July 2021 Newsletter
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Letter from The Headmaster

It is hard to believe that it is already July, but time flies when you are having fun. Maybe it is the fact that we are finally emerging from the Covid fog, but this has been an amazing summer already. There has been great energy with all of the staff & students as we have been enjoying the sunny days with lots of snow still up on the hill. The students have been working hard in the classroom to achieve our highest average GPA ever at the academy. New students have been coming in & out every week which has kept everything fresh & exciting. June ended with record breaking heat, but everyone made the most of it by spending as much time as possible in one form or another of water. Enrolment paperwork has been coming in from all around the world & we are on track to have our largest ever fall semester of students. Please make sure to confirm all of your details with Dan to make sure everyone gets the roommates they want in September. It has been a lot of fun seeing the campus fill up with campers again to remind all of us what a special place this really is. All of the students have been settling in to their summer ski town life up in Government Camp with the close proximity to the mountain & all of the lakes. Luke & Levi have another exciting weekend planned of river rafting & fireworks so we are all looking forward to another month of fun in the sun.

-Mike Hanley

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Academics

Summer Solstice was this month.  Staff and students are both soaking up the sunshine with the longer and sunnier days.  Late June was scorching record-breaking heat.  Thankfully the classroom is always a cool spot on campus to reprieve from the heat and students have gone to Brightwood Beach before class and after dinner many times this month.  

Students have certainly gotten into a great classroom routine and are working on a myriad of things in class: goal setting, practice PSATs, video clip editing, artwork, Khan Academy courses, previous courses, and Edgenuity courses.  Most students enrolled in Edgenuity are about halfway through their courses now.  The students taking Edgenuity courses are meeting expectations with a 3.54 average overall GPA.

The Student of the Month for June is Aaron Gander because of his diligent dedication to maintaining pace and great grades and his considerate character.

-Kayla Hokanson


Student Life

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Hey Parents,

Boy have we been busy on the weekends! This past month was filled with exciting trips and much needed rest. We started the month off with a group bowling trip and an adventure to Silver Falls State Park. The kids have gotten their fair share of swimming in so far, with trips to Timothy Lake, The Salmon River, The Deschutes River & Brightwood Beach. We ventured into the city for a day to go thrift shopping, check out The Oregon Museum of Science & Industry, capped off with a stop at a Portland Staple, Voodoo Doughnuts.
We finished off the 4th of July weekend with a rafting trip in Central Oregon & an awesome fireworks show in Hood River.

As you all know, we have moved up to Government Camp for the summer & our kids have been loving it! They have been doing a great job with keeping the house clean & respecting their roommates. We are looking forward for another month of fun & adventure with our students.


-Luke Giacopelli, Marianna Goings & Levi Thompson


Snowboard

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June was the month of extremes for the Academy and the state of Oregon. We started out the month with a surf trip to the coast while Timberline was rebuilding their summer public park up higher on the mountain. What a day the team had out there chasing waves and frothing in the ocean! Having the opportunity to hit the coast within a few hours drive, grab rentals, and be in the line up before 10:30am is such a treat. While Timberline continued to rebuild the public park we were met with winter conditions returning to Mt. Hood and almost a full week of snow… in June. That was just one extreme. The crew powered through utilizing campus as much as possible with dry slope sessions, training on the trampolines and in the skatepark before the move up to Government Camp. Half way through the month the weather changed back into typical summer time glory and we had a new park on the mountain to train in. The crew got to spend time riding a near perfect 18 foot half pipe, three medium jumps, and their pick of eight different rails. We had about a week straight of perfect training conditions until extreme number 2 hit. Oregon experienced the most intense heat wave in history with temperatures setting records for three consecutive days from 108, to 112, to 115 degrees. We were able to seek refuge at the coast once again for an impromptu surf trip which never disappoints. To end the month on a high note, June 30 was the first day that brand new private FTC park opened up for us which is what we have all been looking forward to! Summer time is rolling and the snowboarding is all time. July should be even better!


Until next month,
Cheers!

-Brandon Sorel


Freeski

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Greetings Freeski Families! 

June has been a busy month here at the Academy. Summer operations started at Timberline June 1st which brought a new park that had moved up to the mile, along with a quieter parking lot in the first half of the month with spring pass folks heading home. Timberlines new Mile park came with a beautiful 18’ half pipe, a 3 jump line, and a series of different jibs down below. There was a little something for everyone and provided for a great training space for all of our athletes! Summer at Mt. Hood can be a wild and temperamental thing.. June 6 it was snowing sideways at the Timberline Lodge, and then on June 25th some of the highest temps ever recorded took place at the same lodge! The last week of June brought a record setting heat wave this year that delayed the private parks opening. With the mountain closed for the day we beat the heat by heading out to Timothy lake with the crew for a day on the water. Timberline eventually got the parks, and rope tows going later that week and we were all pleasantly surprised at the offering they provided, with again, a little something for everyone! Fast laps, good vibes and lots of progression were taking place that first week. This really set the tone for the rest of the summer, and we’re excited to see what July has in store!

