{"id":3048,"date":"2019-08-20T20:46:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T20:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/?p=3048"},"modified":"2019-08-22T13:31:36","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T13:31:36","slug":"surfs-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/?p=3048","title":{"rendered":"SURF\u2019S UP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Christian Strader \u201921 began surfing when he was just seven years old. \u201cYou could say it\u2019s a family thing,\u201d he shared. \u201cMy father has surfed for 55 years and he introduced me to the sport.\u201d Now sixteen years old, Strader continues to spend his summers in the waves, teaching surf camps and clinics along the south shore of Long Island with Skudin Surf, a company based in Long Beach, New York. It\u2019s his passion for the sport \u2014 and the lessons he has learned with Skudin Surf \u2014 that inspired his Winter Project this past year.<\/p>\n<p>Wanting to dive deeper into the history and environmental impact of surfing, Strader designed his own 2019 Winter Project. He set out to learn more about the water in which he surfs and what role he and his fellow surfers can play in keeping that water clean and safe from pollution. His research pointed to newer, more sustainable, and eco-friendly materials used for making surfboards.<\/p>\n<p>Enter: Connor McKenna \u201901. McKenna began surfing at eighteen years old during a study abroad adventure in Australia. Originally a snowboarder (and a really good one, at that \u2014 he placed 12th at Nationals in 2011!), McKenna was a natural on a surfboard. \u201cSurfing has taken over my life. I get to meet so many great people, travel to places like Nicaragua and Puerto Rico\u2026it\u2019s amazing,\u201d he shared. \u201cI wish I could be surfing every second.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McKenna learned about Strader\u2019s Winter Project when he received the spring magazine this past May. Reading the spotlight on Strader and his sustainable surfing research, McKenna could hardly believe his eyes. \u201cI was so interested in Christian\u2019s project,\u201d he shared. \u201cHe\u2019s so young, yet has such a great vision. His research is literally what I\u2019m working on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McKenna recently took over ARC Sports, his family\u2019s sporting good business in the tri-state area. Although he stays focused on land sports during his day job, he can\u2019t keep his mind out of the waves for too long. In addition to his work at ARC, McKenna is in the process of developing a small line of eco-friendly surf essentials. He and Joe Falcone, owner of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.falconesurfboards.com\/\">Falcone Surfboards<\/a>, are working together on the product line. \u201cWe\u2019re experimenting with alternative materials in our products. Eco-friendly, organic, plant-based, you name it! If it\u2019s not safe for the ocean, we don\u2019t want to sell it,\u201d McKenna explained. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the direction this entire industry needs to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the summer, McKenna and Strader finally had the opportunity to connect and discuss the concept of sustainable surfing. As it turns out, they learned that they even have Skudin Surf in common. And while they both have competed in surfing competitions over the years, they mainly surf for the pure joy of the sport. That, and their love for the ocean.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of my instructors at Skudin once said: \u2018Your house is not your home; it is a shelter. The ocean is your home.\u2019 And it\u2019s so true! As surfers, we live off the ocean,\u201d Strader explained. \u201cIt\u2019s our responsibility to keep it clean, protected, and respected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe couldn\u2019t have said it better,\u201d McKenna echoed. \u201cIt is possible to build surfboards that perform well but are made sustainably. We just have to put in the effort.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With two years left at Trinity-Pawling and many project-based learning opportunities ahead, Strader hopes to see his sustainable surfing project grow. McKenna, too, is eager to stay involved and even hopes to one day recruit Strader to join his surf company. \u201cI\u2019d love to have him on board,\u201d McKenna concluded (see what he did there?). \u201cYou just never know what connections will come out of T-P.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>by Emma Christiantelli<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christian Strader \u201921 began surfing when he was just seven years old. \u201cYou could say it\u2019s a family thing,\u201d he shared. \u201cMy father has surfed for 55 years and he introduced me to the sport.\u201d Now sixteen years old, Strader continues to spend his summers in the waves, teaching surf camps and clinics along the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-august-2019"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"CONNOR MCKENNA \u201901 AND CHRISTIAN STRADER \u201921","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3048"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3103,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048\/revisions\/3103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}