Oasis Skateboard Factory buzzes with energy, music pumps from a laptop in the corner and young folx are scattered throughout the space building skateboards, drawing, or helping each other pull a stencil. Silkscreen machines bump up against power tools tools, spraycans, skatedecks, stickers and tee-shirts. This organized chaos is a studio, a factory, a community... could it also be a school? In this first episode of a 2 part series on OSF, we sat down with the folx at the Oasis Skateboard Factory to talk about learning by doing and the power of why not.
In Best.School.Ever. Part 1 of a 2 part series, Claire and Sheilah visit the Oasis Skateboard Factory, a Toronto District School Board school where students graduate with a whole lot more than a highschool diploma. Our podcasters talk with students CJ, Will, Stellan, Maggie, Tyler, Otis and Kioni about what it means to be in charge of your learning and your own skateboard brand. Teacher Lauren Hortie gives us the goods on the philosophy behind learning by doing, working in community, and the meaning of education. Check out the school's instagram, and the brands run by OSF students below.
@oasisskateboardfactory
@ronnskateboards
@babyteethskateco
@fireboardsk8
@cootiesclubsk8co
@persephoneseye
@brainrotsk8.co
Claire
Hello, and welcome to Stories from the Hart, stories by students for students. We are broadcasting to you from heart house at the University of Toronto. I'm your host Claire, coming to you from Toronto, where the trees stand in the water, land that has belonged to the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat and the Chippewa and today as part of the treaty, lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. My voice comes to you through technological infrastructure that occupies the lands of the Muwekma Ohlone. If you've been walking through the halls of Hart House recently, you may have noticed a display of skateboards on the walls. The Seven Lessons exhibit is the product of a collaboration between Indigenous artists and students of the Oasis Skateboard Factory. What exactly is Oasis? A school, a community, an artists’ collective, a business conglomerate, the site of an educational revolution? Who better tell us than members of the Oasis community? Join us in this multi-episode series as we go behind the scenes of the Seven Lessons exhibit and meet some of the students, artists, creators and entrepreneurs who have created their own oasis.
CJ OSF Student
I'm CJ.
Maggie OSF Student
I'm Maggie.
Otis OSF Student
I'm Otis. I don't know, I like having fun on a skateboard and it's cool to make them.
Kioni OSF Student
I’m Kioni Rhule. I am a second year here at Oasis.
Tyler OSF Student
And I'm Tyler.
Claire
As university students, we may feel that we're well acquainted with school and education. Maybe a bit too well acquainted. You're probably too familiar with the challenges this kind of schooling presents, feeling pressure to perform and compete, feeling alone in a sea of students feeling like an imposter in a space that is not designed to support every student, and especially in the middle of winter semester, just generally feeling burnt out. But are these problems endemic to education? Or are they a product of a specific educational format? We've been taught to value above others? How can education systems and curricula be made to empower the people they tend to shut out or leave behind? How can we give students agency over their educational experience? These are the questions we began to ask ourselves while interviewing the folks at the Oasis Skateboard Factory, a school whose very name rejects preconceptions of what school can be. I mean, what could skateboards and manufacturing possibly have to do with high school? And since when has high school ever been in an oasis? Yet, this is exactly how students of Oasis Skateboard Factory describe it.
Maggie OSF Student
Well, I go to school and I make skateboards all day and they're just like, a lot of people don't even believe that this place exists. Like I remember that my friend at the time when I got into the school was like, Are you sure this is like even real? Like is this not like an internet scam, but like, I love this. And I think it's like, just perfect and amazing. I love talking about and I love explaining what it is because it's a great place. It's an oasis.
Will OSF Student
My name is Will. I ended up at Oasis because I stink-bombed my English teacher's class and had to find a better school. And I'm glad I found this one. I really lucked out.
Claire
Best stink bomb ever, I guess. That's awesome. Cool. [lauging]
Stellan OSF Student
My name is Stellan. How I ended up in this school was I was just a kind of a shit student at Monarch then we went to the same school. I just ended up here because I skate and I was skateboarding at school.
Will OSF Student
I could go to another alternative school and just do easier work. Or I could go to this school and make skateboards just kind of no brainer. For me, it's just like, it's like the best school ever.
Claire
So, are these students learning or making skateboards? As a waste? This teacher Lauren explains the answer is yes. She describes how Oasis was founded 13 years ago by teacher Craig Morrison. On the model of project based learning.
