WY'EAST ACADEMY APRIL 2023 NEWSLETTER

Anthony Jones competing in the USASA 2023 National Championships

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

The Mountain Bike Team touring the University of Tennessee

We are in the final stretch of the school year with less than a month to go & the snow has continued to fly. All of our different programs have continued to progress in their sports as well as the classroom with a new school record on the SAT's as well as podium finishes across all of the disciplines. Our juniors have been taking extra time to visit different college campuses around the country to begin the process of narrowing down their selections for next year while our seniors are taking their final steps towards moving on to the next phase in life. With all of the action going on away from our little island in the woods, it has been hard to ignore the meters of snow that continue to pile up on the mountain which currently has us on track to break a 200 inch base this April! Our snow teams are wrapping up their year at the National Championships in Colorado before the top performers head over to Europe to compete against the world's best. The mountain bikers have been busy stacking up more podiums coast to coast from Tennessee to Washington as the skate crew has dominated the local event series before finishing the year in New York City. There are still spots left for the summer semester, but the 2023-2024 school year is almost full so please make sure to confirm your space with Dan Tattersfield prior to departure day.

Mike Hanley
Head of School

ACADEMICS

The March Students of the Month: Joseph Cromwell and Jack Morris

Greetings Wy'East Families,

During the month of March we hosted the SAT on campus and also transported students to a nearby school for the SAT. This spring, one of our students earned the highest SAT score for Wy'East yet. We will be administering the SAT again next fall, so this summer is an excellent time to prepare by taking an SAT prep class. Please reach out if you have not done so already about summer courses. Students who are on campus for at least four weeks this summer have the opportunity to earn Elite PE credit as well.

Throughout the month of March seniors continued to get more and more college acceptance letters. For the third year in a row, 100% of our seniors have been accepted to four-year universities! We are so proud of our Class of 2023 and are excited to send them off with options. Students are currently concentrated on finishing their courses with the best grades possible, as the last day to work on courses is April 26th.

Lastly, congratulations to our Students of the Month for the month of March: Joseph Cromwell and Jack Morris!

Kayla Hokanson
Academic Director

Joe Cromwell is a stellar student and embodies many of the qualities of a Wy’East athlete. He is responsible, reliable, and receptive. Joe shows up, on time, and owns his decisions. When he says he’s going to do something, he does it. When the occasion for feedback or correction arises, Joe listens carefully, asks questions, and moves forward with the new information. Joe has consistently maintained a high level of performance – both academically and in his sport throughout the term. Joe manages the ever-conflicting dance between training, travel, academics, and being a teenager with a grace that is both inspiring and intimidating. Thank you, Joe! You are a force on this campus and we are lucky to have you with us.
-Hannah Eagle

Jack Morris is an amazing athlete and student! His academic performance is above average and he sets the bar high for the expectations of the students on campus. Jack is also a determined and resilient athlete as he continues to become a stronger skier. We are very proud of Jack’s accomplishments in skiing and his outstanding grades and progress in academics. No matter what path Jack chooses after his time at Wy’East, we know he will continue to be successful and reach new heights. Great job, Jack!
-Loren Terry

STUDENT LIFE

Raf, Jack, and Taylor with their winnings—20lbs of candy!

Greetings Wy’East Families,

The month of March was one of our busiest yet. We started the month off with attending Monster Jam at the Moda Center. Students got to see the famous monster truck Gravedigger do some crazy stunts including a backflip! Generally, the way we have weekends set up, students have a rest/campus day and then on Sundays we do an activity. One of the goals of Student Government this year was to give back to our community. For winter term we signed up for the Special Olympics polar plunge and 5k. It was exciting seeing the stoke that student brought to this fundraiser. We are looking forward to future community involvement. In addition, student government has been working closely with administrative staff in planning weekend activities. This past month we took students bouldering at a local rock climbing gym, went to a nickel arcade, played laser tag, went to the movies, mountain biking on some local trails, got lunch at the Portland food carts, and went to the OMSI (science museum). Some weekend activity highlights included making paper airplanes at the science museum, winning over 20lbs of candy at the arcade, and sampling the local cuisine in Portland. When we aren’t doing activities off campus, students utilize the on campus training facilities to further progress in their sport. On weekends, we have set up the airbag for snowboarders and skiers to practice their tricks on and the best part is when the mountain bikers and skaters throw some skis on and hit the dry slope. The culture we currently have on campus is the best yet and we can’t wait for summer term!

Netanya Beard
Dean of Students

CULINARY

The month of March for the Culinary Department was a bit slower for us. Most of the student/athletes were traveling around the country. It was nice to take care of only 5 students for a few days while everyone else was out training and going to tournaments. It was a nice break for us as we tended to some housekeeping items that needed to be done. We kept the food going with breakfast made to order during this time. And with the few students that we had on campus, I treated them to Dairy Queen for lunch one day. With students returning, we ramp up our food production once again and start making the students favorite meals. With Teriyaki Chicken, Steak and Mash Potatoes, Macaroni and Cheese to name a few. At lunch, we have our favorites of McRib Sandwiches, Chicken Tenders (students favorite), Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches. For Breakfast, Eggs Benedict is becoming more of a popular dish. So, I have started to make it weekly for the students. As we head into the final month of Winter Term, I can not wait to showcase the Culinary Department’s finer side of food with our Graduation menu! Hopefully, I will be able to say hello to all that comes.

