As his knee hit the ground, Alex Miles quickly tucked and rolled from forearm to shoulder, immediately popping up to his feet and right back onto his skateboard. "I don't really get that frustrated anymore when I fall," Alex said, " I'm just used to it now."
Alex is one of a few students learning to skateboard on an early Monday morning before school at Lister Elementary as part of Alchemy Skateboarding's Skate In School program. Taylor Woodruff, Alchemy's Executive Director and Skate In School instructor, says Alex's mindset toward falling and getting up again is exactly what he's trying to help all his students develop, "Failure is not an option, it's a necessity. It's how you grow. If you're not falling down, you're not learning, and once we get the youth to understand that with skateboarding, we can translate it to other things in life as well."