-Brian McCarthy & Topher Newett

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June 2021 Newsletter
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June Newsletter

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Head of School

May is the most underrated month of the year in the Pacific Northwest. We have been able to enjoy every season over the course of a single month with sunny days in the 80’s & pounding snowstorms with everything in between. All of the students have had unrestricted access to all of the amazing campus facilities regardless of the weather. I have been incredibly impressed & proud of the entire staff making the most of what every day has gifted us with on the hill, in the classrooms & on the weekends. The average GPA of the students has never been higher & the rate of progression has them all on track to the X Games! It is great to see that the students are exhausted at the end of every day while still smiling about what the next day has in store. The students requested some different food for breakfast & it was fun to see our culinary crew cook up breakfast burritos for everyone the very next morning. My mouth started watering the following week when I walked through the kitchen & watched them prepping fish tacos for dinner. The campus is about to be filled up with over 1,000 campers over the next two months so it is great to see everyone making the most of their time here. It is a privilege to work with all of you & your wonderful young adults.

-Mike Hanley

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Academics

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Summer is here and students are stoked! The energy is high on campus. Students are soaking up the sun with more training and activities during the day and only two hours of class time this summer. Students are making great use of the time given and are grinding away at their classes. Students are coming to class punctually, prepared, and focused. Students this summer are mostly spending their time on Edgenuity or Khan Academy and some are even splitting some of their academic time working on editing video clips for their social media accounts.

The Student of the Month for May is Ryan Buttars because of his sunny disposition, politeness, and positive mentality about learning.

-Kayla Hoakenson

Our students participating in a Ice Breaker activity on Arrival Day

Our students participating in a Ice Breaker activity on Arrival Day


Student Life

Hey Families!

What a month May has been! We have had a few action packed weekends since our students arrived on campus. We started off with a Saturday trip to The Columbia River Gorge where we went skateboarding, picnicked on the river, went swimming and ate ice cream. The following day we gave back to our community by picking up trash at Ski Bowl then followed with a hike to a locals favorite spot, Little Hawaii!

The following weekends have been filled with trips to The Portland Zoo, Par 3 golfing, a stop at Tactics skate shop, amusement parks, waterfall hikes & hanging at the beach. We are looking forward to more fun weekends in the future!

-Luke Giacopelli, Marianna Goings & Levi Thompson

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Snowboard

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What a start to the spring term!  Beautiful weather, a small team who hit it off on what seems like the first day hanging out!  Aaron took down Elijah in some one on one basketball so he’s been on cloud nine, rematch will be coming soon!  Lorena been holding down as only girl on campus but keeping up with the boys and showing them a few things about how to get it done on hill and off as well.  

Everyone is working hard and progressing everyday with something new!  The coach to student ratios have been small so it’s been awesome getting after it with the smaller groups!  

Flow park was going off on the mountain and there was the reminiscent of its tits (snowboarding for breast cancer awareness) and we hit lots of transition the first week, kids were loving it working all directions regular and switch!  

There was one of the best 22 foot pipes we have seen that time of year so we took full advantage and how the fundamentals of toe and heel side carve play into going massive in a pipe!  Lorena stomped first alley-oop andrecht!

We currently have campus to ourselves!  It’s going to be an amazing summer!!!  

 

Brandon, Elijah and Crew!! 

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Freeski

Dear Freeski families,

We have had a great first month at the Academy, and each student athlete has quickly found themselves at home here on campus. We have had a wide range of action packed days over the course of May! From utilizing the trampolines to break down tricks and really focus on fundamentals, to having some great sessions on the dry slope rail setup where each athlete has walked away with a new trick. We took full advantage of a rainy day and fired up the Airbag Jump where everyone got dialed in on some unnatural tricks and had the ease of mind to try tricks prior to taking them to snow.

Our time on snow has been incredibly productive. The main focuses have been overall fundamentals: line selection, body position, air awareness and proper takeoffs. The growth of each student from day one to today has been exponential! In addition to the focus on park fundamentals we have pushed each of them on their actual skiing technique which directly translates to their park performance. To close, the overall vibe is at an all time high with every student getting along and feeding off of each other making for the best learning/living experience possible. We have been really stoked on this crew and hope to see everyone again soon!

All the best,
Brian McCarthy & Topher Newett

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Graduation 2021

Wy’East Academy 2020 - 2021

Graduation Announcement

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We will be celebrating our senior class this upcoming Thursday, April 22nd at 2pm PST with a virtual graduation! All Students, Staff & Parents are invited to join us on the livestream.

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Our Guest Speakers include Academy Alumni & X Games Gold Medalist Alex Hackel, and Trustee member Luke "The Dingo" Trembath. You can find the graduation via Facebook Live by using this link:

www.facebook.com/wyeastmountainacademy/live

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If you have any questions, please email Luke@wyeastacademy.com. We look forward to seeing you all there!

