As the weather gradually gets warmer, it’s hard not to notice the abundance of longboards around campus.

“There are longboarders everywhere,” junior Brandon Van Asten said. “The amount of longboarders on campus over this last year has to have quadrupled. It’s amazing.”

Van Asten noticed the popularity of longboards at UW-Whitewater and came up with his own Whitewater-based company: Dream A Longboard. Dream A Longboard is relatively new, but they offer unique designs at a reasonable price for college students.

Van Asten utilizes his double major in accounting and entrepreneurship to help him learn how to own a small business. Van Asten said he started his business in response to the lack of affordable boards for UW-Whitewater students.

Van Asten also started the longboarding club here on campus. The club is intended for longboarders of any skill level to get together and ride.

The club members do spontaneous rides around town, which are posted on its Facebook page.

Van Asten’s vision is to have students get together in large groups and spread the longboarding sport.

For those who are skateboarders, Van Asten said converting is easy. The boards are virtually the same. The only difference is that longboards are longer and as a result, are easier to handle at fast speeds.

“The longboards are a lot quieter, smoother, and quicker,” Van Asten said. “It’s mainly the wheels that make it quieter.”

One converter from skateboarding to longboarding is Joseph Shultz, who has been longboarding for about a year.

Shultz said he found a renewed sense of enthusiasm when he joined Van Asten’s club.

“When I lived in Whitewater this past summer, I had no cable, Internet or roommates, and I was working 70 hours a week at two jobs,” Shultz said. “When Brandon [Van Asten] and his friends introduced me to longboarding, I discovered a new passion.”

Van Asten creates an entirely unique and creative longboard design for each customer. Student ingenuity is evident in his work.

“I just went at it,” Van Asten said. “I impressed myself with the first board I made.”

Dream A Longboard offers boards up to 46 inches. To order a longboard, all buyers need to do is send in a blueprint of their design on the company’s website, www.dreamalongboard.com. In addition, they offer standard longboard decks for a lower price than custom decks.

Over the past few years, longboarding has grown in popularity around college campuses. Van Asten said he would like to take the club in a competitive direction as well.

Van Asten said he plans on having events and races, or slice competitions.

“Anybody can create an event in our group,” Van Asten said. “If you want to go longboarding tonight, just go on the website and let us know.”

In addition, Van Asten and the longboarding club is considering conditional prizes for the events and races.

“I plan on holding more official events where a deck would be the prize at the end,” Van Asten said.

The longboarding club usually stays confined to the streets of Whitewater, but Van Asten said he’s open to traveling farther and perhaps camping out and really exploring the open road. He said he would like to plan a much longer ride than anything the club has seen before.

To order your own longboard, go to www.dreamalongboard.com. To get involved with the longboarding club, visit the UW-Whitewater longboarding club’s Facebook page.