Traverse City Central's New 'Ride Lab' Uses Skateboards to Teach Physics, Business Skills
By Craig Manning | Oct. 17, 2026
What if the most effective physics classroom isn’t a classroom at all, but a skate park? This fall, Traverse City Central High School is experimenting with that very question.
Brett Derr is one the teachers behind the Ride Lab, a brand-new double-block course at Central that combines physics, business, marketing, and advertising. In the past, Derr has taught those subjects as separate classes. Then, last year, Central’s head principal, Ben Berger, approached him about coming up with a hybrid that could meld the seemingly disparate academic disciplines into one.
The Ride Lab was born, a class that uses board sports to teach the principles of physics. To bring the business …
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