Snow Report

Winter 2019

The MSA Snow Report is our opportunity to share some of the many remarkable experiences, accomplishments and moments that happen over the course of the winter. Of course, we cannot capture them all in a newsletter.
Last week, fifth grader Aiden Bosc took the stage at our all school meeting to share a report he did on the history of the Navajo Tribe. His research was amazing and his presentation demonstrated deep practice and poise. When he finished, he received an appreciative and overwhelming round of applause from our students and teachers.This moment reminded me of the important work we all do, every day.
I recently received an email of thanks from a parent. It reminded me to take a step back and recognize the breadth and depth of an MSA education.
In addition to improving his skiing, he is learning so many life lessons. When hard work and perseverance meet great coaching…. good things happen.
You could replace “coaching” with teachers, dorm parents, staff, Board members or parents and it still works.
Our parent teacher conferences occurred last Saturday afternoon. While walking through the school during the conferences, I heard familiar, engaging meetings. I recognized that the conversations our parents and teachers were having reminded me of the classes our teachers and the children of our parents have every day when school is in session. Conversational education is the core of our academic experience and student-teacher engagement delivers the most powerful learning moments.
Of course, this isn’t limited to the classroom. Our coaches spend the most time with our student athletes and have the chance to help them ski faster and flip and spin effortlessly. Beyond their physical development, they are also sharing disappointment, giving life advice and building a cohesive team. Add to that, the wonderful job Amanda and her team does in the dorm and it is easy to see how MSA’s complementary partnership between adults and students creates an energy greater than the sum of its parts.
After four years at MSA, I am proud of the work we have done together and am excited for the future of our remarkable school. Thank you for being a part of our amazing transition… the best is yet to be!

Todd Ormiston
Head of School
Mount Snow Academy

Reach for the Stars

THE ANNUAL MSA BENEFIT – THE GALA – SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH

We are in full preparation mode for our annual evening of fundraising. Join us Saturday, February 16th at 6:30 p.m. for a dreamy evening designed to celebrate our future stars, and raise important funds for Mount Snow Academy.
MSA families and local businesses have donated many amazing items for the silent auction, including tickets to “To Kill a Mockingbird” and custom Parlor skis and factory tour. You’ll be sure to leave with something, if not many things, that bring you joy, all while supporting Mount Snow Academy.

 

Boots & Bindings

Fun During the Academic Break

The U14s took advantage of the break to try out a new snow sport – Nordic skiing! They had perfect weather and great conditions. Very quickly everyone’s natural athleticism kicked in and they toured the trails of Timber Creek with smiles and laughter.

Athletic Updates

This season we have 51 Academy student athletes and 22 Alpine, Freeski & Snowboard Jumpstarters representing MSA. This is an all time high of 73!
Alpine

Dear Alpine families,

Building momentum at MSA. Alpine athletes and coaches are hitting their stride as we move into February. With the cold weather, hard and grippy snow and fantastic training space, athletes and coaches are fine tuning their skills and constantly progressing forward. From podium results to personal best, all athletes are showing signs of growth, and as a staff we routinely work to plan and assess how things are developing. MSA Athletes from all age groups are winning and on the podium this winter. Congratulations to Chip Coffin, Paige Petrell, Erin McHugh, Maddie Cho, Henry Harding, Finn McCann, Patrick Leonard, Alyssa Kimble, Anna Lee Geoghan, Lila Sweetland, Sammy Cho, Tori Benyik, Ben Bush and Chaz Benyik for your excellent results thus far. All MSA athletes deserve a shout out and recognition, keep up the great work and results. 

Inspiration sometimes just hits you. I was inspired by something said by Patriots’ Superbowl MVP Julian Edelman in one of his interviews when asked how does he do it, he said (and I’m paraphrasing) “It’s all in the training and preparation the week before, the training gives me confidence to perform on game day” I take this to heart and I will be working with staff to ensure our training gives MSA athletes the confidence and composure to perform to their best at every race! Let’s get inspired, support our kids, and give it our best for the rest of the year. The journey we are on is exciting and I could not be more proud of the effort and diligence of our athletes and staff. Thank you parents for giving us you children to help cultivate their passion in this beautiful sport of alpine ski racing. 

Lastly, it’s never too early to think of the summer and next season at MSA. We have a variety of Spring, Summer and Fall camps planned, and are developing next year’s school calendar. Please talk to your coaches or me about the value of this training and experience, it’s an important part of the journey! Information can be found here. 

MSA Alpine Program: building confidence and character everyday! 

