Camas High School Junior Luke Dizon joined journalism because several of his friends recommended the class and he enjoys staying up to date with the news.

He said, “They said they recommended it to me because they know I’m interested in current events.”

Dizon cares about telling stories because he feels that are used to educate larger audiences.

“It (telling stories) helps the community make decisions about what they like and form opinions,” he said.

Dizon is a jack of all trades. He is captivated by being outside with friends and playing sports. Throughout his life, he has always loved trying new things.

One of his favorite things to do is play basketball. Dizon picked up the sport in sixth grade when he started playing for a club team, Camas Select. He played for the CHS boy’s JV squad last year. He loves getting better, playing in tournaments, and bonding with teammates.

He said, “I really like the tournament aspect and you get a lot of runs in, like two or three games a day. It’s a good way to stay active. Also building friendships with the team, and trying to work to get myself even better for the team.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last spring, all the gyms were closed, so Dizon had to find other ways to pass the time. Several of his friends skateboard, so he decided to give it a try.

“I picked that (skateboarding) up right after quarantine because one of my friends, Covey, he skateboarded. It was just to try to get out in the sun and stay active because there were no sports going on,” Dizon said.

Dizon skated three to four times a week with his friends during the summer and was able to get all the basics down. They taught him how to do an ollie, kickflip, and other tricks.

He really enjoyed being able to get outside and stay active, despite all that was going on with the pandemic.

Learning how to skateboard was all in preparation for the winter when Dizon would pick up yet another sport, snowboarding.

He said, “It was all to get ready to snowboard. Maybe next season I can get better at skateboarding and it’ll help me out with footwork.”

Recently, Dizon and his friends went up to the mountain to snowboard. He said that it was the first time he has been to Mt. Hood in a couple of years.

They got up early in hopes of avoiding large crowds because they decided to go on the second day of opening.

This was Dizon’s first time snowboarding, so it took him a while to get the hang of it.

He said, “I went up there (Mt. Hood) and I had no idea what I was doing at first. All my friends went up to the largest run. I felt really comfortable on the board at first. I was going down pretty fast, but I didn’t know how to stop or anything.”

All of the training with skateboarding really helped Dizon get comfortable on the board.

“Honestly I got really comfortable on the board, almost as comfortable that I could keep up with my friends,” he said.

However, everything was not smooth sailing. Dizon took his fair share of tumbles.

He said, “There’s kind of a little jump and I sent an ollie off that, not knowing what I was doing because I didn’t know the run too well. I tumbled and fell and I was on the ground for like five minutes. I was just laying there out of breath because I got the wind knocked out of me. I was like gosh this isn’t going to be as easy as I thought it was going to be.”

Dizon and his friends all purchased the season pass at Mt. Hood Meadows, so they will be going up there often over the next couple of months.

From basketball to skateboarding to snowboarding, Dizon is a guy of many talents. He loves to learn new skills and views it almost as a competition.

Dizon said, “I really enjoy learning any skill-based thing. It’s really fun to develop and you have to get comfortable doing it over and over again, which is hard. If I keep on being consistent, I feel like I can get better at it, no matter what it is.”