MARCH 2024 EDITION

Will Baker, Vivian Frederick, and Ethan Vuong riding a lift together

February has come & gone with the snow continuing to pile up here in Oregon. Our students have been piling up podiums & acceptance letters to college. We brought back the Industry Insighters program with Line Team Manager Jacob Dube & marketing guru turned Olympic/X Games Judge Jason Arens. The two action sports industry icons spent the weekend with our students sharing their insights into how to build a successful career. There is nothing that can replace time spent face-to-face with people who have already blazed a trail to where you want to go so we cannot thank them enough! Our snow students continued their dominance on the road with podium finishes at Europa Cups, NorAms, Future Tours & local USASA events. This all culminated with the nomination of four of our students representing their countries at the Junior World Championships to be held in Italy later this year! Our mountain bike students have continued to push their limits in Virgin, Utah while the skateboard crew stacked up more podiums at the local Seek Skate Series before heading down to Arizona.

Mike Hanley

UPCOMING EVENTS

March 30, 2024 - Order 2023-2024 Yearbook here: https://www.treering.com/purchase?PassCode=1016450563251701
April 1, 2024 - Deadline to re-enroll for the 2024-2025 school year
April 26, 2024 - Graduation

ACADEMICS

Senior Ole Hubbard launches a snowball after class

Let it snow! As I sit here in the classroom and type up this newsletter, it is snowing outside and surely snowing heavily up on the mountain as the snowboard and ski teams are up enjoying their training. It has been great to hear of the many successes that the athletic teams are having and there have also been many successes academically as well. We currently have college acceptance letters for every senior but one and we anticipate that acceptance coming in the very near future. The students continue to do very well in regards to meeting their pacing goals. We use study hall and double academic days as tools for the students to stay caught up but it is with great pleasure that I report that study hall has been light and double academic days have been few and far between. The good use of class time has been enough for the students to stay caught up for the most part.

The list of colleges that students have been accepted to this year is long. Some of those colleges include University of Utah, University of Iowa, University of Oregon, Utah State, Utah Tech, Westminster University, University of Arizona, University of Hawaii, Northern Michigan University, University of San Francisco, Oregon State University, San Diego State, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Long Beach and many more. It is so nice to see the students understand that there is a world of possibilities available to them when they get accepted to a college. Ultimately, each student chooses their path, but one of the most rewarding things as a teacher here at Wy'East is being able to help open up those doors that many thought might not be available to them.

Hannah and Adam

STUDENT LIFE

Students posing at the Oregon Special Olympics polar plunge

What a great February we had! Among the beginning of a busy semester of travel, we packed some awesome weekend activities in. Relaxing in the outdoor hot tubs at Mt Hood Oregon Resort during a sunny early February weekend was a special treat. Many of the local competition weekends are filled with recovery days at the tubs. We also joined in on classic American entertainment at the Mt Hood Oregon Resort's Superbowl watch party, where the students played pool and arcade games, drank Shirley Temples, and enjoyed dinner and dessert. The following weekend, we hosted our first "Industry Insighters" event of the year. Ski students were joined by Jason Arens and Jacob Dube, two local professionals who have been closely involved with the industry for many years. After a skills session and presentation, the students went out to a local dinner and asked questions and gained inspiration from Arens and Dube. For the final weekend of the month, a handful of students attended the Oregon Special Olympics polar plunge in downtown Portland, where we raised money for the organization and attended the event in support of this amazing program. During the weekdays, a fantastic number of students have taken to playing the campus drums and creating art; we can't wait for more band jams and art nights ahead of us. After an immense amount of February sun, the flakes are falling heavy on campus and we are ready for the winter ahead.

Barbara & team

CULINARY

The month of February has come and gone in a flash! With all the traveling the student body has done, it has made the Café quiet at times and busy other times. When we do have all the students here on campus, it is nice to see everyone coming in for meals that the Culinary Department prepares. For the times that there are not a lot of students on campus, the students get to have a little more attention. For example, for the last week of February, when students came in for breakfast, they were able to watch me make their eggs to order. They get to pick out what ingredients they want, and I make it into a scramble or an omelet.

For lunches, we have been doing some of their favorites. We recently did McRib Sandwiches, Teriyaki Chicken and Rice and we always have Fish Fridays. With dinners, Kellen has done a great job in creating a robust menu for the students. Everything from Steak, Baked Potatoes, to Traeger Smoked Ribs and Pastor Chicken Burritos. A student favorite from the past month is Pizza and Wings, everyone loves this meal. We can’t wait to see what the month of March brings us!

Travis & crew

FREESKI

Shannon Vanderwerken and Devin Lindenmyer skiing together

February was a big month for the Freeski team with a ton of events and travel across our three teams. We started the month off with an awesome bluebird day slopestyle event at Timberline, where our team had a ton of success! The same weekend some of our Freeride squad competed in an IFSA event in Washington State where even more success was had, and finally our A team athletes spent a week down in Mammoth competing in the second Rev Tour stop of the season where…. You guessed it, successes were had. As coaches it is reassuring to see the themes and athletic focuses we implement in the fall really start to click as the season progresses.