Travis Gibson
Culinary Director

FREESKI

Dax Watter enjoying a bluebird day of skiing

The Freeski team had a great March that was full of tons of snow and bottomless turns! In Tahoe students competed in the Futures Tour with our very own Hugh MacMenamin taking the top spot! In addition to the excellent performances at Futures, students skied some insane powder in Tahoe. Coming from Tahoe the snow followed us back to Hood where it just didn’t want to stop snowing! We’ve had some unforgettable powder days this month as well as still being able to get some training days in. As we approach the end of the term we are heavily focused on preparing for nationals. Specifically, we have been supporting students with focusing on their competitive mindset as well as dialing in potential comp runs. In addition to preparing for competitions, students have enjoyed many days as well as some night skiing at Skibowl. What makes skibowl special is that their rope tow paired with one of the most creative parks on Mt. Hood. Students were able to utilize the park at Skibowl to learn new tricks, create edits for social media and get a million laps in a 3-4hr pieces. Looking into this next month we are excited for Nationals and starting to plan and ramp up for a great summer term with all this snow!

-Brian, Topher, and Cameron

SNOWBOARD

Brady Campbell competing in the USASA 2023 National Championships

Hello Snowboard Team Families!

We’ve had another awesome month of riding, training, and traveling to new places. Just like the rest of the west coast, the Pacific Northwest has been getting pounded with snow, bringing some epic pow days at both Meadows and Timberline. The team has been taking full advantage of the new snow, working on a more freeride aspect of snowboarding which has been super fun for everyone. Even with all the snow we were still able to make it in the park for those competing to start getting dialed for their USASA National Championships at Copper Mountain in Colorado. The rest of the squad also spent their time training in the park as well with bigger features becoming smaller with the rising snow level.

Mid March we packed up the vans and made the 14 hour drive to Mammoth, California to ride their world class parks and for a couple of our athletes to compete in a REV tour. Unfortunately, Mammoth also is having a record snow year, burying the course and forcing them to cancel the event. Staying true to our beliefs, we turned that obstacle into an opportunity and shifted focus of the trip to “content creation” and preparation for nationals. It took a lot of hard work by Mammoth’s terrain park staff but by day 3 there were three perfect jumps in the medium park, three jumps in the small park, and loads of features throughout the mountain which made something for everyone. We were blessed with 3 blue bird days which brought some awesome content and some defined goggle tans. Another “mammoth” sized storm was supposed to roll in the night before we left, causing us to make the decision to drive part way back home and stay a night in Reno before continuing the journey back to campus.

We came home to some perfect weather and an amazing park set up at Timberline and Meadows. Timberline built a line of decent sized jumps, allowing the ones that wanted to push their limits the resources to do so. We were able to get a few nice weather days at both resorts before, in typical Oregon fashion, it started dumping snow again bringing some of the deepest pow turns and a whole lot of laughs & smiles ripping around Meadows just before nationals competitors departed for Colorado.

We took 7 riders to Nationals to compete against the top riders in the country while the rest of the squad trained with Elijah, and from what it seems, it still hasn’t stopped snowing! The main focus at this point is getting everyone finished up with their classes and ending the semester strong! We wish you all the best and hope you have heard great things from your kids about how the winter semester has played out.

-Stewart and Brandon

MOUNTAIN BIKE

Joseph Cromwell doing a bar spin during the Tennessee National Competition

We had a good March despite being in the full swing of winter in the PNW. The students that had passes went up on the hill and were able to take advantage of the snow. Those that don’t have passes, we spent time in the gym working out and getting ready for the upcoming trip to Windrock, TN for the Tennessee National.

Our trip to Tennessee is one of our personal favorites and this last trip is high on the list for favorite trip of the semester. We were welcomed with warm weather and clear skies. The team took full advantage of the opportunity we had to ride our bikes. There were trials and tribulations at the beginning of the trip with difficult conditions during the Enduro Race and early injuries on the team. Even though we had a tough start to the trip, the students were able to push through those tough times and we had a lot of success on the trip. During the Freestyle Jam, our students were shining in the crowd of participants during the event. Harper ended up winning best trick during the jam and Barb won for the women’s category. That success was carried over to the downhill race with Harper finishing 3rd in cat2/3 15-18 men with Boden coming in 1st in that category. Etan came in 4th in a stacked junior expert category. We hope to carry this success through the rest of the semester and end on a high note.

-Kevin and Asa

SKATEBOARD

Brazen, Miky, and Tag sharing a laugh during training on campus

Hello Skate Families,

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summers and getting lots of skating in. We had a blast with a very busy summer of skate camp. I’ve been working hard to get skate trips planned out for the upcoming school year. The big trips are looking like San Francisco CA in October, Southern CA in November, and Phoenix AZ in December. Each of these trips we will be meeting with industry heads, visiting schools, doing some sightseeing, and skating a ton of stuff. These locations have so much to offer, our exact itinerary will be based on the students' individual goals. I am looking forward to working with the students to help them develop and achieve their long term and short term goals.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. We will be having a parents zoom call to discuss the year in more detail and address any questions here soon. I have no doubt that this school year is going to be epic and can not wait to start skating with everyone!

