Billy Rohan, person of the week on our local cable news

click here to watch.

Good guy, Billy Rohan has done something and has been doing it for a while now here in NYC just a few blocks from where i live, check out the story from Time Warner's "NY1".

The latest New Yorker of the Week is rolling out a new syllabus for high school students. NY1's John Schiumo filed the following report.
Billy Rohan, a professional skate boarder, is putting a new spin on high school gym class.

"It really is a good alternative for kids to be doing something that's active," he says. "That's outside of the house, fighting obesity getting them away from the video games and just having fun outside with their friends."

A year ago, Rohan started building skate boarding parks with the help of Open Road of New York and the New York City Parks Department. One of the parks is next door to East Side Community High School on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The principal took notice and asked Rohan to start teaching.

"They come out here and they see Billy and they see how enthusiastic he is about the sport they can't help but be enthusiastic as well," says Principal Tom Mullen.

The students use boards and helmets donated by Rohan's professional sponsors.

At the beginning of each class Rohan, leads a warm up. Then, he puts the students through drills. And, at the end of the class, the students can free skate.

"The best part of this class is free skate because we get to do whatever we want and to try out new things," says student Anthony Olan. "It's just been a new experience. We just keep practicing until we get better."

Rohan also teaches at New Design High School. A group of six students helped design and build the school's roof top park.

"You get the wood, you build the stuff, you feel good about it," Rohan says. "It's like, 'I made that and now we get to play on it!'"

"I've seen their self esteem improve from being in the program and they're just happier kids and we think that happier kids are going to do better in school," says Mullen.

Rohan hopes his classes inspire his students to skate on their own after school.

"They see how big of a community it is and they want to be a part of it because its diverse," he says. "It's not one type of kid or another; it's like across the board."

So for jump-starting an interest in skate boarding and creating places to do it, Billy Rohan is the New Yorker of the Week.

For more information about Open Road of New York, go to playgrounddesign.blogspot.com.

Not quite Skateistan, but still pretty cool.
(But why in the fuck did he have to be wearing that hat promoting those fucking assholes?)