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April 2021 Newsletter
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April 2021 Newsletter

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Letter from The Head Of School

March epitomizes life at Wy’East Academy with students applying to college while working on school on the road for competitions & film shoots. Time management is one of the hardest skills to master in life & all of the students have been applying what they have learned to balance the rigors of maximizing their time to progress athletically, academically & residentially. Time waits for no man & we are proud of all of our students who did their best to stay on top of their busy schedules while competing for spots against the best in the world & producing amazing content for social media. I have been amazed by our staff here who have been working together to support each other across all of the different departments to help the students stay on pace to finish the year strong & achieve their goals. Spring has sprung & while there is still a lot of snow on the mountains, we have started to get more sunny days as a reminder that summer is just around the corner. We are looking forward to finishing the 2020-2021 school year as the best year ever with two of our students moving forward in the most prestigious video ski contest in the world matched by our seniors stacking up acceptance letters to over a dozen four year universities in three different countries! This year would not have been possible without the support of our amazing parents so thank you all for working with us over the course of the last seven months.
 

-Mike Hanley

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Academics

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March has been a spectacular start to a sunny spring here in Sandy, Oregon.  Each team was able to travel this month, and the students did a great job of preparing for their trips by getting ahead in classes.  During school breaks, students have been taking advantage of the sunshine and enjoying our facilities on campus: the outdoor supertramp, the concrete jungle, and the mountain bike trails especially. 

With the School Day SAT around the corner, April 13th, students signed up to take the SAT are preparing for the standardized test by taking additional practice tests, studying tips and tricks, and going over test answer explanations

The campus overall average GPA is 3.33 (B+); students are getting closer to achieving the Wy’East Mountain Academy goal of earning a 3.5 GPA.  As the end of the semester approaches, students are working towards improving their grades and finalizing their coursework plans with our academic staff, and seniors are anxiously awaiting graduation.

Kayla Hokanson chose Madison Weisman for Student of the Month because she works proactively, she produces exceptional work, and she sets high goals for herself and works diligently to achieve them.  

Jaime Vincent chose Hazel Predpelski for Student of the Month because she always comes to class first/early, applied to a few colleges, and has been staying focused!

Robbie Walters chose Joey Killeen for Student of the Month because he is always on time and on task with a respectful attitude.  He is a pleasure to have in class and always meets or exceeds expectations.

-Jaime Vincent, Kayla Hokanson & Robbie Walters

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Student Life

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With the weather getting warmer and dryer, students have been able to enjoy the never ending wonders of campus. They have been soaking up the sun while skating in the jungle and setting up the mountain bike airbag. You know it is springtime when the tie-dye comes out! Each team will have the opportunity to create a bag or dye something of their own. We had a few teams go adventure off campus in search of waterfalls near the Columbia River Gorge. Eagle Creek was closed due to a recent storm but the students were able to find some beautiful waterfalls nearby. The skate team had to put their mind to the test while also experiencing a fun way to build some positive team energy at the Escape Rooms in Portland. While they did not complete the challenge, they were presented with all new puzzles and a completely new and surprising storyline. For students who haven’t been behind a wheel yet, they went down to K1 Speed for some go-karting! The mountain bike team did pretty well at K1 speed with Harper getting 3rd place. We are very excited for the students for the next upcoming adventure this semester has in store for them.

-Alissa Hetzel, Phil Geyselaers, Asa Howe, Levi Thompson, Aaron Reynolds & Natala Thorenson


Mountain Bike

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Hello Bike Families, 

The end of the semester is quickly approaching and we are all still working hard to get everyone ready for the race season coming up. We will be starting a Race Team this summer with the hopes of keeping everyone involved throughout the summer and supported at the races. If you have any interest, or know of anyone who may be interested please let me know. We will still be offering a Summer Academy Semester as well as Camps. We are also starting to fill up for next year so if you are planning on returning I recommended confirming your spot sooner than later. 

In March we added a few new places to the list of places we have ridden including Capital Forest, The Lumberyard and Windrock, Tennessee. We had a great trip for the Tennessee National which was our first National Event as well as our first trip flying with bikes. We had some success and learned a lot. Some highlights were Etan getting 3rd and Jackson 10th in Cat 1 U16, Kade getting 10th in Sport U21, and Taylor, Harper and Coach Asa’s lines in the RedBull Freeride event.
 

-Wynn Berns & Tyler Vollopito

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Snowboard

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The snowboard crew has just returned to campus after a stellar month spent in three different states riding big named destinations like Copper Mountain, Mammoth, Squaw Valley, and Boreal. March provided some seriously good times starting with our finals days in Colorado. We soaked up the sunshine riding Woodward at Copper before the second Rev Tour stop; however, on competition day, the weather proved to be challenging with a storm rolling in. Isabella and Arianna both managed to push through the conditions and made the best of it. Everyone was looking forward to getting home after almost three weeks on the road, while Oregon recorded something like 18 feet of new snow, so we were welcomed back with a whole new park set up at Timberline that made for some great training!

Our time in Oregon didn’t last too long before we packed back up and hit the road down to sunny California for an event at Mammoth and some days in Lake Tahoe. Day one at Mammoth provided the crew with an unexpected pow day that did not disappoint! We managed to get some local intel about an area of the mountain that was untouched so naturally, that’s exactly where we went and stayed for most of the day. To complete the full Mammoth experience we then ventured out to the hot springs during the evening to enjoy a good soak and appreciate being in a new place. The team was able to practice for the event for three days before competing on that Thursday with a pretty big field of snowboarders. Hazel, Arianna, Kennedy, and Willie represented for the academy!