Brian Johnson

Guest UserApril 1, 2023

WY'EAST ACADEMY MARCH 2023 ACADEMY

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

The Snowboard Team visiting Westminster College

Winter has fully arrived with record breaking snow dumping all around the United States. Our ski & snowboard teams hit the road to chase the snow in Utah, Idaho & California while our Mountain Bikers made the most of red rock country in Southern Utah. The skate crew escaped to Southern California & all of the students had the chance to visit universities & action sports brands while keeping up with their sports & academics. Much like the snow, the word is out about the amazing accomplishments of all of the students so new applications have been coming into our admissions department faster than Dan can keep up with. At this point there is more interest than there are beds available so if you are planning to attend the Academy this summer or fall please make sure to get your paperwork in prior to April 1 in order to lock in last year's rate.

Mike Hanley
Head of School

ACADEMICS

February Students of the Month Mike Nilan and Ryan Buttars

Greetings Wy'East Families,

February was a transitional month on the academic front. After two weeks of training, Hannah and Loren took over the classrooms. Midterms were sent out in February, followed by Parent Teacher Conferences. The transition has been so smooth, and we are so grateful for all of the support!

We continue to get more and more college acceptance letters from all over the country and some internationally as well. We are so proud of our seniors and look forward to celebrating them this April.

Yearbooks are available to order now. The yearbooks are hardcover with 68 colored pages. The yearbooks are $36.50 and will be shipped to campus during the last week of school. The deadline to order yearbooks is March 30th. The link to purchase the yearbook is below:
https://www.treering.com/purchase?PassCode=1016450563251701

Lastly, congratulations to our February Students of the Month: Mike Nilan and Ryan Buttars!

Kayla Hokanson
Academic Director

Mike Nilan is an amazing student! He sets the example for his peers with his work ethic, maturity, and great grades. Every day, Mike comes into class with a great attitude and works hard at his studies and is constantly improving his GPA. Additionally, he has been staying ahead in his classes. Mike is able to manage multiple tasks including his leadership role in student government and having exceptional skiing skills. No matter what path he takes after his time at Wy'East Academy, I know he will be successful. Mike has set the bar high for his peers!
-Loren Terry

Ryan Buttars is an excellent nominee for February’s Student of the Month! Buttars is an incredibly diligent and self-directed young man. Buttars arrives early to class each day with a focused plan of action. He is personable and kind, but doesn’t let distractions deter him in the classroom. Occasionally, Buttars makes the choice to work through a break in order to make time for other activities. Despite his relatively young age, Buttars is a leader on campus. He maintains positive composure in stressful situations, and responds to feedback with enthusiasm. Buttars, thank you so much for your example of determination.
-Hannah Eagle

STUDENT LIFE

The students posting up in front of a monster truck

Greetings,

This past month went by even faster than January. The month was filled with competitions, rail jams, weekend activities, snow on campus and working hard in school. On the residential side of things, we started the month of with going to the Oregon Zoo and then grabbing dinner at one of Portland’s oldest family-friendly diners that opened in 1935. The following weekend due to a busy schedule of competitions students had the option to go get manicures and pedicures and I would say the best part was the foot massages. For Super Bowl Sunday the Student Government helped plan a party in the cafe with the new big screen TV that we just got installed. Students helped staff move couches into the cafe and assisted the culinary department in creating a delicious menu for the Super Bowl party. Of most importance the Student Government led by Joseph Medley completed their first fundraising project for getting a cable machine for the gym. I am incredibly proud of the dedication and hard work the Student Government put into this project and we can’t wait for the new cable machine to arrive on campus! Furthermore, the Student Government helped plan a weekend activity where we rented out Common Ground Wellness which is a cooperative healing center with a soaking pool, sauna and cold shower. Looking into this upcoming month we are excited for more trips, night skiing at Skibowl and memorable weekend activities.

Netanya Beard
Dean of Students

CULINARY

Greeting from the Culinary Department,

The month of February has been a good one for the Culinary Department. We have seen all the students to a few students come in and eat in the café this past month. It is good to see everyone come in and enjoy the food that is provided for them. A few things that happened this month are, we hosted a Super Bowl Party for the students to come in and watch the big game on the big screen TV. We have finally got our industrial toaster up and running. Thanks to the hard work of Archer and Jim for taking the time to get the toaster up and running.

On the food side of things, Kellen has done a good job of switching up the dinner menu each night to provide the students with a wide range of entrees. He has made Teriyaki Chicken to Shepard’s Pie for the students, which they have all enjoyed! While Jacob has started to branch out on his own over the weekends. Where he has started to make Chicken Alfredo, to Burritos and other student favorites. While breakfast and lunch have been the usual causal fair of items. One morning, we did Eggs Benedicts for the students, which they all liked.

For the upcoming month, most of the teams will be traveling around the US. So, we will see an influx of students coming to the café for food.

Travis Gibson
Culinary Director

FREESKI

Charlie, Charles, and Will getting ready to compete

Greetings Freeski Fam!
Wow what a epic last month for our ski team!

Starting it off with Futures at Woodward Park City where we got to ride a amazing park and compete on a amazing course with blue bird weather all week!

The big mountain competitors went on a week long trip up to Washington to compete in the IFSA Big Mountain Series. First at Steven’s Pass tackling a great venue then off to The Summit at Snowqualmi. We got blessed with fresh snow for both venues which is a rare occasion and the kids had a blast and put down some solid runs on some very intense terrain.

Meanwhile back on Mt Hood the rest of the team enjoyed 24 inches of fresh snow with a temp of 5 degrees which was the coldest driest snow Mt. Hood has seen in a decade. We smashed runs at Meadows for two days and skied till our legs were jello.

