Skating to Success

Carson Kropfl has been skateboarding since he was 5 years old. The first skateboard he learned to ride was bigger than he was! Ever since then, skateboarding has been one of his favorite things to do.

But Carson, who lives in California, had always wanted a skateboard that could fit in his backpack or school locker. So a few years ago, he set out to design one. Carson, now 14, calls his invention the Locker Board.

Carson Kropfl has been skateboarding since he was 5 years old. The first skateboard he learned to ride was bigger than he was! Skateboarding has been one of his favorite things to do ever since.

Carson lives in California. Now he is 14 years old. He always wanted a skateboard that could fit in his backpack or school locker. So he set out to design one a few years ago. He calls his invention the Locker Board.

Before Carson built the Locker Board, he spent a lot of time brainstorming its design. “I didn’t know exactly what the board should look like,” he says. 

Then one day, inspiration struck. Carson was at a garage sale when he spotted an old, beat-up skateboard deck. That’s a flat board without wheels or hardware. Carson realized that if he were to cut the deck down, it would fit perfectly in his school locker. 

Carson’s design was simple, but it took a while to perfect. While Carson was building a prototype, or testable model, his dad suggested that they go to his school and measure his locker first. Carson didn’t think he needed to. Later, he took the prototype to school. It was too big and didn’t fit!

Carson made sure to carefully measure the next board. This one had curved edges like a traditional skateboard. When Carson tested it, he found it was too wobbly to skate on. 

Carson cut five different decks until he finally found a size and shape that worked. “It fits perfectly in your locker, and you can still skate on it,” he says. “It’s super fun to ride.”

Carson didn’t just build his Locker Board right away. He spent a lot of time brainstorming its design first. “I didn’t know exactly what the board should look like,” he says. 

Then one day, inspiration struck. Carson was at a garage sale. He spotted an old, beat-up skateboard deck. That’s a flat board without wheels or hardware. Carson realized he could cut the deck down. Then it would fit perfectly in his school locker. 

Carson’s design was simple. But it took a while to perfect. First, he needed to build a prototype. That’s a test model. His dad suggested that Carson measure his locker first. Carson didn’t think he needed to. Later, he took the prototype to school. It was too big. It didn’t fit!

Carson made sure to carefully measure the next board. This one had curved edges like a normal skateboard. Carson tested it. But he found it too wobbly to skate on. 

Carson cut five different decks. Then he finally found a size and shape that worked. “It fits perfectly in your locker, and you can still skate on it,” he says. “It’s super fun to ride.”