We wrapped up our time in Mammoth on that Friday, hopped back in the van and sent it a few hours north up to Tahoe. We turned that travel day into a very fun adventure stopping at Mono Lake, three different skateparks, Sierra Nevada University, and dipped in Lake Tahoe all before ending up at our Air BnB in Truckee. I think it’s safe to say that everyone was blown away by the beauty that Lake Tahoe holds as it truly is something special. We decided to take Saturday morning to continue our adventurous spirit and drive around the lake, starting on the West shore and going south to Emerald Bay, South Lake, and then back up to North Lake and Truckee. That evening the crew went to Boreal for some sunset into full moon boarding- I don’t know what could have made that day any better. Our final day on the road was spent at Squaw Valley with warm temps and sunshine. What a way to end the trip!

While most other resorts are starting to think about shutting down this month, it’s time for us to unpack our bags and settle in for the much anticipated Spring riding at Timberline. We are very much looking forward to our final month of the semester as things are just heating up here in Oregon and are looking amazing for the summer program shredding!

Cheers to spring!

Elijah Teter, Brandon Sorel, & Luke Giacopelli

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Freeski

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Greetings Ski Families!

We have been on the go all of this month with snow storms, private park shoots, and a team trip to mammoth. It really has been March madness in the best sense of the saying! Timberline is logging 485” of annual snowfall this season which is the most they’ve had in years. With all of the snow has come some amazing terrain parks and training opportunities for us. 

The highlight of this month was our trip to Spokane, who really rolled out the red carpet for us! They were excited for us to come up and create some content for us providing us with lift tickets and meals for the entire squad. Their park was a fun mix of large, small and everything in between sized features with a creative layout. All of this was accessed by a nostalgic single pole double chair that took you to the top with a great view of Spokane and the surrounding area. They even set up a sunrise shoot where we loaded the lifts at 5:30am, and were greeted at the park by the mountains marketing team, a hired photographer and a fleet of sleds to tow the students back to the top of jump! They were stoked on our team and have extended an for us to come back anytime!

Now that the bulk of our travel for the semester is over we look forward to spending some time at home and enjoying some slushy spring laps on Mt. Hood!
 

-Brian McCarthy, Kevin "Tweak" Merchant & Griffin Dunne

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Summer Semester 2021
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Summer Semester 2021

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Complete up to a full semester’s worth of classes or simply get ahead of the school year while living in a supportive and healthy athletic training environment. Students coupling Wy’East’s summer and fall terms will complete a full year of college preparatory academics by December and have the entire winter to focus solely on the winter sports training program and coach of their choice each December through April, anywhere in the world. Like any other Wy’East semester, students will have 4-6 hours per day for athletics and up to 4 hours per day for classroom academics. While the complete 12 week semester is ideal for young national team from around the world or for those with such aspirations, abbreviated options provide students and families with greater flexibility.

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CHOOSE FROM ONE OF THREE OPTIONS:

ONE.
May 10 - July 31 (12 Weeks)

Up to 4 credits

2-4 hours classroom daily, and
4-6 hours athletics.

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TWO.
June 12 - July 31 (7 Weeks)
Up to 2 credits
2 hours classroom daily, and
4-6 hours athletics.

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TWO.
June 12 - July 31 (7 Weeks)
Up to 2 credits
2 hours classroom daily, and
4-6 hours athletics.

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LEARN MORE™
To customize summer semester dates or to learn more, please call or email:
Dan Tattersfield, Director of Admissions
dan@wyeastacademy.com
503-703-8678

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March 2021 Newsletter
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March Newsletter

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Head Of School

Winter is in full swing here in Oregon & all of the students got to take advantage of the fresh snow all the way down to campus. College acceptance letters have been rolling in for our seniors with the juniors preparing to apply for early acceptance applications to colleges all over the United States. Students have been stacking up medals on the road from Nevada to Colorado with more trips looming on the horizon. All of our staff & students have been making the most out of the amazing opportunities they have found in the rain, sleet, snow & sunshine of the Pacific Northwest in February. Our student representatives are now meeting with the staff weekly to further improve the lines of communication between the staff & students. Time is flying by & there never seems to be enough hours in the day but it has been fun to watch the students grow up & achieve their goals. 
 

-Mike Hanley

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Academics

February has been filled with lots of fun and snow! Students are in the zone and accomplishing academics with the overall GPA average of 3.27 (B+). We are almost to midterms already and our goal is to end the semester with an overall GPA average of 3.5.

Most freshman, sophomore and juniors practiced for the SAT by completing Reading, Writing and Math Sections weekly. We will have an SAT School Day on March 3rd, with the make up date being April 13th. Our students have the advantage to test in the classroom they regularly study in with the SAT School Day option. The cost is $54. Please reach out if you haven’t already told us that you would like your child to test.

Several of our seniors have received college acceptances this month! Colleges/Universities that our students have been accepted to include University of Redlands, New York University, Westminster, Sierra Nevada University, University of Utah, University of Montana, University of Vermont, Fordham University, and University of Colorado at Boulder.

Almost all teams were traveling this month, so this calls for a front load approach to academics. The teachers ask students to complete all assignments that will be due throughout the duration of their trip before they travel. We ask them to be proactive so they can be more focused on competitions when away from campus.
 