Following the endless snow storm the whole team ventured to Tahoe, arriving with epic timing to get a storm that started Sunday and ended Tuesday night with a total of 86 inches of powder! Wednesday was a blue bird day with so much snow it was literally crazy. Half the squad competed in the Futures Tour event at North Star while the other half trained/skied at Squaw Valley. Our second day there it literally snow so much all roads and resorts were closed and we wasted no time building some jumps at our lakeside condo. As the storm cleared and the event had been postponed the entire team enjoyed an 86” deep day at Squaw Valley where we truly skied the deepest snow they had seen there in 10 years. Finishing up that trip we scored a couple podium spots, countless face shots and all left with glowing memories and foggy goggles.

We will back at campus this week training focusing on training harder than we compete as we prepare to depart for Mammoth next week. The team collectively has unmatched comradery making for the ultimate positive learning experience.

-Brian, Topher, & Cameron

SNOWBOARD

Hello Snowboard Team Families!

We’re back for another Newsletter recap of what the team has been up to and I’m happy to say that February was full of awesome progression on-hill, lots of different terrain parks, and plenty of pow! When the team returned from the Midwest trip, we were greeted with a big storm cycle filling in the areas of the resorts that needed it the most and offered up some deep days at both Timberline and Meadows. Between the storms, the team was busy. We had two slopestyle contests at Meadows, and a quick trip down to Mt. Bachelor, followed by two more slopestyle contests before taking off for Idaho and Utah.

On the contest side, all USASA competitors basically swept the podiums putting on a great show of the tricks that they’ve been working on, and dialing in their competitive mindset for when the stakes become higher at bigger events. It’s looking like everyone has qualified for Nationals in slopestyle, though we are waiting to get confirmation once invitations start to go out. We are super proud of the group that pushed themselves into these competitions, and are looking forward to seeing how they do on the big stage at Copper. I’ll be keeping you all in the loop about Nationals once the invites start to be sent out.

Mt. Bachelor was an epic two day trip for everyone to experience a new resort with different features not too far from home. We caught some incredible weather day 1 with blue skies & sunshine met with both fresh pow and a groomed park. Day 2 was a bit more “Oregon like” with the weather but the parks were riding so good.

To wrap up the month, the team loaded up the vans to drive East on HWY 84 to Idaho and then onto Salt Lake City. The main objectives of this trip was to create social content at new places, learn new tricks and get the reps in on larger features, and learn about the colleges of that area for the future. Our first stop was at Bogus Basin to ride some of their park features that became notable in the High Cascade parks in the past. Then we continued onto Salt Lake where we showed up to a massive storm cycle giving the team some of the deepest days with the best snow quality at Brighton Resort. Then the weather switched to sunny, warm and calm for our park days at Woodward Park City where the team crushed it by filming clips and getting in the reps on bigger features. Utah was kind enough to bless us with one final deep pow day at Brighton before loading back up and driving West to campus.

All and all, February was a big success for the team, and I think it’s safe to say that everyone is pushing themselves to ride harder, faster, and with more confidence. We’re gearing up for our next team trip down to Lake Tahoe and Mammoth--so there’s a big academic push for all the kids to get ahead and be prepared for another 8 days on the road. California has been having a record snow year, so things should be good! As always, thank you for your support this season, and we wish you all the best.

-Brandon & Stew

MOUNTAIN BIKE

Superman, AKA, Aiden Parish in Virgin, UT

We had an amazing February! Our time on campus for the first two weeks gave us warmer weather with little to no rain allowing us to make the most of our training time prior to our trip to Utah. There were a lot of airbag sessions and a lot of time spent in the backyard, building on skills and dialing in tricks. We continued with our workouts in the gym, adding the strength needed to remain healthy and stronger riders. The clear skies allowed us to get back to our scheduled shuttle days which was nice to get back on that program.

The second half of February took us to the Freeride wonderland that is Virgin, Utah. It feels like every time we go to Utah, the current trip out shines the previous one and the same goes for this one. Despite the weather that we had to deal with, the crew made the most out of their trip, getting in plenty of riding and pushing their limits. This trip allowed the students, the future talent of the sport, to spend time with professional riders, the current talent in the sport. It was awesome to see the students be able to mix it up with the pros and learn from them while they were on the trip.

We are looking forward to seeing what the rest of the semester holds for the team!

-Kevin & Asa

SKATEBOARD

Hi Families,

February has been an eventful month for the skate program. We have had a mix of nice sunny weather and blankets of snow. On the nice days we took full advantage of skating the jungle and features scattered all over campus. We hosted the second event of the Seek Contest series on the 12th. This event was a game of S.K.A.T.E. on new curbs in Bob. Tag took 2nd place in the event and is in 1st place in points for the series. The next event will be a Jam in Bob on March 12th.

Our trip to Southern California was a success despite getting hit with some heavy rain and snow warnings. It was very cool to be in downtown LA and see the San Gabriel Mountains in the background covered in snow. We took advantage of the dry days skating and checking out spots from Glendale to San Diego. The students put in a lot of work every time we got out of the car to get the most out of the time we had. On rainy days we visited UCSD and SDSU campus. We also got a tour of Seager clothing, talking to them about what it takes to start a clothing company and grow it from garage to multilevel office/warehouse in San Clemente. We spent about 3 hours at the Palace store in West Hollywood seeing what life is like working in a high end boutique skate shop. Palace started in London in 2009 and is considered the top of the top in high end fashion that originated in skateboarding. Needless to say, it was a very cool experience.

