Story by Alyssa Riley
Clementine Simpson is bombing down a Fayetteville hill, her sharp mullet whipping behind her in the cold wind. Her feet swing from left to right on the pavement that disappears beneath her; this thrill is what she loves about skating.
Simpson, 22, is a senior nursing major at the University of Arkansas and has lived in Fayetteville her entire life. However, it hasn’t been all fun and skating, as she has struggled with mental health for many years and for several reasons.
Mental health is an aspect of daily life that many people struggle with, but, thankfully, it is becoming less stigmatized as shameful when talked about openly. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five adults suffer from at least one mental illness, but it can look different for everyone.
Clementine Simpson, 22, is a senior nursing major at the University of Arkansas and has lived in Fayetteville her entire life. For her, there was nothing diagnosed, yet, she struggled for years for several reasons.
Simpson’s brother, Solomon, was a musician, cross country runner, and “everyone’s friend type-of-deal” kind of person when he passed at 19.
People who knew Solomon can say he was one of the kindest, most open human beings, she said.
This tragic event in Simpson’s life occurred two days before her 13th birthday; she was in her “teen-forming years,” as she put it, causing the first-hand experience of trauma at a young age.
Many northwest Arkansas residents may recognize Simpson from her transportation methods around Fayetteville. Her quad skates are always strapped to her feet as she hill-bombs or slung over her back when she arrives at her destination.
“I started picking up things he was interested in, seeing if that was some way to connect,” she said. “I was already skating before at this point.”
Simpson began skating in 2008 at Starlight Skatium with a group of friends from school where they formed Arkansas Elite, a roller speed-skating team. She went to national championships and won several awards.
In 2013, she retired from competitive speed skating: “It was like, this is the end of it, I’ve accomplished what I could,” she said. “I quit skating, so I didn’t really have a passion for anything, and I was trying to figure out, like, ‘What do I want to do with my life?’”
“It kind of took me a minute; everyone deals with grief differently, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten in a super depressive state or anything about it,” Simpson said. “Obviously, it’s the worst pain you can possibly imagine.”
While studying abroad in France after graduating high school, she realized that being abroad did not leave many friends upon returning to Fayetteville. In a sense, this was an opportunity to start fresh.
Simpson had not laid a finger on her skates for quite some time, but as the COVID-19 pandemic began to change everyone’s life, she decided to pick her passion back up.
“I kind of got in this mental state – it wasn’t depression – but everyone was so sad. No one could hang out, no one was getting the social interaction that they needed,” Simpson said. “People who were new to the area were like, ‘Well, I’m going to college right now and I don’t have any friends. I was expecting to meet people but here I am on zoom.’”
She was scrolling through TikTok when she saw videos of roller skaters. Simpson said she thought, ‘That’s what I do, why don’t I do that right now?’
Being confined by the pandemic, this was the perfect way for her to stay safe and healthy while spending her time doing what she loves.
Her first step was an Instagram account, which she named ‘Clem.skates’, and on June 22, 2020, she posted her introduction, not knowing this picture and caption would result in over 18 thousand followers on the platform and 20 thousand on TikTok in less than two years:
“Hey, thanks for following! Here is where I’ll post anything new I learn, wipeouts ([because] we know they happen), and stuff I already know,” the post read. “If you’re a fellow skater in the [northwest Arkansas] area, dm or email me to skate together. I want to start a group that does weekly trail skates.”
This is when Simpson’s sense of community and mental health started to change.
About 80 people initially contacted her and 30 showed up to the first skate crew meet-up, which has grown to at least 300 and inspired the creation of other groups around the Northwest Arkansas area.
Simpson said she believes that the skate crew is about community, cheering others on and being open and accepting of everybody.
Over time, she learned anxiety was common in the skate group. “Especially now, with social anxiety, because we’re not used to it anymore; it’s just a weird odd thing,” she explained.
“It helped me a lot as well because, yeah, I wasn’t happy,” she said. “I was pretty bored, not knowing what to do, and then I just found a passion for it and now I can’t believe there was a year that went by where I didn’t touch my skates. It’s kind of crazy to think about now because I do skate every day.”
Even now, things are still changing for Simpson as her skate crew, social media presence and passion grow.
Along with the meetups, Simpson’s skate crew participates in Fayetteville parades and hosts events for the community and skaters of all kinds. For Valentine’s Day one year, she put on Cupid’s Skate, an open event that entailed extra skates and skateboards, a photo booth and a mini ramp area and live music by two DJs.
“It just makes me happy to inspire people, and people will always comment on that,” she says, laughing. “And say that they decided to start skating because of me or they went outside and street-skated and hill-bombed for the first time.”
Although Simpson had some rough years – mentally and emotionally – from the loss of a loved one, the loss of social normalcy or the loss of a hobby, she found her way to make every single day a little bit more enjoyable and fulfilling.
She has made more connections in college than many could hope for, inspired others to take a chance and put on the skates and reclaimed her passion along the way.