Students of Month:

Jaime selected Collin Schubert for his early arrival to the classroom, leadership among his peers and perseverance with schoolwork and college applications.

Kayla selected Konnor Ralph because of his tremendous literary efforts,  his proactive work ethic, and his attention to detail.

Robbie selected Kade Kaluza for his consistent effort, wonderfully pleasant and respectful attitude towards others, and for seeking out help when he needs it!

The students tuning into an episode of Industry Insighters™, featuring the owner of Malakye, Chad Mihalick

The students tuning into an episode of Industry Insighters™, featuring the owner of Malakye, Chad Mihalick


Student Life

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Skateboard

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Greetings skate families,
 

This February we had a ton of snow on campus, our outdoor skatepark was completely buried! With this we were able to set up a bunch of jumps and rail features all over campus. You know, sometimes the skaters just gotta have some fun in the snow too! So that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. Our campus was a winter wonderland and the kids have been having the best time with it. Also, we’ve been going snowboarding at Timberline 1 to 2 days a week. It’s been so much fun. Lot’s of powder days and I think it’s so great to mix it up since we skate so much. The kids keep asking me to go more! 

We’ve been getting a bunch of skating in as well. Lot’s of time in our indoor park but also we squeezed in a great trip to Eugene as well as a bunch of Portland double athletic days when the weather was nice. Right now we’re gearing up for our California trip. We’re planning on spending a week and a half out there chasing the sunshine. The kids have been wanting to go to California all year so I am very excited to be making this happen for them! 

-Jamie Weller

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Mountain Bike

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Hello Bike Families, 
 

February has been another busy month! We had a very successful trip to Bootleg Canyon outside of Las Vegas for our first race of the semester, where we took a number of podiums, camped and even played tourist and saw the Hoover Dam!
 

DH results - Congratulations to Etan and Taylor taking 2nd and 3rd in Cat 1 15-16, Brooke 1st in Cat 1 15-29(to young to race pro), Sierra 3rd in U14, Brandon taking 4th in(which would have placed him in 6th in an energy drink filled pro podium)

Enduro results - Congratulations to JT Fisher on taking 5th in Cat 1 17-18, Harper on 5th in Cat 2 15-18, Quinn on 3rd in JR 11-14, and Curran on racing his first race!! 

We returned to a snow apocalypse and have been able to take advantage of it with some great turns at Meadows while remaining to keep the wheels moving and preparing for Tennessee National. We have had some great days particularly in Capitol Forest. 
 

Wynn Berns & Tyler Vollopotto

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Snowboard

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Hello Snowboard Families,

We are delighted to be reporting to you from sunny Colorado, but before we get ahead of ourselves, there are some things worth mentioning that happened during the beginning of the month back in Oregon. We were finally blessed with a few snow storms allowing the team to enjoy some proper Pow Days! The team explored parts of Timberline outside of the terrain park that led to new tricks being landed by almost everyone. There’s something contagious about trying new tricks off of a pow jump with minimal consequences if you don’t find yourself back on your feet. With that mentality, the kids took full advantage! Also, we were able to do the legendary run from Timberline Resort down to Government Camp which could be considered a right of passage. If that wasn’t enough, the team took full advantage of snowy evenings riding the upper bowl cliffs at Ski Bowl and spending hours lapping the rail park via the rope tow. Needless to say it was difficult to leave Oregon amidst the snow storms blessing our home but Colorado was calling.

As most of you know, we’ve been here since February 17 and will be staying through March 5. Our time thus far has been nothing short of productive as Copper Mountain has quite possibly the best park we’ve seen them build. The sun has been shinning, the crew has been grinding, and there isn’t much more we could ask for. Some highlights include Isabella, Arianna, and Alessia competing in their first ever Rev Tour event over in Aspen! This is a big milestone for these 3 girls to see what the stage of professional snowboarding looks like being that the course they competed on was the actual X-Games course for 2021. We are proud to share that all 3 girls were able to handle the size of the course and are now that much closer to competing at that level. The rest of the crew has been stacking clips at Copper and pushing their abilities daily. We look forward to our finals days here in Colorado before heading back to campus where the winter storms haven’t seemed to let up.


Cheers,
Elijah Teter, Brandon Sorel & Luke Giacopelli

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Greetings Ski Families!
 

The month of February has been kind to us! We had some beautiful sunny days lapping Timberline in the beginning of the month, and then right before we took off for our trip to CO, a massive storm system blew in dumping over 5 ft of snow in just a weeks time! The snow was deep and the POW skiing was all time! Everyone has been firing on all cylinders working through goals and training hard both on and off snow. 

We successfully made it to CO and have been utilizing our time here training at Woodward Copper. The weather has been very beachy with multiple sunny days in a row! A nice little break from all the snow we had been seeing in OR. A lot of firsts have gone down already, including some new doubles corks, and as the trip starts to wind down everyone is hungry to check off their goals before we head back to OR. 

We’ve have had a great month, and as March approaches we look forward to going home to all the snow, continuing to train hard, and springtime which is right around the corner!