Looking forward to March being another eventful month!

-Brian Johnson

CABLE MACHINE ADDITION

I would like to commend the student government, especially Joseph Medley with fundraising to get the academy a new Cable Machine for our gym. These guys requested something, I got back to them with 8 bullet points of what would need to happen for this to be considered and they delivered it in our next meeting together. From there they lined everything up and made it easy for us to continue to say yes. They set a vision around something they believed in and then did what is necessary to get it done. Thank you guys for this, it’s going to be such a great addition to making this facility even more world class!

Elijah Teter
Athletic Director

Guest UserMarch 1, 2023

WY'EAST ACADEMY FEBRUARY 2023 NEWSLETTER

Students hiking Latourell Falls in the Columbia River Gorge

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Mountain Bike team visiting YT Industries

Another year has come & gone with a new year passing to bring us into 2023. Once again, we have had another record-breaking arrival day for our largest student body in the history of Wy'East Academy. All of our programs have been making the most of the new year hitting the road & taking advantage of the sunshine in Oregon. Everyone has managed to get some time up on the mountain to enjoy all of our snow matched by the green grass back on campus. Competition results have been flooding in from the mountain bikers as well as the ski & snowboard programs. Everyone has been staying busy hitting the road to California, Nevada, Vermont, Canada, Italy, Utah & Colorado to get shots & stack up podiums in addition to our local USASA Mount Hood Series. 13 of our 15 seniors have now been accepted to four year universities with our final two waiting to hear back any day now. Even our senior leadership team get the chance to hit the road to attend a conference focused on development working with the Murdock Trust so it has been a period of growth on many different levels. Our PTO has continued to raise the bar of expectations proving to be invaluable advocates for the Academy & we cannot thank them enough for all of their help through good times as well as those that challenge us to improve. If you have not attended a PTO meeting, we are always looking for more voices at the table in addition to our weekly "Coffee with Hanley" every Tuesday at 11:15am. Thank you very much for your continued support & input.

Mike Hanley
Head of School

ACADEMICS

The students of the month for January: Will Baker and Ole Hubbard

Greetings Wy'East Families,

January has been a busy month on the academic front! We appreciate all the support as we make the teacher transition. I'm so grateful for the way Hannah and Peter helped improve lives at Wy'East--they will be missed. I'm also so excited to welcome our new teachers Hannah Eagle and Loren Terry. Students will remain in their current classroom settings, and we plan to make a seamless transition. Thank you again for all of your support! Meet the new teachers during the Parent Teacher Virtual Conferences on February 23rd & 24th. Look out for sign up link in the progress report this week. Midterm Report Cards will be sent out on February 22nd.

Parents of seniors, please send me baby pictures, portraits, action shots, and a congratulatory paragraph for your students if you have not done so already. Those are due for the yearbook by February 28th. Yearbooks will be shipped to the school during the last week of school. The yearbook is hardcover, 68 colored pages, and $36.50. The last day to purchase the yearbook is March 31st. Here is the link to purchase the yearbook: https://www.treering.com/purchase?PassCode=1016450563251701

Graduation is also right around the corner. Everyone is invited to Graduation on April 27th. Each senior gets two complimentary tickets, all other tickets are $20 each. The luncheon and dinner is provided. Please reach out if you did not receive the itinerary pdf. Please RSVP using this form by March 1st.

Lastly please reach out if your student will be taking the SAT on campus, March 1st. It's also not too late to sign up for the SAT on March 11th. The late registration deadline is February 28th. Please select the Parkrose Sr High School when registering. Contact me if you have any questions.

Congratulations to our January Students of the Month: Will Baker and Ole Hubbard!

Kayla Hokanson
Academic Director

I have chosen Will Baker for January student of the month. Will has aimed for nothing less than perfection since day one of this semester--he has been striving to get a stellar 100% in each class. So far, his efforts have earned him an amazing 4.12 GPA, all while working ahead of pace in his classes. Will has been proactive about asking for help and tackles missed questions right away so that the content is still fresh in his brain-- an awesome strategy. Will is one of the first students to arrive to class each day and always has a positive attitude that keeps classroom vibes high. Keep up the inspiring work, Will!
-Hannah Green

For January, my student of choice has got to be Ole. Based on his productivity and grades, it would be almost impossible to tell that this was his first month here. Ole has a fantastic work ethic, and was able to transition to our system swiftly and efficiently. Right from the beginning Ole was turning in stellar work, and that's been the norm from him since then. That is why I am awarding him with Student of the Month for January.
-Peter Ellis

STUDENT LIFE

Greetings,

With the first month of winter term in the books we can’t begin to say how stoked we are on how things are going. We currently have the most students on campus that we have ever had. During the week students have been busy with athletics, school, cabin cleaning, spending the evenings in BOB, hitting the gym, polar plunging in the backyard, dry sloping, and once a week we have also been taking them night skiing. Night skiing at SkiBowl is a fan favorite among the students. In addition, Student Government has been meeting once a week and working closely with administrative staff to create the best campus experience for every student. Most notably, Student Government has been fundraising for a new cable machine in the gym. Furthermore, Student Government has been collaborating with staff on planning weekend activities. We started off the first weekend of winter term going to Top Golf and the students had a blast. The next weekend we went and explored some waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge as well as going and checking out McMinville Waterpark. The students' favorite waterslide was the toilet bowl slide. The following weekend students had the option to go see Avatar in 3D or go to the Oregon Zoo. Even though Avatar 2 was over three hours long, students enjoyed the movie and can’t wait for Avatar 3 to come out! This last weekend on Saturday we took the students to Portland for the day where we hit up the local skate shops, food carts and some thrift stores. We had a relaxing day on Sunday where students had the option to go into town for manicures and pedicures. This past month has been a blur and we are looking forward to the rest of the term!