Lauren Hortie, OSF Instructor
Project based learning is, instead of learning so by subject now it's English. Now it's business. Now it's art class, we come up with a project or an end goal for the students. So that's building a skateboard and displaying it in a retail shop or having a pop up sale, or creating an art show for Hart House, for instance, is project-based. And then it's our job as teachers to connect the curriculum backwards from there. So instead of thinking about art/non art, there's so much process and product, and I think there's room for both. We're very much working with youth and trying to re-engage them. We’re both really focused on product first, what are the kids getting out of this? But what do they have to show for their time other than a B or a B plus on a piece of paper, which works for some people but not for a lot.
Claire
As an example of Project Based Learning in Action, Lauren offers the students initial project in which they have to develop their own brand and build their first skateboard.
Lauren Hortie, OSF Instructor
So they come up with their own personal brand as part of the program. That's where they have to think of the mission statement, something they're into target audience like all of that great, like marketing and kind of creativity goes into that part. So we build a bit of a how to build a board, they come up with a branded graphic that represents their brand, I teach them how to apply that we use a lot of spray paint and stencils for paints also really cool. So that's not hard to sell them on. Then then they finished the board, we take their photo, they wrote an artist statement saying, Hey, I'm so and so this is my board, it has a flaming skull on it, because and they, you know, write about the thought kind of process behind and how they made the product. And then they post it up on their Instagram, which is their portfolio. So even though for them, they're just making this really cool skateboard, we've got business, there's art, there's English, they'll even write, like, if you give them a reason it's, so that goes in my desk. It's something that goes on in public and tells the world about who they are, that they love it. I can even get them to do math when it comes to counting money and doing inventory. So those are the skills that just, you know, immediately attached to the object. In some ways. It's like the object is the teacher is the thing that we're learning through
Will OSF Student
My brand is called Spirit Skateboard, but I don't really have a set style. I’m more doing series of boards.
Stellan OSF Student
Mine's called Ronn, it's my middle name, it's Danish, so it's like "R” like, “O”, with like a slash through it. And then “nn”
Maggie OSF Student
My brand is Cooties Club. And it's like a brand, all the art on its is very sci-fi, kind of like spacey but like, in a childish way. And my art is supposed to represent like, how female and non-binary people who look more female presenting in the skatepark, and kind of have to reclaim it,
CJ
My brand is a little different. It's called Brain Rot. And basically, the idea of it or like the style of it is just super, like, thrash and gory.
Tyler OSF Student
My brand is called Baby Teeth Skate Co. and all of my art, it's like, really cartoony and like I like to use like cutesy kind of like pinks and stuff, but then I kind of make them a little bit scary and like horror themed. So, I like to play around with like, stereotypical ugly girly things and then add like a little bit of like a horror-themed like twist to it.
Kioni OSF Student
My brand is called Persephone's Eye and my brand is basically about me and my art. I chose Persephone's Eye because Persephone is the goddess of spring, and we share the same personality. And Kioni means she who sees, so I thought "eye".
Will OSF Student
Fireboard Skate. It's named after one of the things that really into is like nature and like this thing called bushcraft. So there's this thing called a bow drill kit. It's like friction fire. So basically, try to imagine like a spindle with a bow wrapped around it. And then a piece of wood underneath and a piece of wood on top. And then you like move the bow back and forth, which spins the spindle and then creates like a coal. And that bottom piece is called the fire board. So I thought like Fireboard Skateboard. And my brand is all about nature stewardship.
Claire
Lauren believes this kind of learning sends a really important message to students: their work matters.
Lauren Hortie, OSF Instructor
you know, the teenagers, we ask them to wait a really long time before they can get to that, first you have to graduate high school, then you can go to college, then you can get a job, then you can do what you want. And that's a long time to defer, you know, putting your interest into something or feeling like you've been kind of like rewarded in a way that feels actually connected to the work that you're doing. So we really wanted to short circuit that. And say instead of learning about how to do things, in theory, we're just gonna do it. Now, instead of waiting until you graduate college to be a designer. Let's be designers now, because these guys have so much to offer.
Claire
So what does the day at Oasis Skateboard Factory actually look like?
Kioni OSF Student
Unlike other schools, we start at 10.30. So we'll come in, we'll set up our desks and start working on whatever project we're currently on. Sometimes working on client boards, sometimes it's branded boards that we make for ourselves and would sell for our particular brand. And then sometimes it's gifts or we're collaborating with other brands or other students in the classroom. It all varies on the individual.
