At Green Mountain Valley School in Fayston, Vermont, students balance traditional classroom academics with high-level race training.
"I just love skiing," beamed sophomore Abi Jewett of Ripton, Vermont. "Just being able to go out there and work toward something-- it's really fulfilling."
About 125 eighth through twelfth graders attend GMVS from the fall through the spring, both residential and day students. A program for seventh graders specifically in the winter months gives those student athletes a taste of what life at the ski academy is like.
Young competitive skiers come to the school to work with top level coaches, with facilities at Sugarbush Resort, to sharpen their racing skills. That training occurs in the morning, with traditional classroom work generally scheduled for the afternoons.
When necn visited, a physics class for juniors and seniors was conducting experiments to determine the heat capacity of copper.
"I think it was Thomas Edison who said the purpose of the body is to carry the brain around, and we believe in that very complementary relationship," said Alice Rodgers, the school's director of academics.
Rodgers said teachers often adjust lesson plans to accommodate busy periods of travel in the winter to attend races around the country and internationally. Students who are traveling also can often participate in online learning options to keep up with their school work, Rodgers noted.
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Current student Ali Nullmeyer of Canada recently won silver in the ladies slalom at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Norway, the school said.
Carter Kendig, a senior from Carlisle, Massachusetts, said the main trait defining GMVS students is dedication. They train about four hours a day on the mountain and at the performance center, he estimated, then do four hours in the classroom, before homework.
"I definitely think GMVS has set me up for success in the future, academics-wise as well as ski-wise," Kendig said.
Annual tuition to the state-approved independent school is comparable to a year at a private college, with boarding students paying $52,200, and day students paying $40,360, according to the school's website. Need-based financial aid is available, with about a quarter of students receiving aid, the website says.
Many students aspire to compete at the college level, or even in World Cup or Olympic races. That, admittedly, can be a lofty goal, said Steve Utter, the alpine program director.
"Almost every child, when they leave here, isn't on the U.S. Ski Team, does not make the world championships or Olympics, but they have fought the fight and they leave here with fantastic skills to fight the next fight, whatever that may be-- in college, or in business after college," Utter told necn.
According to GMVS, about 10 percent of the student body competes in cross-country races as opposed to downhill ones. The school said it wants to expand that, recently bringing on new experts in nordic conditioning and training in hopes of growing the number of young nordic race competitors.
