By Tessa De Vilbiss, staff writer

“My freshman year I broke my jaw in two places,” said junior Justin Hughs. “Then I got 11 stitches in my chin and a metal plate put in my chin. And then my mouth was wired shut for two weeks.”

When most people think of Hughs, they think of an insanely funny guy who is obsessed with the band Wu-Tang Clan, and seems to always be injured.

“I was just skating a bowl at the San Ramon skate park and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground,” said Hughs.

Hughs’ freshman English teacher, Gilita Thomas, remembered his injuries from that year.

“I remember him as being a really wonderful person,” said Thomas. “He didn’t make excuses, he just worked really hard and he always wanted to do better.”

For the last four years, he has skated almost everyday for a couple of hours.

“I love skateboarding for the people you meet through it,” said Hughs. “And it’s kind of like limitless possibilities and there’s no boundaries. You can push yourself.”

Talking with Hughs, one can easily see how dedicated to skateboarding he is. It’s also obvious he has learned a lot from the sport and continues to love it.

“It’s given me a different perspective and the motivation to pursue what I want to do,” Hughs said.  “It’s given me new friends and taken me to new places I never would have gone to.”

Outside of the park, Hughs brings his love of skateboarding to the classroom.

Kathleen Seabury, Hughs’ history and digital photo teacher, loves his use of skateboarding in his photo projects.

“He created a 10-photo sequence for our blog,” said Seabury. “I’m impressed by his dedication and commitment and his creative interpretation of skate in art.”

Judging by all of Hughs’ injuries, he constantly pushes himself to get new tricks and to get better. He especially loves skating handrails.

Last year, Hughs started competing in competitions. He doesn’t really enjoy them, though, because they’re stressful and don’t allow much time for skating.

Instead, Hughs prefers to film skateboarding.

Almost every weekend, Hughs and his friends travel to film their tricks and stunts to put into videos. With the hopes of getting sponsored, the videos advertise their skills and talent.

If the skaters are lucky enough to get sponsored, they represent a company. Recently, Hughs was sponsored by VS Skateboards, until it went out of business.

Hughs’ friends are very supportive of his skateboarding and go skating with him a lot.

“The only thing that sucks is that there’s not enough gnar to shred after he’s done,” said junior Charlie Perschau.

Perschau and other skaters are often amazed at his talent and dedication. So much so that they often don’t want to follow Hughs.

Senior Matt Berry often skates with Hughs and knows how dedicated he is.

“He puts a ridiculous amount of work into it,” said Berry.

Perschau agrees.

“He’s super dedicated and I expect him to be skating in the city on weekends.”

Skateboarding is one of Hughs’ favorite things to do year around, but the summer offers him the freedom to skateboard to new places round the country.

This summer he will go to Arizona to film new videos outside of his normal Los Angeles to Sacramento area.