For graduates Ashley Sell and Ella Dressen, the Winter Sports School grew to become a spot the place lengthy coaching days and demanding courses match collectively naturally. They found small school rooms, academics they might belief and depend on and a neighborhood that understood what it meant to chase formidable athletic objectives whereas nonetheless exhibiting up totally as college students.
Both seniors earned two awards at Friday’s commencement ceremony, recognizing not solely their dedication to the varsity’s spirit of neighborhood and arduous work, but additionally the big selection of pursuits they carried with them via their time throughout grade ranges.
Ashley Sell
“When I first heard about the Winter Sports School, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what weirdos,’” mentioned Sell. “I thought it was the craziest thing I’d ever heard of. What kid is going to sacrifice their summer to go to this school?”
Her perspective shifted as her ski profession grew. Sell had raced ski cross as a child in New York, however switched to conventional alpine racing when she moved to Park City round age 10 and joined Park City Ski and Snowboard.
By the time she was ending center college, Sell found herself lacking ski cross and needed to return to it. As she reconnected with the self-discipline, Sell wanted extra time on snow to carry out on the stage she needed, and her coaches made it clear the Winter Sports School was the place the place that was doable.
“It was really one of the only options to pursue your sport to the highest level,” she mentioned.
Sell recalled arriving on the college as a freshman was each intimidating and inspiring. Instead of being the one scholar lacking class for coaching, abruptly she was considered one of dozens whose schedules revolved round coaching blocks, journey and race calendars. The shift made her assume otherwise about who she was and how she slot in.
“Before I came to the school, I thought of myself as an athlete and that’s really all I was,” she mentioned.
Inside the small college, nonetheless, Sell found new dimensions of id. She was the editor-in-chief of the yearbook all 4 years and served two years on the scholar council.
Sell thrived amongst classmates who understood precisely what it was wish to compete at their stage. She mentioned courses had been generally 5 college students with one trainer, permitting them to essentially join. That close-knit construction formed her favourite class — an accelerated calculus course that lined college-level materials. The tempo was demanding, however the small group made it simpler to ask questions, get direct suggestions and keep engaged even when the work was troublesome.
Sell defined that the familiarity she felt together with her academics helped construct the belief she relied on to ask for assist, tackle more durable materials and push herself academically.
“You will have the same teachers for all four years, and it really allows students to feel more comfortable,” she mentioned. “I remember, during freshman year, you’re terrified, but I was very quickly able to start learning and start communicating with my teachers, just because I saw them so much.”
As Sell’s snowboarding progressed, her view of competitiveness shifted, too. At the Winter Sports School, she mentioned, opponents prepare arduous exterior college. But contained in the constructing, the ambiance modifications and the competitors is changed by mutual help and shared objectives.
“They all want to get to the same level. They are very competitive. But it wasn’t competitive in a way where everyone was trying to beat everyone at the school — it was in a way where we could all bond and really come together with our shared experiences,” she mentioned.
That bond deepened whilst she confronted the identical hardship many winter athletes do: harm. Sell suffered critical injury to her knee in March, pausing her racing profession and giving her time to think about her future past sport. It was one other second the place the varsity had given her the house to find all elements of her id — alongside her sport, relatively than as an alternative of it — serving to put together her for the longer term.
“I feel like I’m already ready for college. I have all the tools that I need,” she mentioned.
Sell has already been accepted to Montana State and is awaiting an early-decision reply from Harvard University within the coming weeks. She hopes to main in utilized arithmetic and enterprise, with a minor in authorities.
Sell mentioned the winter college’s motto, “Competitors for Life,” takes on new that means now that she is graduating.
“The motto of the Winter Sports School is ‘Competitors for Life,’ but I really believe that we are only competing in the sports we do, not in school,” she mentioned. “It’s really about everyone trying to be the best we can be, but also bringing up the people around us.”
The Stein Eriksen High School Merit Scholarship, administered by the Youth Sports Alliance, is awarded to a Winter Sports School senior to help college students who’re able to take the teachings they’ve discovered via sport into their school careers. The $3,000 scholarship offers monetary help for the primary 12 months of faculty.
Sell earned it for her six years with Park City Ski and Snowboard, and for the regular management she confirmed via extracurriculars.
Sell additionally obtained the Kay Wright Award, named after Dr. Kay Wright, who based the Winter Sports School in 1994. The award honors the senior who most totally represents the values the varsity was created to uphold: dedication to sport, robust character, kindness inside the college neighborhood and a dedication to supporting others. Teachers and workers choose the scholar they imagine finest displays the varsity’s mission via day-to-day actions.
