When Dylan Beattie was a freshman at Sedona Red Rock High School, he took up skateboarding.

It was a hobby that over the next four years became a passion. Since graduating from SRRHS in 2020, he’s continued that passion — just with a slightly different backdrop.

In Sedona, Beattie skated with the red rocks in the background at the Jack Malmgren Skate Park on Posse Ground Road. Now at the University of Utah, he’s traded that in for not only Salt Lake City’s skate parks there but also the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County.

“I skate every day. I make sure that I get out and skate because it helps with school,” he said. “It’s important to balance school and physical activity. It’s a good stress reliever for me. It’s a way that I can take my mind off of school work and sort of take a break from it.”

“Skating has really helped,” he added. “I’ve met a lot of people. It’s helped me relieve some stress from school. It helped me explore Utah, going to different skate parks in Salt Lake City.”

Now that the winter is in full swing, Beattie has also taken time to snowboard in Utah, as well.

“When I have time I go up to the mountain. I spend a lot of time up there. It’s nice to be outdoors. It’s a good break from school. And I’m hiking here when it’s warm enough.”

Finding that balance has worked out well for Beattie in the classroom, as well.
In his first semester with the Utes, Beattie earned a 3.8 GPA. That was good enough to land him on the Dean’s List.

This was despite having to mix time between in-person learning and online.

“For me, most of my first semester was in person,” Beattie said. “Near the end it was all online. It’s definitely a change. I find it a little harder to stay motivated to stay motivated when it’s not in person classes.”

Beattie is currently majoring in architecture. At the time of his graduation at SRRHS, one of the things he noted that he’d like to do is design a skate park.

Now a semester into his time in college, Beattie is not sure if he’s going to pursue architecture for much longer. Still, his love of skating and being outdoors remains something he’d want to pursue with his next major.

“I’ve thought about kinesiology — it relates to skating and physical activity,” he said. “ Also, I’ve considered the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Program. It surrounds the outdoors and activities outdoors.”