RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In the village of Tewa, Ariz., kids are dropping in on the half-pipe at a new skate park.
(SOUNDBITE OF SKATEBOARDING)
MARTIN: It's all thanks to Quintin Nahsonhoya and his friends.
QUINTIN NAHSONHOYA: There wasn't really any place to skate down here. Most of the surrounding areas is just dirt and rocks.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
So when the pandemic began and outdoor activity took on new life, the teens got together to start what they called Skate264.
NAHSONHOYA: The highway 264 is what goes through all the Hopi Reservation.
MARTÍNEZ: The idea - to build a safe space for skaters regardless of age or skill.
NAHSONHOYA: We saw a whole bunch of skaters that were just, like, skating on those little makeshift parks, you know, at the basketball courts or on the road or at hospitals or schools - just anywhere that had concrete, pretty much. So we thought it would be a good idea to bring a skate park out to Hopi just because we didn't want anybody getting hurt or in trouble getting into places they shouldn't be trying to skate.
MARTIN: Seventeen-year-old Quintin got the idea after he started skating two years ago. On a trip through Navajo Country, he saw other kids with a better skating scene.
NAHSONHOYA: There's some tribes around Phoenix, too, who have gotten some pretty good parks. Whenever I would go to that part of the country, I would see their skate parks and then I would come back to my reservation. And then there would be nothing here. I thought that was kind of unfair.
MARTÍNEZ: The Hopi community rallied behind the teens, and with fundraisers, sponsorships and merchandise sales, they finally had enough money to build their park and fulfill a dream to bring positive change to the Hopi community.
(SOUNDBITE OF INSTRUMENTAL HEAT'S "KICK PUSH (KARAOKE)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
