Adham El-Sherif and Kevin Duffel skateboarded down the aisles in the Northwest Campus Auditorium.
They weren’t there to skateboard for leisure, but to discuss an issue they call “skateboardingism.”
“Skateboardingism,” which they defined as discrimination against skateboarders, was one of nine topics that students presented Wednesday night at an event called The Isms Project, presented by the Office of Residential Life.
Students came together through skits, dance, pictures, personal narratives and presentations to discuss a range of topics they felt to be important and relevant. These topics included alcoholism, heterosexualism, commitmentism, sexism, racism, ageism, classism and marijuanaism.
A panel of five judges selected by ORL gave special awards to students they believed deserved recognition for their presentations.
Emily Ward, a fourth-year psychology student , presented the topic “commitmentism” through showing the trailer for the movie “Crash.”
Ward, who won the Most Creative award, said people are wrapped up in their commitments and forget to breathe, a theme of the film.
“People look at me and judge me because I don’t have as many commitments,” she said. “I think you should make goals but you shouldn’t be so over-committed that you forget about others.”
Max Wong, a first-year art student, said he presented at The Isms Project because he was sanctioned by ORL after he was written up for putting an offensive sign on his dormitory window.
He defined heterosexualism as the act of disregarding the roles of homosexuals in society, and said the presentation has taught him to be more responsible.
“I (put up the sign) for shock value, and now I can see how people could be offended,” he said.
Jose Manaiza, a fourth-year mathematics and economics student who won the Best Overall award, presented on “double racism” with pictures and a personal anecdote. Double racism is essentially biracialism.
He described the language barrier he overcame as both a Latino and black person who immigrated from Honduras four years ago, and encouraged the audience to face and overcome adversity.
“When you have very little, you use everything you have to master your potential,” he said.
The Most Educational award was given to a group of three students, Gregory Cendana, Krystle Cobian and Cat Manabat, whose presentation was about sexual trafficking.
They combined racism, sexism, classism and ageism to describe the prevalence of sexual trafficking, which they called a modern form of slavery.
Cat Manabat, a third-year English student, said she hopes the presentation on human trafficking will inspire others to research other communities and parts of the world where it is an issue.
“We want to open public discourse on this topic and hope that people seek out to get involved,” she said.
Jack Gibbons, associate director of the Office of Residential Life and chairman of the Intercultural Programs Committee, said the project was meant to involve students in issues they care about and have personally experienced.
“Students bring with them their own experiences and share them to benefit other students,” he said.
Gibbons said the project was conceived by Kenya James, residential director of Rieber Vista and a member of the Intercultural Program Committee.