Will OSF Student
I finish at least one thing a day. Just to kind of have something to look back on, like, Oh, I did that today. So yeah, it's usually like work till, like 1pm everyone has a lunch break, and we'll come back in, maybe help someone else with something, do work on a group project. And then we usually have a 15, half hour cleanup at the end of the day, because our class gets pretty....
Kioni OSF Student
In this school we don't have exams, or tests or essays or things like that, which to be honest, I think is great.
Claire
But don't confuse this freestyle school day for a walk in the park. As Lauren explains, project-based learning is still learning.
Lauren Hortie, OSF Instructor
Sometimes I think there's this dichotomy that we created that burrs hands on learning, and there's academic learning. I think there's a lot of classism that's tied in with that split. The idea that there's applied, and there's academic, because it takes a ton of critical thinking to make a skateboard, whether that's like problem solving in the construction phases, learning of materials, when you're thinking about graphics, and what you're putting out into the world. We will do classes on semiotics. We do classes on cultural appropriation, there's all of this stuff as designers like this research and thought that has to go into this product. So I think it is very academic, and hands-on at the same time, I think that split really does a disservice to, you know, these students and to a lot of students in the Board.
Claire
The students recognize that the freedom of this education style comes with a lot of responsibility.
Will
You're a lot more independent with what you have to get done. Like I'm taking a math class, but it's like my responsibility to make set aside time for you to work on the math while not falling behind on other work, but it's not structured like, this is the time to do math, this is the time to do this, or that it's just, you know, the requirements, you need to get the credit, and it's just up to you to get it done in time,
CJ
I never thought I'd have this much responsibility. But you know, there's a lot because we get to handle like, the products that we sell, and like for the most part how much we sell them for. And like we have to, especially for making like a client board. There's a lot of like, weight on our shoulders, right? Because like, it's like for someone, it's not like a board like that we can just like, mess up if we if we if we do you know, it's like, it's cool, though. And it feels special.
Maggie OSF Student
It's nice to have like the freedom of just knowing like, this is your business, this is your own, you decide what you put out, you decide who you work with, it's a really good feeling a lot better than just a regular job. Yeah,
Claire
According to Lauren, this kind of freedom and responsibility is built into the program. It's an important part of empowering students who often feel powerless in the education system.
Lauren Hortie, OSF Instructor
I think maybe the difference with OSF is everything you do goes out into the world. So for making that board, it's going on a gallery wall or in a shop with the project we did with Hart House, we started with, you have a date, we've made a flyer, now we need scheme. So you know, the students the work and the effort that they put in, it's not just to please the teacher, yeah, sometimes I think our schools are kind of like a black box, let me send the kids in, and then something happens during the day. And then we don't really see what happens outside of it other than a report card, right? Like that's kind of the only output in some ways that we see in the public. So we want to flip that model, so then that way too, the students get feedback from the community. They get feedback from adults with cool jobs, which is always a good opportunity. And it also really flips the model because a lot of the work, the youth that we work with at OSF are, quote unquote, like at risk. So at risk of not graduating high school. And I think sometimes we think about at risk youth as charity cases or charity model where, you know, they need this Helping Hand up and which is not necessarily untrue. Because a lot of students haven't had the resources that a lot of us take for granted. But we really want to put that model on its head and it's like, well, actually, these guys have a ton to offer the community. So we're doing a disservice to the community by not letting them paint murals, make boards.
Claire
As students continuously told us this kind of learning has drastically changed their relationship to school.
Kioni OSF Student
I was in regular school, and I was having a hard time...it was very hard. I'm dyslexic, and I have ADHD. So it's very hard for people like me to function in regular school. It's very, very hard. And people look at you like you're dumb when you're not. And my mom was like, Okay, let me take you out of the school and I'm gonna find you an alternative school. And then we found Oasis and she's like, Okay, this is the school, this is the one you have to go to.
CJ
And given the opportunity to make such cool things and how to count towards our high school credits. And the way that we can like, get work done without it being like schoolwork is very helpful. especially for like, like, I don't know, students that like, have not done well in like normal public schools like myself. It's like it makes it a lot easier and just a much better environment.
Maggie OSF Student
Yeah, I like that we can just like, come to a place where we're able to, like, express our creativity. And it's almost like a safe place like a safe haven, which is what high school should feel like, it shouldn't feel like a chore. Or just like the structure of the learning and everything is just like, built perfectly for people who learn like me and CJ.
