When the name ‘Scooter Dom’ floats into conversation at the University of Victoria, most students know who this is; an elusive figure, a thrilling experience, Scooter Dom is a UVic legend. The year he attended University in Victoria, 2021-2022, before transferring to the University of British Colombia for the remainder of his education students could find Dominic, later coined ‘Scooter Dom’ by the student body cruising around campus on his electric scooter, talking to the masses, and offering rides (to those who didn’t seem ‘too inebriated’). When given the chance, I knew I had to interview him
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Scooter Dom’s full name is Dominic Tomkowicz. When asked how the scooter came about as well as his nickname, Dominic explained the long journey it took to get where he is. With a smile, he said,
“The scooter all started at UVic. My parents had just dropped me off, you know, to live on my own. For the very first time ever. Once you’re out there on your own, just know this, you’re automatically going to learn to do it. It is hard work, of course, to keep stuff going, but you’re gonna learn automatically. We have that built into our brains to adapt to circumstances like that…Just two weeks into my first year, I bought a simple-range electric scooter from America. The first thing I saw just out of the corner of my eye, just after about 100 kilometres of riding, was people yelling, and so I decided, ‘Why don’t we keep doing this and see where this goes?’. Because I had a feeling in my mind that this could go somewhere. It wasn’t until next [2022] when people actually started to ask to take pictures with me, and I was like, you want to take a picture? No way. Yes.”
“So there were a couple of names people had for me at first. One of them was Scooter Guy, the other was Scooter Kid. And I saw all these terms on the UVic confessions page that the class of 2025 ran. Yeah, I saw all these names and was like, my word is spreading. And then eventually, somebody found out my name was actually Dominic. So we were like, okay, let’s make it click: Scooter Dom. That clicked eventually.”
Just as we have many good memories of Scooter Dom at UVic, he has many favourites as well, including the people, the parties, and friends, and he misses the city.
“I missed the campus size; I miss the people; I miss the city. I miss the way of life; it’s just so different. You know, I still know the names of those streets like the back of my hand. I remember cruising down Shelbourne Street and Cadboro Bay Road.”
“In 2021, It was just amazing because people students were the partiers, we didn’t rely on frats or clubs or anything like that like we do at UBC to party. They were just organizing it themselves, and I’d say it was more of a tradition. I mean, I think the tradition still remains on Halloween.”
Although we miss him here, Scooter Dom is having a great time as a student at the University of British Columbia. He is loving the experiences he is having with the student body, as well as the opportunities that have arisen for him in Vancouver.
“There’s a lot of opportunity academically, I’d say with UBC. I’ve met a lot of great people in Greek life, and you know, in clubs, people even in AMS, the student council itself, which is really, really great. I’ve met people in athletics, I’ve met people from all different walks of life on this campus and can’t wait to meet more, there’s like 70,000 people.”
“I’ve got a collab with Pizza Hut coming up; I’m gonna be on the scooter promoting their pizza with content on my TikTok, Scooter themed, their new handmade pizza crust… I [also] work for UBC Fit, the biggest fitness club on the UBC campus with the cheapest supplements, and they hired me on board to rep the club and make videos for them. I’m a content creator for them right now.”
With that, I asked Dominic for a few last words to the students at UVic who love him so dearly as well as the readers of Her Campus.
“I really couldn’t have made it where I am today without all of you, because every single one of my followers that make up my page, that’s what keeps me afloat. That’s what motivates me to keep going forward. I could not have gotten where I am without all of you. So, I just want to thank you all so much from the very bottom of my heart. Because this would not be possible without you, and I give all the credit to you.”
“As for your readers, I love you guys all so much. I want you to go check out Her Campus at UVic. It’s an absolutely amazing forum and organisation, with so many chapters across different countries, for all your needs. I love Her Campus so much. And they’re just an amazing group of people.”
Go support Scooter Dom and check out his Instagram (@scooterdomm) and TikTok page (@scooterdom)! Thank you, Dom, for letting us interview you!