Netanya Beard
Dean of Students

culinary

Greetings All,

Hopefully everyone had a great New Year and the first month of 2023 has treated you guys well!

For the Culinary Department, it has been good for us!

First, we have upgraded all our plate wares from plastic to ceramic. This is a start to help elevate the experience in the cafe. We are in the process of getting our toaster up and running in the next few weeks.

Overall, the month of January was mellow for us, with teams traveling. Though, we did bring our “A” game this first month with the food that we provided. The students are been liking Kellen’s dinners at night. Along with the desserts that he has been whipping up! For lunch, the students have been hitting the hot food items that we have been providing. A good example is we served some “Old School” Open Face Beef Sandwiches, mashed potatoes and gravy. As well as, students favorites chicken tenders and fish sticks. And for breakfast, we have been doing the normal options with other treats like Biscuits and Gravy! The oatmeal with cinnamon apples have been a hit as well.

This coming month, we will be providing Teriyaki Chicken and Stir Fry Vegetables, Burritos, BBQ night and a Korean Night. To name a few menu options. As well as getting our house made muffins and cinnamon rolls out in the morning time. With a few other items up our sleeves!

That is it for now and Thank You All!!

Travis Gibson
Culinary Director

freeski

Hugh, Luka, and Anders getting ready to drop in for their runs at the Calgary Nor-Am Slopestyle

Greeting Freeski Families,

Where has January gone! We have been grinding both figuratively and literally out here in Oregon making the most of all the Volcano has to offer. With 7 new students joining us for the second semester the energy on the team is at an alltime high! With Timberline and Mt Hood Meadows both offering up good training venues for the squad. We have had the pleasure of having both Head of School, Mike Hanley and Athletic Director, Elijah Teter jumping in and helping us out on the hill. Both bring insane coaching experience to the table and it has been awesome watching them pass their knowledge down to the team. We have seen a lot of progression so far and a lot of “firsts'' have gone down. We really look forward to keeping this train moving and bringing that energy into the months to come! Although some travel has been going on for contests, most of the team travel will be in March and April, so we are looking forward to getting everyone on the road and exploring some of the resorts the west coast has to offer!

-Toph, Cam & Breeze

snowboard

Hello Snowboard Families!

What an awesome start to the winter semester we’ve had! The snowboard team just returned from our Midwest rope tow trip, swept another local USASA contest and are planning for our trip to Utah coming up in the near future.

Our Midwest trip was jam packed with 6 days of riding at 5 different “mountains” (hills) and got a total of 10 sessions. We started day 1 with a small session at Wild Mountain where kids were able to get comfortable on the snow as well as riding the rope, to ease into what the week was going to look like. We then cruised over one of the most popular rope tow parks, Trollhaugen, where kids were able to find some airtime and be around the Midwest culture that seems to produce some of the best snowboarders in the country.

The next two days took place at Buck Hill where we met their marketing coordinator to trade social media content for tickets! The team got to get a glimpse at what most professional snowboarders do when traveling to new resorts and get complimentary tickets. With 3 different ropes, 3 different park setups, a half pipe, and a full slopestyle course that some of the crew was competing on the next day, there was something for everyone. That Saturday was the USASA contest and I will say, Brando and I enjoyed watching the kids compete and push themselves against kids who live on the ropes of the Midwest. As well as comparing who had more ice on their eyelashes at any time during the contest.

Sunday we decided to have half a rest day, starting the day checking out Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) where they let us check out their main gallery where students and professors displayed some of their biggest projects and studies from over the years. From there we went to the University of Minnesota, toured around the campus and got to experience walking over the Mississippi River. The temperature may have been in the single digits and the kids were itching to get back in the van, but we were able to find a museum on the way back where we checked out more art and were able to warm up before making the final trek back to the van. Later that day we were able to squeeze in another rope session at Elm Creek; another resort with 3 ropes and 3 parks built on a 80 vertical feet hill that actually ended up being a favorite for a couple kids on the team. The amount of laps and repetition of tricks you can get at these places is unmatched!

The rest of the week we got two sessions at Hyland Hills, which had more rails and jumps set up than the rest of the mountains combined, made a trip back to Wild and Troll in Wisconsin, and also made a trip back to Elm Creek to finish off the trip. Our focus over the week was getting clips of each other, making edits, and learning how to market oneself and promote the academy with the use of social media. So I hope you at least saw a video or two of your kid ripping in the Midwest!

The snowboard team is preparing for a trip to Utah where we’ll get to check out a couple of the most popular snowboard schools in the west, the University of Utah and Westminster College. We’ll also get to experience working with the park crew at Woodward Park City, and riding one of the most popular resorts in the snowboard scene, Brighton. Until then, training at Meadows and Timberline, and getting caught up in the classroom is the main focus! Can't wait to see what the team brings in the month of February!

