Alexandria C.
"Every child deserves the freedom to roll toward their potential, and if we can help the environment while we're at it, why wouldn't we?"
A Unity student turned a lesson in sustainability into a recycling initiative that’s keeping waste out of landfills and putting skateboards in the hands of kids who need them most.
When Alexandria learned about sustainability and recycling practices through her Unity coursework, she didn’t just take notes. She took action.
What started as a personal project has grown into Decks for Dreams, a recycling initiative that collects used skateboard equipment, repurposes it, and donates it to underprivileged children. The idea is simple and quietly radical: turn someone’s trash into a child’s opportunity.
“Skateboarding is more than just a sport,” Alexandria says. “It’s a tool for building confidence, resilience, and community.”
The environmental case is just as compelling. Skateboards are made up of polyurethane wheels, plastic-base boards, composite materials, and aluminum. These are three major classes of waste that, when they end up in landfills, can persist for decades and generate microplastics that leach into the surrounding environment. Most people don’t think twice before throwing them away. Alexandria did.
“Unity taught me that most citizens are unaware of the harmful materials they put in their trash cans, which then go to landfills without being checked or sorted,” she says. “If we can continue to capture people’s trash and turn it into treasure for a child, we will continue to also help the environment.”
So far, Decks for Dreams has donated 11 skateboards, 3 helmets, 3 scooters, and a full set of padding to the Boys & Girls Club. The equipment is now being distributed to children and kept on-site for use at the club. Conveniently, that particular Boys & Girls Club sits right behind a skateboard park, giving kids direct access to a space where they can get outside, get moving, and build community with one another.
The initiative has also formed three new partnerships: two local skateboard shop businesses and the Kick Flip Kids Skate Club, which hosts community events centered around biking, skateboarding, and snowboarding.
It is the kind of project that lives at the intersection Unity is built around: environmental responsibility and real human impact, working together rather than in opposition.