-Brian McCarthy, Kevin Merchant & Griffin Dunne

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Life Improvement through People, Place & Passion

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Fall Semester 2020: The Archive™
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The Archives™. Below you will find a collection of photos taken over the course of our Fall Semester.

The first Surf Trip of the Semester to Pacific City.

The first Surf Trip of the Semester to Pacific City.

The Outdoor Program exploring White River Falls in Central Oregon

The Outdoor Program exploring White River Falls in Central Oregon

Hiking around Mount Hood

Hiking around Mount Hood

The Girls hiking Tamanawa Falls

The Girls hiking Tamanawa Falls

Zoe, Ralphie & Tanner effectively social distance in The Classroom

Zoe, Ralphie & Tanner effectively social distance in The Classroom

Kade & Harper get to work on their favorite activity…Laundry!

Kade & Harper get to work on their favorite activity…Laundry!

Brooke throws down a whip in The Concrete Jungle™

Brooke throws down a whip in The Concrete Jungle™

Jumping around the Outdoor Supertramp

Jumping around the Outdoor Supertramp

Zander throws down a front lip in The Concrete Jungle™

Zander throws down a front lip in The Concrete Jungle™

Head of School Mike Hanley hands out Thanksgiving beverages

Head of School Mike Hanley hands out Thanksgiving beverages

Italian Twins Arianna & Alessia hike a feature

Italian Twins Arianna & Alessia hike a feature

Rico & Owen hold it down in B.O.B

Rico & Owen hold it down in B.O.B

Zander rips a front 5-0 in B.O,B

Zander rips a front 5-0 in B.O,B

Ralphy tallies another trick to the arsenal

Ralphy tallies another trick to the arsenal

Coach Griffen Dunne blasts over The Mulch Jump

Coach Griffen Dunne blasts over The Mulch Jump

The Snowboarders hanging out in some Pow

The Snowboarders hanging out in some Pow

Zoe hangs out on a tube before sending it down!

Zoe hangs out on a tube before sending it down!

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The Skiiers do a group yoga session in B.O.B

The Skiiers do a group yoga session in B.O.B

Luka gets down on The DrySlope™

Luka gets down on The DrySlope™

Sand Skiing on The Oregon Coast

Sand Skiing on The Oregon Coast

Fall Semester was a blast!

Fall Semester was a blast!

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January 2021 Newsletter
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Head of School

The return of staff & students this semester has marked a transitional shift into a new phase of operating here at Wy’East Academy. Our Operational Blueprint has allowed us to continually operating throughout the global pandemic due to our adherence to policies around PPE’s, social distancing & quarantining guidelines. We have more staff & students on campus than ever before as we continue to raise the bar on expectations across all of our programs; our average GPA is higher than it has ever been before, students get more rest than they ever have before & students have already achieved a dozen podiums in competitions. Acceptance letters are arriving daily for our amazing seniors with juniors now beginning the college application process. With the recent news that our staff will be eligible to getting vaccinated beginning January 25th we are now excited to start building out plans for the upcoming Summer & Fall semesters while space will be limited due to the increased interest in the Academy. Registrations have now started to come in for both Summer & Fall, so please make sure to secure your spot for next year while space is still available. Thank you for your continued support with this amazing group of students!

-Mike Hanley

Oregon Sunrise

Academics

January is an exciting time of year. Usually, this month is full of powder, but this time it came with all seasons and fresh faces. We welcomed several new students this semester—at 57 students, we have our largest student body on Wy’East record. Teachers started out the semester by securing course enrollments and ensuring students are well prepared. Each student will master life skills and goal setting with an Advisory Course. The theme for 8th grade is Independent Living, Freshman are focused on Self Reflection, Sophomores are working on Preparation & Passions, Juniors are building their Philosophy, and Seniors are scouring their options for College & Careers. For the initial two weeks, academic hours were held in the cabins (unless students from the same cabin requested or earned extra assistance). We held daily zoom meetings and walked around campus to greet our students through the window or social distancing at the front door. We look forward to opening our classroom doors for more normality in February!

-Kayla, Robbie, and Jaime

Kayla Hokanson’s student of the month is Luka Kuharic for setting high personal goals, staying on track to achieve them, and consistently working ahead of pace.

Robbie Walters’ student of the month: Sierra Semsak.  Sierra is adjusting quickly and is doing a great job of staying on top of her work.

Jaime Vincent’s student of the month is Bradley Morse for being a kind roommate, taking advantage of academic hours and consistently wearing his facemask!

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Student Life

Social Distancing High School

We would like to welcome all the new students and families to Wy’East Academy. Also welcome back returning students and families. The students have settled in and jumped straight into the new year with great spirits. We have been very lucky to have some sunshine for everyone to enjoy the dry slopes and skate park. As the students end their 2 week quarantine, we have some very exciting activities planned out for the semester. The last weekend of January we have the skate team going to cosmic tubing up at Ski Bowl, ski team going to Falls Creek falls, the girls cohort will be battling the Snowboard boys at paintball, and mountain bike going to Skamania Lodge for a day of ziplining. The residential staff are all very excited to get to know our students better as the semester continues.  It's our hope that by setting expectations and establishing a healthy routine early in the semester that all students will succeed in academics and athletics. 
 