-Stewart & Brando

mountain bike

We had a good start to the semester with our trip to San Clemente and Bootleg Canyon. After a long and grueling drive down to San Clemente from Wy’East Academy, we were welcomed with the California sunshine. The students had the option of going to the skatepark in San Clemente or go surfing at T-Street in San Clemente. After the skatepark, the students joined the crew on the beach and created some amazing Slopestyle courses out of the sand and worked on their parkour skills. In true fashion, we managed to bring the rain with us to southern California and made the most out of those rainy days by visiting UC Irvine and shuttling in San Diego. There was a good mix of rain and sunshine during this trip and on our sunny days we made sure to take full advantage of that with shuttling in Laguna, riding Clairemont skatepark in San Diego, with the highlights of visiting YT and riding with Dylan Stark.

A big thanks to Asa for putting together our tour with YT and giving the students the opportunity to ride with Dylan Stark at his trails in Lake Elsinore. Dylan is one of the most creative riders in the mountain bike world and a good role model for the students to look up to as he puts in so much effort to building trails, riding as much as possible and maintaining a good relationship with his community and the future generations of the sport. Asa was able to get Harper and Aiden on the same program that he is on with YT, where they are going to receive a loaner bike for the year. This is a great opportunity for those two to build a relationship with the brand with the hopes of leading to a future sponsorship. Lastly, we at Wy’East Academy now have a partnership with YT Industries where the students that attend can get 20% off all bikes in the YT lineup.

Our second leg of the journey brought us to Bootleg Canyon in Nevada for the Southwest Regional Championship. On this trip, Asa and Barb took the students to Anthem Skatepark in Las Vegas, we shuttled Bootleg Canyon the day before the event began, and the students who didn’t race had a skatepark/street day in Boulder City, NV. We had a great time at Bootleg and were able to come away with some medals from the racing with Curran- 2nd in dual slalom, Rodrigo- 2nd in Cat 3 15-18 men, and Etan- 2nd in Cat 1 17-18 men.

While on campus we have been blessed with little to no rain, allowing us to spend time in the backyard riding the trails and airbag. During this time we have also continued our workouts in the gym and on the spin bikes to maintain and increase the levels of fitness for the students. Elijah has also been taking the students that want to go snowboarding up on the hill in the morning. Since being on campus we have had a healthy mix of activities that has kept morale high and the students stoked.

-Kevin Simpers and Asa McGill-Howe

skateboard

Hi Families,

January has been a great month for us up on campus! It has been cold but fairly dry so we have been able to skate the jungle and get off campus a lot. Getting off campus we have been able to spend a few days doing double athletics, going to Portland and Eugene. Everyone is pretty excited to snowboard right now as well so we are trying to go up on hill once a week for some cross training. In the gym we have been spending a lot of time working on stretching (pre and post skating) and ankle/core strengthening. The first Seek Game of S.K.A.T.E. on flatground was won by our very own Miky! Miky beat out Tag in the finals to take the win and the cash! Looking forward to heading down to Southern California with the students here soon in February for some warm sunny weather, college tours, and lots of skating!

-Brian Johnson

time to say goodbye

Hannah Green and Peter Ellis’ last day is February 10th.

As my time at Wy'East comes to a close, I wanted to express my deepest appreciation to all of the staff, parents, and most of all, students who have made my time here so special and memorable. I knew from my first day on campus, even before I met the students, that I was about to meet a special group of young adults, and yet they still managed to surpass my expectations in so many ways. Each one of them has inspired me and made me laugh, and taught me so much in a short period of time. In all my time working with youth, I don't think I've ever met a group of young people so driven and passionate about their interests who are also so humble, kind, and joyful.

I had the privilege of watching Ski and Snowboard's USASA competition at Meadows this weekend, and seeing them practice their sport in person for the first time, it truly hit home how much these students accomplish in their daily lives. To not only go through the daily rigors of high school but at the same time pursue their passion with full force is incredible, and I'll be inspired by their joie-de-vivre for long after my time here is done. I'll miss the students greatly, but hope to stay in touch and hear about their many accomplishments to come. Thank you all again for helping to shape such wonderful young adults, and for all the support during my time at Wy'East. Enjoy the rest of the Winter Term!

-Hannah Green

I have met a lot of interesting and amazing staff members while working at Wy'East. From Olympic level coaches, to phenomenal photographers, to incredible chefs; everyone at Wy'East has an interesting back story. Having such a diverse group of people is a great way to help support these students to follow whatever interests they might be leaning towards. I will definitely miss that diversity on campus as I move into the next stage of my life, and the lessons I learned from them will stay with me.

The students at Wy'East have definitely been the highlight of my time at Wy'East. They are hard working, determined, resourceful, and on top of that they are really really funny. There was never a dull day while in the classroom, and the students definitely kept me on my toes. I don't think I have been in a classroom with as much energy and humor as I have her at Wy'East, and that liveliness is what I will miss most. So thank you all for the intriguing conversations, continue to pursue the things that interest you, and I hope to see you at the skatepark someday.