Tyler OSF Student
Yeah, my attendance has never been this good before. Yeah, I get it. I skipped a lot. And I faked a lot of notes. And now it's like, if I'm actually sick, I'm like, No, I want to go.
Will OSF Student
Even like, we don't have school on Fridays, we like login online, but like, five minutes, but it's gotten to the point where I'm like, if I have nothing to do on a Friday, I'm like, Man, I wish I was at school right now.
Maggie OSF Student
One on one learning time, is definitely something that helped me so much is just like being able to actually connect to my teachers, and have teachers actually like and can respect that if I don't like you have nothing to respect you. And that was one of the biggest faults that public school. Oh, like, I know, what might not be possible with like the government funding and everything, but like the smaller classroom sizes, and the creative ability, and the non structured learning just helps so much where it doesn't feel like a chore. And it doesn't feel like you're in a routine where you have to go from this class to this time at this in this in this. And you're just in a room full of your friends and teachers that you actually like, it just makes school so much more enjoyable. And it makes you actually want to learn it doesn't feel like a chore anymore.
CJ
For me, it's definitely the freedom, like regular school, like we'd be like, given a package and told to like read it from like here to hear, like, all of these, like mini structures that we'd have to follow around. Like, it would be like detrimental to our grade. That would just be like so stressful and like very difficult to like, actually try to do. But in a school like this, where we get to decide what we make, and how we make it with the you know, it's, it's so much easier. And it like makes me excited to come to school, because then I know like, I'm gonna have fun each day because I'm making a skateboard.
Stellan OSF Student
I had friends at the time we looked at going to an alternative school as a negative. Yeah. And that really held me back. But it's really not a negative.
Will OSF Student
No, no, you're getting the same credits. But I think the biggest thing is don't get an idea of what you think it's gonna be like, just kind of go in, ready to expect whatever. Don't set yourself up.
Stellan OSF Student
Its' definitely different from normal, quote, unquote, normal school like a high school, it is different. But for me, it's helped me out a lot. Because it attends to your needs.
Claire
This is a question we kept coming to in our interviews, all these educational strategies, everything from flexible schedules to one-on-one student teacher interaction, to later start times are designed to attend to the needs of high school students. Why are they considered the alternative and not the norm? Could the Oasis model be expanded to other high schools?
Lauren Hortie, OSF Instructor
Often so like with this program, we're using skateboards and skateboard culture is kind of the starting point. But it could be cooking, it could be bike repair, it could be gardening, it could be really like you could do this project based learning kind of connected to really anything that you think that you are interested in. One thing that I think is really beneficial is just like having, like, I really spoiled it as a teacher that I get to take the stuff that I think is really cool and interesting and put it into class every day. So whether that's like screen printing, illustration, music, Erin is a graffiti artist. So we are constantly doing our own our practice and bring it into the classroom. And I think just more freedom for teachers to uncover for teachers to think of the stuff that they are really passionate about is relevant in the classroom, and the kids will follow. If you're into it, then the kids are going to be into it. Like that's really weird. So like maybe not stamp collecting. So I think I think that, you know, get this people have asked if you ever plan on like replicating this program or almost like franchising? And my answer for me, it's hard No. Something very much the scale here is part of the success, having 20 kids having quality control so that things turn out better than the kids thought that they could get, they get to really build their skills. We don't necessarily want to saturate the market with handmade skateboards, right? That's the nice thing actually really works for us. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend everyone go out and start building skateboards in their school. That being said, if they want to, by all means, we didn't invent the concept But this idea of Yeah, taking something that can have an impact in the community outside the school and really looking at youth as contributors, and not just empty vessels that need to be filled with knowledge. I think that could work. That could really work anywhere.
Claire
But Lauren's focus right now is on her students at Oasis.
Lauren Hortie, OSF Instructor
We always have in mind, like, is this the last experience you're gonna have with education? How do we make it a positive one? Like, is this your, you know, a relationship with an adult? How do we make that a positive adult relationship? So even if, you know, we're not off to like university with straight A's or whatever, at the end of this, like, what is the what is the takeaway, but I think just the fact that they do reach out and feel connected is really kind of a touching sign. And we love being in touch with our, with our former alumni, we have some that travel around the world and spray paint murals. Like, that wasn't me. He was already like an amazing talent. Sure, everything but yeah, so all kinds, all different, that come from all different places, and they've ended up all different places. But hopefully, the consistent thing is this, like, positive experience with education in some way. And like what you know, what that means to them, and how they can make education work for them, instead of just working their butts off for a piece of paper that maybe doesn't mean anything to them. That's kind of the thing that I want the students to leave here. This is this confidence that even if they don't know everything, right, they can learn it on the social skills to build up even if I don't know how to do everything, I know that I can ask someone to help me do that.