-Phil Geyselears, Alissa Hetzel, Byron O'Leary Bay, Nick Garcia, Aaron Reynolds, Natalia Thorenson & Clayton Greenburg

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Freeski

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Greetings Freeski Families!

I hope everyone has enjoyed a happy and healthy holiday break with some time at home with their student athletes! We are excited to have everyone back on campus and to start semester two as strong and safely as possible

Timberline is up and operating at full swing with one of the best park set ups I have seen in my 5 winters at Hood!! There is a wide variety of features to train on giving our athletes the proper stepping stones to ski at the highest level. We hit the ground running week one with 3 double ski days utilizing some of beautiful weather we’ve had to start the semester. 

We have also had a few early opportunities to compete in our local USASA events series. This has provided a great opportunity to get back into that competitive space, and prepare for larger events ahead! Our team had a number of athletes across a variety of age groups finding the podium. The mantra for this season remains “train harder than you compete” and the squad has been doing just that!

- Brian McCarthy, Kevin "Tweak" Merchant & Griffin Dunne

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Mountain Bike

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Dear Mountain Bike Families,

It’s been a great start to a great semester so far filled with a ton of new energy from both new students and staff. The bike program is here to stay and making noise around the industry all before our first race and it's just our first year. Thank you all for being a part of the program from the start, we are excited to continue to build it around you all. We are fortunate to be able to increase our coaching, digging, maintenance and shuttle access. We have ridden the cat, campus, Sandy Ridge, Ravens Ridge, Syncline, and been able to ski and snowboard at both Meadows and Timberline. Students have been working hard doing various drills, picking apart and working on different sections.

We are excited to go to Tennessee and Nevada as a team and get everyone racing and experiencing some awesome new trails and areas.

We are also in the process of ordering some team jerseys and pants and working on a team discount from Dakine to order bike travel cases, and other bike gear. As it continues to be cold we recommend getting cold weather riding gear in particular gloves, waterproof socks, rain jacket and base layers as well as a boot dryer.

More good news, we have a new Trampoline bike and the new airbag is on its way and hoping to get it up in the coming weeks.


-Wynn Berns & Tyler Villopoto

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Skateboard

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Greetings skate families,

I hope everyone had a great holiday break and got to spend some good quality time with their kids. It was very awesome to witness the skate crew roll back on campus with lots of energy and excitement!


Despite a couple injuries, the first 2 weeks of skateboarding has gotten off to a great start. The weather has been gorgeous and we’ve been taking full advantage of it. We’ve done several double days of athletics to soak up as much of this sunshine and to skate as much as possible. We’ve spent a lot of our time exploring the city and skateboarding schoolyards and street spots. It’s been really nice getting them off campus and if everyone can stay on pace with school we will continue to do these long days!


I’m very thrilled to be working with all these kids. This year has been really fun and I’m very excited to see what happens this next semester!

Jamie Weller & David Lobasyuk

skateboard high school

Snowboard

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Hey Families, 

The winter semester is off to an incredible start for the snowboard crew! The energy both on hill and on campus is electric with progression happening in all aspects. We are excited to have everyone back from holiday break and to welcome some new student athletes to the squad who are coming in eager to get after it. The team has been utilizing time on the trampolines, in the skatepark, on the dry slopes, and of course up on the mountain where Timberline has created one of the best terrain parks in the country! The list of new tricks that the kids have learned in the short time since being back is outstanding. They are inspired to film clips on a daily basis producing content that hopefully all of you parents are able to watch and enjoy.  

Along with the media content being pumped out, our crew was able to participate in the first USASA contests of the season for our region. On the female side, Isabella Gerry has been racking up the gold medals in both rail jam and slope style events followed by Hazel Predelski taking home a silver medal. For the boys, a huge congratulations goes to Aaron Gander for earning a silver medal in his first ever slope style contest! To follow him up, both Bradley Morse and Willie (William Parker Ryan) have earned some bronze medals along the way. We would love to see everyone on the team competing in these upcoming USASA events to share in the excitement and have the chance to take home some prizes!  

January has certainly been good to all of us here at Wy’East. We are hoping for Mother Nature to bless with a few pow days in February but until the storms hit, we will gladly be soaking up the sun in one of the best parks around curtesy of Timberline’s park crew. 

 

-Elijah Teter, Brandon Sorel & Luke Giacopelli

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December 2020 Newsletter
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December Newsletter

Skateboard School

Head of School

As our fall semester comes to a close, we are all focused on ending 2020 on a high note. Our seniors have now begun receiving acceptance letters & scholarship offers to universities all over America while the underclassmen are pushing the average GPA higher than it has ever been. More athletic competitions are returning by the day & our coaches have been registering athletes & booking accommodations. Covid vaccines are now being given to front line health care professionals in Oregon with Child Care Agencies being targeted for vaccinations in the spring of 2021. The upcoming winter semester will have the largest group of staff & students in the history of Wy’East Academy & we are looking forward to hosting six cohorts here in January. We are now looking at a waitlist of students for several programs with applications now coming in for the summer & fall semesters, so please make sure to follow up with Dan Tattersfield to reserve your spot for next year. We thank you all for your continued support & wish you a happy & healthy holiday season.

