My name is Joshua. I use he/him pronouns. I live in Seattle and currently attend Cleveland High School for my sophomore year. I like doing outdoor activities like scootering, skating, and snowboarding. I also play sports for my school, right now I’m on the swim team and plan to play ultimate frisbee in the spring and baseball if possible. I also enjoy cooking and playing video games in my free time and hanging out with friends. I first found out about tSB years ago when my brother Rajah was in the program. I waited until I was old enough to join and signed up. My sister Rajanae was also in the program recently.
I wanted to attend this camp because I wanted to learn how to snowboard on another level and I also wanted to get out of the house and be active because COVID was really restricting most of the stuff I wanted to do, so this was like a dream come true. Not too long before we left for camp, I found out that one of my friends was also going, so that made it even better. One of the biggest reasons I wanted to go was because I only get to snowboard when its free or there are scholarship available. I am not able to pay for lift tickets and transportation even though I do have a board and the clothes I needed thanks to tSB. Being able to snowboard for free was almost unbelievable for me.
My experience at camp was pretty good. I got to meet a lot of kids and make new friends. There were some times where I did feel uncomfortable because I was one of the only BIPOC there but aside from that it was definitely an exciting experience, the food at camp was actually surprisingly good and I enjoyed every meal. The skateparks were so cool and I was kind of stumped that I wasn’t able to bring my scooter. Regardless, I learned how to skate better and even learned some new tricks. It was great to learn new things with other kids with my skill level. I also got my helmet signed by Zeb Powell! That was exciting.
I gained a lot of things from this experience. The highlight of my trip was learning double frontflips. It was really cool because everyone was cheering me on, and that was nice. I would one hundred percent recommend this camp experience to other youth because it was definitely one of the most fun things I’ve done in a real long time and everyone there is super friendly. tSB should continue to provide this for other youth because this opportunity could really light up some special person’s life for a week and they can meet new people and try new things.
I thank Layla and Benji for driving me to camp and Linda for going with me and tSB for providing me with everything I needed!
tSB has spoken with our scholarship partners and youth regarding the experiences at camp this summer and we will continue this dialogue. We take great pride in the leadership exhibited by our youth and take seriously the evaluation of their experience. Through our programs we promote a culture of inclusivity, vulnerability and transparency, all of which were modeled by our youth in this situation.
Based on this feedback, tSB, We Are Camp, and CAPiTA have recommitted to providing these opportunities – with continual evaluation and improvement – to achieve our collective goal of making snowsports accessible and safe for BIPoC and other under-resourced communities.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us.
In community,
tSB Staff