Our B team was in Park City for the second Futures Tour stop of the season and the weather proved to be unfortunately tough. The men’s competition was canceled, but the women luckily got their event off with our very own Vivian Frederick hitting the box with a 3rd place finish!

While the B team was in Park City, part of the C team went up to Alpental and Snoqualmie for another IFSA event, and to enjoy some freeriding! Our freshman freeskier Rio Willard was able to walk away with the top spot for the U19 men! We finished the month out with our final 2 USASA rail jams of the season which ended up being a beautiful sunny day at Ski Bowl, where their parks crew built a fun and inclusive set up for everyone!

Mt. Hood picked up another 60” - 70” last week which provided some amazing riding, and will give our parks a nice refresh for the coming weeks as we turn our sights to training for USASA Nationals! It's wild to think that it is already March, but they say time flies when you're having fun!

Brian, Topher, and Shannon

SNOWBOARD

Just as fast as February came, it went! The snowboard team started the month with a slopestyle contest at Timberline. Timberline set up an awesome course with two jumps and loads of rails for the kids to put into their runs. Everyone rode super well making the afternoon consist of multiple photos on the podium! Following the timberline contest we got a bunch of training at all three resorts we have access to with park runs at Meadows, Timberline, and on the rope tow at Ski Bowl. We were able to switch things up with the teachers and have days where kids spend the mornings in the classroom and afternoons on-hill. Those days usually consist of slopestyle training at Timberline, where their Conways park has finally taken shape, and end the day at ski bowl on the rope tow getting reps in on rails.

The B team made a trip to Utah for their first of three Futures Tour events on a full size slope course competing against the best in their age brackets. Everyone was able to put down runs despite the tough weather, but the one that stands out is our only girl on the B team, Annabelle Mcarthy, who qualified 3rd into finals and finished in 4th. Not bad for her first Futures Tour event! Girl power! The day after the boys competition, we scored an epic Pow Day at Brighton resort full of steep and deep Utah glory!

At the same time, The C Team made a trip to Washington for a couple IFSA contests where they competed at Stevens Pass and Alpental. Gabriel Kos was able to place at Stevens Pass and Quinn Murray was able to get on the podium at Alpental. The rest of the crew got some great experience at both venues as well as got to ride the epic park set ups at both resorts. Reaching the end of February, C team has been taking full advantage of the new snow at the home resorts while the rest of the team is on the road for their 2nd and 3rd Futures Tour stops in California.

Sprinkled in between the trips, we had a handful of local USASA events to add to the schedule. February was truly a month full of traveling to new areas, competing, and our favorite, SNOWBOARDING! We are really looking forward to having the whole team back together in March!

Until next time,

Brandon, Stew, and Alec

MOUNTAIN BIKE

The mountain bike team spend February lifting weights, training on our indoor airbag, and riding outside when weather permitted. We then took off to Virgin, Utah where our freestyle and race kids alike pushed themselves on some of the gnarliest riding in the world. We spent 2 weeks there; mainly focusing on mental strength, new tricks, and technical riding. We also visited Utah Tech University and watched a basketball game against a team from Texas and completed the famous Angels Landing hike in Zion National Park.

Asa and Bolio

SKATE

Tag Goodell and Cam Hickey skating in Portland

February has really given us a little bit of everything in the PNW. We lucked out and scored some 60 degree sunny days as well as snow on campus. The skate crew took advantage of the sunny dry days in Portland to get to a few of the parks as well as the Courts on Portland State University campus and downtown/waterfront. With the recent snow the skate students have had the chance to go up on the mountain and ride a good amount this last month. I was fortunate enough to make it down to Slow Impact in Phoenix AZ at the end of the month. The best way to describe Slow Impact is a skate convention for skate nerds. It was 4 days of panel discussions and research papers on skateboarding and its effect on people/places. The panels ranged from sobriety, architecture, museum collections/archiving, non-profits, photography, and dance. The dance discussion was very good lead by a professional ballet dancer and skateboarder. Here are some of my notes from that discussion

Skateboarding as a movement language: Skate ≠ Dance, Dance = Skate. Dancers often ask him how to use "skate Arms" while dancing. Applying how to use the stage, props, and sets the same as how skateboarders use a city. Not defined by what something is supposed to be used for but a way to look outside the box for what can be done with it. Style matters, the worst insult for a dancer is "You dance like an Athlete" same for skating. Even though they are athletes it means a lack of style and flow.

Looking ahead to March we have our 3rd event for the SEEK contest series, a jam format contest in BOB. This lines up well as a practice event/comparison with our trip to AZ, for the Phoenix AM event. PHXAM is one of the biggest and most difficult skate events on the planet. While enjoying the sun and warmth in Phoenix we will be volunteering with the learning from the non-profit Skate After School. Skate After School provides after school programming for underserved elementary students in Phoenix since 2012. We will also take our skate campus tour of ASU. For those who don’t know what I mean by skate tour: We will have current and recently graduated students that are heavily involved in the skateboarding community show us what life is like as a skateboarder on their campus. It’s a nice way to hear and see how others are currently navigating that world. Plus it’s a great way to have a skate spot tour guide on a giant campus.

Brian Johnson