Many Thanks,
Peter Stokloza, Alpine Program Technical Director 

Freeski

The freeski team has seen considerable growth in the Jumpstart program this year. Jumpstart provides a platform for those too young for our full-time program to immerse themselves in MSA’s training regimen every Friday through Sunday, all winter long.  The addition of Sam Marino to our coaching staff has been instrumental in keeping our juniors on the path to greatness. 

On the opposite side of things, our older group has been competing at Nor-Am level slopestyle events like the Rev Tour Elite. They are currently in Colorado at the Copper Rev Tour, testing their mettle against the best in the West.  As a whole, the freeskiing program has benefited from the daily work of our Cinematographer-In-Residence, Pierre Verville.  Pierre will be filming our upcoming camp, taking place from February 22 through the 24.  The camp will feature X-Games medalist and professional skier Keegan Kilbride, who will be skiing with our kids and speaking about his career during a dinner and movie showing at the school. 

-Liam Downey, Head Freeski Coach 

Snowboarding
This year we have seen major growth in our snowboard program.  We also have a nice range of athletes from younger athletes in the Jumpstart program to our older athletes competing in multiple Rev Tours.  Many of our athletes have already had great results and are looking like they will easily qualify for Nationals.  Our athletes have been competing in Rail Jam, Slopestyle, BoarderCross, and Half Pipe.  We have taken competition trips to New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and competed locally in Vermont.  These trips have given us great exposure to different terrain and competitors.  Some of the competitions our team has participated in are the, Burton Qualifiers, USASA, Rev Tour, and recently the Vans High Standard. 
Our December Colorado camp was a hit.  We had great early season Parks and daily access to the Woodward Training facility.  Our athletes achieved great progression and had epic conditions. 
In addition to seeing major growth we have added two exceptional coaches to the snowboard staff.  Josh Kennedy has a very decorated competition past and has been a phenomenal addition to our team.  David McCarthy is also a full-time addition to our Snowboard Coaching Staff.  David is a MSA Alumni and had been coaching at HCSC in the summer before joining us at MSA.  We are excited to have such great riders and coaches joining our team. 
-Tommy Burke, Head Snowboard Coach

Pencils & Paper 

STEM @ MSA

STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. This can mean different things at different schools, but the common thread is linking the topics through hands-on activities and problem solving. At Mount Snow Academy, our STEM classes have been using Arduino circuit boards. Arduino is a company that makes low-cost, pre-made circuit boards with micro-controllers that run simple computer programs. We have been learning how to use Arduinos to control led lights, motors, and other devices. In class, we use the C++ computer language to design instructions for our hardware. We then upload the code to our Arduino, which we have wired with the correct hardware, and hopefully get it to run properly. Some projects we have learned are controlling a red-blue-green LED lights, an 8×8 LED matrix, and a servo motor. One of our favorite activities was programming a 8 LED array to flash in various patterns. To figure out this programming, we also had to learn binary code and hexidecimal. This allowed us to make the series of LEDs count up from 0 to 255 in binary and to flash in a repeating cycle (such as KITT from Knight Rider or a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica). – Michael Coughlin, STEM & Chemistry Teacher 

Faculty Spotlight

Our outstanding faculty continues to foster intellectual curiosity and academic development in our one-on-one classroom setting. This season we have again worked with a record number of schools from along the east coast and mid-west, and welcomed, so far, 51 students to the Academy. 

To accommodate our continued growth, this year we have welcomed 12 new teachers! 

Academic Podium 

At the end of each marking period (we have two) we identify and honor the student athletes who earn an “A” in each of their classes (one B+ is allowed). See who made the list this term:
  • Jack Armbruster, West Dover VT
  • Ben Bush, Sea Cliff NY
  • Maddie Bush, Sea Cliff NY
  • Ashley Byron, Westfield NJ
  • Chip Coffin, Ridgefield CT
  • Molly Croft, New York NY
  • Charlie Duffy, Millstone TWP, NJ
  • Zach Ferry, Pennington NJ
  • Nick Ford, Southampton NY
  • Anna Lee Geoghan, Hampton Bay NY
  • Alyssa Kimble, White Plains NY
  • Oliver Leonard, Riverside CT
  • Patrick Leonard, Riverside CT
  • Griffin Mandino, West Dover VT
  • Erin McHugh, Fairfield CT
  • Jillian Pastore, Ridgefield CT
  • Hailey Rebak, Franklin Lakes NJ
  • Logan Severance, New Canaan CT
  • Pierre Verville, Bath ME

Annual Fund

Your support of the MSA Annual Fund may well be more important than you think. Each year we ask for an Annual Fund gift, and the money raised by these gifts is set aside to cover essential operating costs and/or unanticipated needs. The fact of the matter is this: the Annual Fund helps make carrying out MSA’s mission possible. Each person bolsters the whole of the organization by participating. 
Please give generously!