The Michael Raetzsch Foundation is named in memory of Michael Thomas Raetzsch, who was an avid skateboarder and talented young artist with a degree in art from Texas Lutheran University. In June of 2009, Michael died at the age of 22 from a drowning accident.

After Michael’s death, his friends and family donated funds to help rebuild the skate park at the Seguin Activity Center that was renamed Mike’s Ledge. A number of events and activities were organized and took place in honor of Michael. Many children and young people from Seguin and the surrounding communities took part in these events. They created designs for skateboards, helped paint and draw designs on the actual skatepark, played skating games, competed in skating competition, and enjoyed free drinks and refreshments.

Our goal during these months was to make Mike’s Ledge a center for skating and art activities in Seguin. We soon became aware of the limitations of working with a non-municipal entity in hopes of getting future funding and donations for a skatepark. We learned that wooden modular skate parks are obsolete and that I could receive no funding from organizations such as the prestigious Tony Hawk Foundation for a wooden skate park. We concluded that the youth of Seguin needed a non-wooden public skate park for the following reasons: It would be an easily accessible, free place to skate that would be open during city park hours and would be eligible for funding as a municipally-owned skatepark.

In order to provide a safe skating environment for the youth of Seguin, we began working with the City of Seguin in hopes of building a concrete structure that would be part of the Parks and Recreation Department. During the summer of 2011, the “Keep Seguin Rolling” effort was established. Skaters, parents, and supporters of skating have met at homes, offices, and Seguin Parks and Recreation Department sites to skate and talk about the possibilities of a public concrete skatepark for Seguin. These meetings have provided a safe place for skaters to skate and meet others with the same interests and for parents and supporters to discuss the future of skating in Seguin. We have also had the support and participation of a local Destination Imagination team who has adopted Keep Seguin Rolling as their project for competition.

Our hope is to build a public skate park as part of the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Seguin by 2015. This park will be realized through partial funding from the City of Seguin as well as donations to Keep Seguin Rolling from generous people who care about life in Seguin and grants from foundations. We hope to provide the City of Seguin with a place for everyone to skate!