-Mike Hanley

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Academics

action sports high school

December was the month of improving GPAs, preparing for and taking finals, and snowboarding with students and teachers.  We both had tons of fun spending time up the mountain with our students.  

As we wrap up the end of the year, we've reflected on the gratitude we have for our students, this school, and this season.  May everyone have happy holidays with family and friends.  Courses will start on January 11th, but they are available January 1st if anyone would like to get a head start.  We hope next semester students will all be able to maintain and stay ahead of pace.

 Jaime Vincent's student of the month is Alessia Vergani for being proactive, improving her GPA, and creating tunes to play in the background of her snowboard edits.

 Kayla Hokanson's student of the month is Brooke Anderson for her willingness to go above and beyond, her diligence and hard work in getting exceptional grades, and her helpfulness towards her peers.

- Jaime Vincent & Kayla Hokanson

mountain bike high school

Residential

Our Students wrapped up the semester with a trip to a Paintball Course

Our Students wrapped up the semester with a trip to a Paintball Course

We are so proud of how far our students have come from the beginning of the semester to the end. This year has not been easy on anyone but they were able to shine the light on things to make it a great semester. We wrapped up the semester with a few fun activities. The students enjoyed some classic snow tubing up at Ski Bowl. Everyone got to experience snow on campus, we even had a few snowball fights break out! We ended the semester strong with some team building activities at Splat Action to play a couple rounds of paintball. The Skiers played against The Snowboarders and The Mountain Bikers faces off against Skaters. Everyone had a blast in the mud. We hope everyone has a great holiday season and spends some quality time with their family. We look forward to seeing everyone in January!

-Phil Geyselears. Alissa Hetzel, Nick Garcia, Clayton Greenburg, Natalia Thorenson & Aaron Reynolds

Zoe hopping on for a ride while tubing

Zoe hopping on for a ride while tubing


Freeski

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First and foremost as a ski staff we would like to wholeheartedly thank all of you for being a part of an amazing semester! We faced our fair share of challenges along the way, in an ever changing landscape that we knew was going to be unknown, but we managed to stay the course and make the most of the opportunities we were given. We appreciate you all trusting in us to make the right decisions, and your continued support throughout the first semester. We spent a great deal of time and effort into preparing for the upcoming competition season, and as a staff we feel prepared, and all agree that this semester was a great success! We are excited to hit the ground running and take on whatever second semester has in store!

We hope everyone enjoys a happy, healthy holiday break!

-Brian McCarthy, Topher Newett & Griffin Dunne

Luka put in work on The Dry Slope™ this past semester

Luka put in work on The Dry Slope™ this past semester


Mountain Bike

mountain bike high school

Happy Holidays Mountain Bike Families!

 Thank you all for a great first semester of this program. We are excited for the program to grow and to see the students continuing to improve and reach their goals. We are excited to welcome some new students and staff for the second semester. We only have a few more spots available so if you know anyone that is interested please make sure to jump on the opportunity before it is too late.

Since it is the Holiday season we thought it would be good to give some gift ideas that your students would benefit from next semester. First: warm and waterproof riding gear, including multiple riding pants, jacket, gloves, socks and base layers.Second: boot dryer. We plan to ride no matter the weather. 

Hope everyone has a great Holiday Season and we look forward to seeing you all back here very soon, 

-Wynn Berns

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Snowboard

snowboard high school

Well, it happened sooner than expected. Holiday break is upon us and the Fall Semester has come to conclusion. December was jam packed with sunny park laps in the beginning followed by some more traditional Oregon weather that, as we like to say, builds grit! The team got into a routine of waking up, warming up, and training hard followed by afternoon hours focused on academics where that same work ethic expectation has been set. We are incredibly proud of these young adults for what they have accomplished both on and off the hill, all with a sense of lighthearted laughter in everything they do. To say we are excited for next semester is an understatement! But until then, we hope you all are enjoying the time you have together as families celebrating the holiday. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Years and all that! See you back on campus in January.

 

-Elijah Teter, Brandon Sorel & Luke Giacopelli

snowboard high school mount hood

Skateboard

Skateboard high school

Greetings skate families! 

I hope the kids are off to a fantastic Holiday break and I want to wish each of you Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year! I cannot believe the semester is already over with, but It’s been very fun to watch all the kids accomplishing their goals and I’m very excited to see what next semester has in store for us. It’s currently looking like we will have 3 new students joining our program and a new assistant coach as well! 

This has been a year of so many new challenges and I just want to thank all of the students and parents for understanding that we can only control the controllables. In a non-Covid world we would have traveled, competed and filmed so much more. I’m very hopeful that once the vaccine becomes more readily available, we can all get back to business as usual.

While we are on break, please remember to have lots of fun and enjoy as much time as possible with your kids! I cannot wait to hear all about their holiday adventures! Stay safe, stay healthy!

All the best,

Jamie Weller

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Wy'East Academy 2020-2021 Second Semester Orientation

Welcome to the second semester of the 2020/2021 Wy’East Academy school year! For those of you who missed our orientation, have no fear! We recorded the Zoom call and posted it below for your viewing. For any additional questions, please email Mike at mike.hanley@wyeastacademy.com.

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