Most students have that one teacher they look back on in fondness years after graduation. It could be the teacher who put forth extra effort to help a student struggling with a particular subject, or who gave a advice to a bullied student, or who devotes time out of his day to encourage students to follow their passion.
For many students at Shelby County's East Middle School, Zachary Hypes is that teacher. For more than a decade Hypes has been sharing his love of skateboarding with his students.
He has given students who might not have an interest in mainstream team sports another athletic outlet.
Whether it’s through his Road Dog Skate Camp, a program in which students travel to different skate parks in Kentucky during school breaks, or through is after-school lessons at Shelbyville’s skate park, Hypes has made an impact on Shelby County’s young skateboarders.
Students will line for an opportunity to talk about what Hypes and his skateboard program means to them. Camden McCarty, for instance said, “Mr. Hypes made after school fun.”
Andrew Newton was taught to have confidence in his ability and himself.
“Ever since I started, I didn’t think I could skateboard," he said. "I was miserable during the week because I was worried I would be bullied, but Mr. Hypes taught me how to skateboard and I made friends and found community.”
Anna Jesse says she can talk to Hypes. “I like Mr. Hypes. It’s like a family here; we can open up to him. He taught me about skating.”
John Morgan, who played a significant role in the development of the skate park, met Hypes after driving by the early skate park.
“The skate park had died down for a while,” Morgan said. "I was driving past one day and I noticed a bunch of kids with this older guy and I went out there, talked to him and found out he was a middle school teacher doing a skate camp.”
For Morgan, the skate park was a game changer after years of looking for a place where he and his friends could skateboard.
“We would try to skate at places like the like the stairs in front of the park, and we would always get kicked out,” Morgan recalled. “So a group of guys got together and they got in contact with Dee Maynard, who helped improve the skate park.”
Hypes began his summer camp program close to five years ago while brainstorming for ideas for a camp during a school break. Originally, Hypes thought he would do an art camp, but he ended up deciding on something a little different.
“I’ll do something out of the box,” the lifelong skater said. “Skate boarding is no more dangerous than football.”
With Maynard’s help, the skaters put on fundraisers and competitions to purchase the equipment the park needed. “We'd have little competitions and have entry fees at places like on Main Street,” Morgan recalled. “I remember being at the meeting at the Family Activity Center and they wanted us to decide on what kind of park we wanted.”
According to Morgan, the young skateboarders also received some aid from famous professional skaters like Louie Barletta and Ed Templeton, who donated skateboards.
“I've actually reached out to some professional skateboarders through Integra and social media and they've sent me prizes for the kids, so it's cool back and see the smiles on their faces," Morgan said. "They had some of the things we didn't have growing up.”
Hypes says he believes kids learn to overcome things that are challenging, such as skateboarding. They have goals and they have to devote a significant amount of time to accomplish them and build onto their skills as skate boarders. “They’ve learned to love achieving progress over difficult things.”
According to Hypes, skate parks have been in a slump the past couple of years. The East Middle art teacher believes this could possibly be attributed to COVID. Parents became risk adverse and were more tentative about their children’s safety. Hypes believes skating offers kids a chance for independence, stating, “Skate kids are not shy about the world.”
Hypes also believes that skate parks are going to see resurgence.
“I think the Shelbyville skate park is ready to expand," he said. "This part of the city is getting a lot of use, and if you think about it, skate parks get more use than things like tennis courts.”
Hypes said the expansion and construction of skate parks come in waves, like the first instance of skate parks being built in the early 2000s in an effort to keep youth away from opioids. “La Grange is getting an expansion and I believe a new wave is coming through.”
Like Hypes, Morgan also thinks its time for an expansion, though he knows it’s going to take some work.
“I think it would take the same thing we did before, going around doing the fundraisers, doing competitions with entry fees and we probably have to talk to the mayor," he said.
Morgan also sees the need within the local skating community for more room in the park.
“Once we get a chance to figure it all out, we'd like to try to expand it in some sort of way, because now there are so many young skateboarders," he said. "I mean it's packed every time I go there now.”
