School District Looks to Build on Relationship with Quiksilver

Quiksilver-sponsored snowboarder Torah Bright told Long Beach High School students last week that her success, which includes winning an Olympic gold medal, is the result of 99 percent hard work and the rest mere talent.

“I had suffered three concussions, so I spent more time off the snow than on before the Olympics,” Bright told students in physical education classes when she visited the school Sept. 9. “That experience taught me how important it is to be mentally strong as well as physically strong.”

Bright’s visit was one of a few ways in which the Long Beach School District got involved working with Quiksilver when the company staged the Pro New York surfing competition on National Boulevard beach last week.

Now the school district hopes that Quiksilver opts to return to Long Beach next year, since the company has a three-year contract with the Association of Professional Surfers to host its world tour competition on the East Coast, and to further capitalize on their newly-formed relationship.

“In the event that they return, we’re going to pursue opportunities that go beyond surfing,” Weiss said at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting at the Middle School. “Quiksilver and Roxy are two of the largest clothing lines out there, and it gives us an opportunity to work with a multinational corporation, with our marketing, business and art students.”

Weiss and high school students on Saturday worked side-by-side with the Quiksilver Foundation, the charitable arm of the company, in cleaning up the Magnolia Playground, a park next to the boardwalk that suffered damage during Hurricane Irene.

“[The Quiksilver Foundation] has opportunities for us to take advantage of, possibly some grants, if they come back to Long Beach,” Weiss said.

The school district also allowed live stream of the competition into the student cafeteria and lobby on large-screen televisions. “To give kids in school during the event an opportunity to be a part of it,” Weiss said.

The superintendent said that several school officials, including board member Patrick Gallagher, spoke with Quiksilver organizers to try to convince them to play a larger roll in the schools.  

“I think people and students in particularly really had a sense of pride because of the event,” Weiss said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Dennis Ryan, president or the school board, asked the superintendent about the surf competition's impact on school-related traffic and on school and staff attendance.

Weiss said that with the festival component of the event cancelled, bus drivers were able to get students to school on time. He did note that school attendance on both Thursday and Friday, during the competition’s last rounds and finals, was “extremely low,” with more than 100 absentees at the high school alone on Friday. 

“[But] I think that was not the school emptying out that people had expected,” Weiss said.

* Rosemary Leonetti contributed to this story.