Ella Dressen
Dressen obtained the Dave Sieger Memorial Award, given every year to the excellent senior within the research of arithmetic and science. The award honors a former Winter Sports School trainer identified for his ardour for STEM and his shut work with college students. It acknowledges robust tutorial efficiency, trainer suggestion and constant achievement in each topics.
Dressen earned it for the trouble and regular progress she confirmed in her math and science programs over 4 years.
She was additionally honored with the Outstanding Art Award, which acknowledges creativity, effort and progress within the college’s visible arts program. Teachers give the award to a senior who has proven robust inventive talent and significant class participation. Dressen’s choice mirrored the power of her visible artwork work alongside her accomplishments in math and science. The mixture stunned her.
“I didn’t think I’d win the math science award. That was a real shock to me,” mentioned Dressen. “And the art award, I’ve always thought of myself as more of a math person, so getting that was just a really fulfilling moment where I realized I really can do well in both, which was a cool thing to see.”
When Dressen “dropped out of eighth grade” to enroll on the Winter Sports School, she knew it sounded a bit loopy — and her buddies in Ogden advised her as a lot. She’d grown up greater than an hour away and had all the time insisted she would by no means make that commute, regardless of the strategies of coaches and household.
“I always told my dad that I would never go to the Winter Sports School. But after I toured the small school, I really fell in love with just how small the classes were and how active and small the community was,” mentioned Dressen. “It was a very, very scary experience walking in and trying to make new friends, but the community as a whole really welcomed me in.”
The college’s summer season schedule meant she may attend each winter camp, journey freely for races in Europe and Colorado, and nonetheless sustain together with her coursework. Much of that, Dressen mentioned, got here from the way in which courses had been structured with assignments accessible on-line and academics all the time obtainable to help her, even when she was away for coaching.
What stunned her, too, was how rapidly that flexibility translated into progress on the snow. Being in a position to prioritize her coaching with out falling behind was pivotal to her progress as a ski racer, she mentioned. It additionally modified the way in which she noticed different athletes. Meeting classmates from big mountain, park and pipe, equestrian, browsing and different sports activities, all of whom skilled simply as intensely as she did, made her notice her personal dedication wasn’t uncommon in any respect.
“It really helped me understand other sports that I necessarily wouldn’t have tried exploring just because I’m so dedicated to my own. So it was really interesting to get to go and support other classmates and other friends at other events and just see how much work they put in,” mentioned Dressen. “It let me explore their sport and have new friends on the mountain with me who could, well, keep up.”
Dressen commuted an hour every strategy to college with the assistance and help of her household for two and a half years till halfway via her junior 12 months, when her household moved to Park City.
Like Sell, Dressen emphasised the tutorial construction as some of the influential parts of her expertise. Her courses ranged from 5 to 10 college students, with academics in a position to sluggish or speed up the curriculum relying on every scholar’s understanding. That individualized consideration helped her develop confidence and deepen her curiosity in science, know-how, engineering and math topics. And when she wanted to overlook college for her sport, they had been all the time there to assist catch her up to the mark.
As the president of the National Honor Society, Dressen helped lead fundraisers for native organizations, together with the Peace House and Live Like Sam, and collaborated with the scholar council on school-wide occasions.
For her, the alternatives had been an extension of what made the varsity significant by attending to know a small class the place everybody works collectively to help the varsity and one another.
“When everyone is kind of united and bonded together, it makes it so much more of a happier place,” she mentioned.
As winter approaches, Dressen is getting ready for early-season coaching in Colorado, chasing the snow till Utah catches up, as she strikes between races earlier than flying east to go to and compete in entrance of faculty coaches.
Looking ahead, Dressen hopes to make an NCAA crew. She is making use of to schools throughout the nation, hoping to compete on the collegiate racing groups at East Coast colleges, together with St. Lawrence University and Colby College.
“To the next generation, I’d say don’t stress too much, because it’s a very fun experience. It’s not like your average high school experience. Make sure you get to know all your classmates, and really form a bond between all of them,” Dressen mentioned concerning the Winter Sports School.
For Sell and Dressen, their 4 years on the Winter Sports School helped them push the restrict academically and really feel supported personally, surrounded by friends who share their stage of ambition. Both say the choice to attend, no matter their doubt, distance or worry, in the end formed their confidence and id inside and exterior their sport.
“It was the best thing I’ve ever done,” Sell mentioned. “Just make the leap. It was very scary committing to it, but I don’t regret it for a second. I’m closer to these people than I am to almost everyone else in my life. It’s really incredible.”