Claire
So what is in store for these current Oasis students?
Stellan OSF Student
I don't have to go to university to be successful. And I always thought that, but then now that I'm older, my parents told me you don't have to go to university to be successful. And that was the only reason why I wanted I don't know, just....
Will OSF Student
The way the world is there's a lot more avenues to get the same requirements for a job. I think Central Tech down the street has an electricians program that gives you like mentorship or apprenticeship or whatever.
Kioni OSF Student
Yeah, my plan after graduation is...very sad graduating... like Tyler said. My plan is to go to Alberta School of the Arts or University of the Arts to study art and painting, so I kind of wanted to be a tattoo artist, or something else, I don't know yet. But I'm excited for that prospect. Going to this school gave me confidence in myself and what I'm doing and the process of the work, it doesn't just happen in an instant, the school taught me that.
Tyler OSF Student
After I graduate, I want to keep making art. I don't know how I'm gonna do that, or what I'm gonna do. But I know that I want to just try to make a living off of art and at any other high school, they try to discourage that and tell you that that's impossible. But going here, I feel like they're not trying to discourage you. I'm like, trying to actually give you options of like, and showing you how you can actually make a living off of your art be hard, but they're not telling you that it's impossible. And you need to go to university, and you need to do this and like, get like real job move actually, like it's helped me realize that like, this is actually something I can do.
Will OSF Student
I also feel like this is a good place. Like, I don't really know what I'm doing. Like after this or even right now, like no, no good. Here, because there's so many different opportunities, like, like, next semester, I was talking about, like carving a canoe paddle, you know, and like, yeah, what does that have to do a skateboarding? I don't know how to do it. So yeah, why not?
Claire
"Why not" seems to encapsulate the approach to learning at Oasis Skateboard Factory. And not just in the laissez faire sense. The teaching and learning methods that Oasis employs so successfully ask why not have an education system that tells so many students no? Why not incorporate students' passions and interests into their curriculum? Why not allow students to take more control over their time, their work and their learning? Why not embrace a style of education that emphasizes what each student has to offer? Rather than judging the ability of students to fit into a narrow construct of what learning can or should be? If you're a high school student listening to this and find yourself asking the same questions. Lauren has a message for you.
Lauren Hortie, OSF Instructor
Oasis Skateboard Factory is a publicly funded public education. So, through the Toronto District School Board, students get their high school diploma, high school credits working towards high school diploma. So if anybody knows a young person between the ages of 16 and 21, who needs to finish high school and is looking for an alt tentative space to be in, and are really interested in art, culture, skateboard, making stuff entrepreneurship. Just know that this is like an accessible space for people. So we're on Instagram, you can send us messages, you can reach out through the school board, and we take students in February in September. And we're always, you know, trying to reach the widest community possible to be looking for our, you know, future all stars and future alumni. So if you know any youth that is struggling in a mainstream setting, and needs a fresh start, you know, please consider alternative schools. It's such an amazing opportunity in the TDSB. And you know, of course, think of Oasis Skateboard Factory.
Claire
Thank you to Lauren, Stellan, Will, Otis, Kioni, Tyler, Maggie, and CJ for welcoming us into your school and teaching us a new approach to education. You can find the Instagram handles for Oasis, as well as the individual brands mentioned in this interview in the show notes of this episode. This is the first of a series of three episodes about the Oasis Skateboard Factory. Join us in the next episodes as we explore the process of creating the Seven Teachings exhibit and discover how Oasis is building community and challenging what it means to be an artist. In the meantime, thanks to my co-host and editor Sheilah and to Shaela, Nick and Day for helping us produce the show. Most of all, thanks to you, our listeners. We'd love to hear from you. You can find us on Twitter @hhpodcasting and Instagram @HartHousestories. We post all our episodes under Hart House Stories on SoundCloud and Spotify. I'm Claire signing off as your host for today. Thanks for listening. Till we meet again.