Hover board trend continues to grow on UT’s campus
The hover board is an electronic, hands free scooter that more and more UT students are using to get to class. Time will tell if this trend will continue to spread across campus.
Photo by Rachel Underwood
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Having a class on the Hill may no longer be a dreaded walk for University of Tennessee students.
The hover board is an electronic, hands free scooter that more and more students are using to get to class.
“I have seen about four students using the hover board on my way to class,” said Colin Mawhinney, a sophomore at UT. “It’s a great way to get to class quicker.”
The hover board can reach a speed up to around 10 mph, according to Amazon.
Photo by Rachel Underwood
The speed of the hover board, which lets students get to class faster, can also be dangerous.
According to Greenville Online, Sam Saunders, a former Clemson University golfer, suffered from a brain bleed after taking a fall on his hover board.
Balance and speed management are two components that are necessary to ensure safety.
“I wouldn’t call hover boards a hazard to someone’s health, but they can be dangerous if people are careless,” said Stefen Jordan, a senior at UT.
The chance of having an accident still does not stop people from using hover boards.
Joshua Dobbs, the UT’s quarterback, told the media during the university’s weekly football news conference that he rides his hover board everywhere.
Dobbs continued to say that he believes he was the first person to have it on campus, but he is seeing more and more of the hover boards. He guesses that he is a trendsetter.
The trend, whether or not Dobbs started it, is spreading across campus from students to employees.
“My break is at five, so it’s impossible, with road construction and traffic, to get food before my break is over,” said Arnie Meredith, an employee at the University of Tennessee’s Office of Information Technology. “With my hover board, I can arrive at places on the strip faster.”
The cost of the hover board can range from to $300 to $800, which could be one reason why some students do not use hover boards.
Still, some have decided to spend cash over continuing to walk up the Hill. Time will tell if this trend will continue to spread across UT’s campus.
Featured Image by Rachel Underwood
Edited by Jessica Carr
