Skyline College’s fourth annual RIDE Conference hosted an in-person lowrider and academic educational conference on Friday, Oct. 10, at the Quad and in Building 6. After drawing in students with the classic and low-rider cars, students were also encouraged to discover their passions and engage with Skyline College’s campus resources.

Founder and co-lead of RIDE Dionicio “Dino” Garcia said that he wants the conference to be something that helps students find their place in college.

“A lot of students, they might not feel like they belong in college… they might think, ‘college is not for me,’” Garcia said. “So this is just another way for them to realize, like, oh wow, maybe college is something I might be interested in, because they can kind of resonate with it.”

With Skyline being a Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI), Garcia hoped that the RIDE Conference could be the support students needed, and provide culturally responsive approaches to Skyline’s education.

“Whether it’s a classroom, counseling session, financial aid, any type of student services, I think providing that culturally responsive approach is necessary, and this is just one aspect where we could do that,” Garcia said.

Leslie Sanabria, a Skyline first-year student and RIDE volunteer, described how RIDE grabbed her attention and made her want to volunteer to help set it up.

“Dino came to our classroom. I’m in the Puente community, so he came and announced it and asked for volunteers and gave us a survey to fill out,” Sanabria said. “I’m into that stuff, and just making it seem very cool, bringing in the community, it grabbed my attention…”

Sanabria agreed and resonated with the idea of familiar people giving advice to those who are looking for it.

“Yeah, I love car culture and stuff like that,” Sanabria said. “So when they were gonna bring one to my school, I just decided I was gonna volunteer.” 

Jacob Dominguez, a member of RIDE hosting the car hydraulics workshop, said that Garcia asked him to come to RIDE, and he fell in love with it.

“He saw me win a couple [of] competitions, so he asked me to come, and I fell in love with it,” Dominguez said. “I told him, I’ll come every year no matter what, I want to be involved in this.”

At the RIDE Conference, Dominguez was giving a presentation on hydraulics based on his experience in lowriding.

“You know, my history with low riding, my history with hydraulics, me being competitive with it. I’ve gone up and down the state competitively, hopping, walking in the streets,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said that lowriding is a family tradition; he got it from his uncles, and now he was giving it to his son — similar to how Garcia wanted to pass down wisdom to college students the way it was passed down to him.

“I mean, I got it from my uncles, and I’m giving it to my son, and my son loves this,” Dominguez said. 

The RIDE Conference showed students what they could do when they believe in themselves, it just takes a little push from those who have been there already.

Editors Correction: This story was written by Features Editor Yuna Fujita not News Editor Justin Kapsas.