personal funds into this project,” Fischer said.

The students attempted to contact numerous businesses and organizations to rally support for their project but ended up relying on each other and their personal resources in order to complete their goals, according to Fischer.

“We tried to get a lot of people involved, but things just kept falling through. This project ended up being easier said than done,” Fischer said.

The students asked for help from the city with providing cleanup supplies, but that support fell through as well, according to Fischer. 

The first cleanup took place Feb. 21 at the Roseburg Skate Park. Armed with trash bags, leaf blowers and pizza, the students enlisted the help of local skateboarders at the park.

“Working with the kids made it fun. Having kids ask to help us and hearing their input made it fun,” Martin said.

The students spent the afternoon cleaning up the park and talking with the kids at the park about the importance of keeping it clean.

At the Park
Jared Hegg / Mainstream

As part of the assignment, the group created a survey for students who participated in the project. According to the survey results compiled by Fischer and his team, the kids had positive feedback and were excited to see the park being cleaned up.

One of Fischer’s project goals was to educate kids on the importance of keeping the part clean.

“We wanted to help keep kids out of trouble and show them if they put something positive into their community, they get something positive back,” Fischer said.

Ursey acknowledged that their project was focused toward the children, as well.

Jared Hegg, UCC Visual Communications student, attended and photographed the event. “The kids were excited to help out and even more excited for pizza.”

The second cleanup day for Winston Skate Park was originally scheduled for Feb. 28 and rescheduled for March 6 due to rain.

On March 6, it was still raining. The students braved the rain in order to get their project finished.

“We went during the break of the rain. A few kids showed up and were psyched to help out,” Fischer said.

Globe of Skating
Jared Hegg / Mainstream