-Peter Ellis

now introducing our new teachers

My name is Hannah Eagle, and I arrived at Wy'East by way of Salt Lake City, Utah, where I taught sixth grade in the general education classroom for the last four years. Prior to classroom teaching, I taught in an outdoor education program in the Tetons, and am excited to work with outdoor athletes at Wy'East. I have a BA of Humanities with an emphasis in English Literature and Outdoor Leadership from BYU-I and am currently pursuing a Masters of Education with an emphasis in English Pedagogy from WGU. During my free time, I enjoy rock climbing, fly fishing, and skiing with my dog Baldwin.
-Hannah Eagle

Hello! My name is Loren Terry. I am originally from Mason, OH--just 30 minutes north of Cincinnati. I finished high-school in 2013 and went on to study Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. I received my Bachelors in 2017. I grew up snowboarding and instructing at Perfect North Slopes, Indiana. After college, I moved abroad to be an English Teacher. I taught English in Uttaradit, Thailand and in Harbin, China. After returning to the states, I worked in Manhattan, NY for the International Rescue Committee’s Refugee Youth Summer Academy. Here I helped students with their English, transitioning to an American lifestyle, and taught American sports. After this, I spent 4 years serving as a Lieutenant in the Marines where I spent most of my time in Okinawa, Japan. I had the privileges of leading and training Marines and then helping them transition out of the military and apply for colleges or look for jobs. Health & fitness is another one of my passions. I received a Master’s of Science in Sports and Health Sciences in 2022 and became a certified personal trainer and nutritionist. I am very thankful to have the opportunity to be a teacher at Wy’East Academy and I am looking forward to getting to know everyone!
-Loren Terry

Guest UserFebruary 1, 2023

SECOND ANNUAL "GOOD IN THE WOODS" RECAP

“The 2022 Good in the Woods Annual Fundraiser for Wy'East Mountain Academy was the best one yet by every possible metric. Thanks to the generous donations of friends, families & brand partnership we were able to bring in nearly three times as much money to help towards building the best landing bag in the world, tuition assistance & campus improvements. The night was highlighted by all of the new trip donations to Taiwan, France, Canada & all across the US. Not to be outdone by the experiences that drove the bidding through the night, the selection of hardgoods really did make it feel like Christmas time with all of the donated skis, snowboards, skate decks, mountain bikes & outerwear. The bar has continued to raise & we look forward to seeing an even better event next year at the 2023 Good in the Woods.”

- Mike Hanley, Head of School

MORE PHOTOS HERE

We also launched an exciting new campaign at Good IN The Woods for a new dryslope and landing bag on campus. Currently, our students and Olympic teams from around the world travel to Banger Park in Austria to train on the best landing bag feature in the world. Now Wy’East has partnered with Banger’s owner and chief designer to produce the best-in-the-world feature here at Mt. Hood on Wy’East’s campus. Of the $4 million project we have approximately $3.5M secured. The need: $500,000 to make this project a reality. To learn more about the project and to make a tax-deductible contribution, please click below.

LANDING BAG CAMPAIGN

Jake HowellJanuary 30, 2023

WY'EAST ACADEMY JANUARY 2023 NEWSLETTER

Staff and students unveiling the new plans to add a game changing landing bag

a letter from the head of school

“The landing bag is like the internet in the ‘90s, you’ll adapt or fall behind.” -Nick Goepper

It is hard to believe that it is now the year 2023 & we still do not have flying cars. December of 2022 was action packed at Wy'East Academy with near record breaking snow on the mountain & our most successful annual fundraiser ever. Good in the Woods brought in a total of nearly three times the amount of money as we did last year to go towards capital projects like the Find Your Grind Scheidel Learning Lab & the landing bag on campus in addition to record breaking tuition assistance to help bring down the cost to come to Wy'East Mountain Academy. You can help our students any time of year through the AmazonSmile program AmazonSmile: You shop. Amazon gives or donate directly towards any project at Wy'East Mountain Academy - Ways to Give (wyeastacademy.com). Acceptance letters continued to flow in for our seniors allowing them to focus on finishing their high school experience strong. We are looking forward to another first with our winter semester of 2023 utilising every bed on campus pushing us all to look at how to make the most out of every opportunity we have in front of us. All of the programs have hit the road with more travel planned for the upcoming semester. We thank you for your continued insights & support to make this the best Academy in the world.

-Mike Hanley

academics

December was an exciting end to the semester! For the Advisory Course, several students practiced their presentation skills by presenting a slideshow of their favorite trick to an audience comprised of their peers and staff members. Students delivered information on the history of the trick, how to learn the trick, and gave examples of the trick being done. This was an awesome learning experience for all! We will surely include this assignment in future Advisory Courses. The average GPA was an impressive 3.51--awesome work, everyone! Lastly, twenty students earned a spot on the Dean's List by having a semester GPA of at least 3.65. Great work!

This semester students can expect to take another practice PSAT in class. We also recommend all students grades 9-11 take the SAT this spring. We are hosting the SAT on March 1st. Unfortunately that conflicts with the skiers schedule, so transportation will be arranged for all students that would like to take the SAT on March 11th at a nearby high school. Students taking the SAT that Saturday will need to create a Collegeboard account and register as soon as possible. We recommend the nearest high school: Parkrose High School. Please reach out if you have any questions. Also please let me or your student's teachers know whether or not your student will be taking the SAT on campus or if you would like help registering for the SAT on March 11th.

Lastly, congratulations to the December Students of the Month: Brooke Anderson and Hugh MacMenamin!
-Kayla Hokanson

"Brooke was my pick for Student of the Month for December. She has consistently been one of the hardest working students on campus, and that carried through the entire semester. Even while on trips, Brooke would make sure to stay on top of her work and her grades. She was always able to push herself to do better on her assignments and was constantly improving. That level of drive is hard to find, and that is why she was chosen for Student of the Month! Excellent work, Brooke!"
-Peter Ellis

"Hugh MacMenamin is my class's December's student of the month. Hugh not only earned an outstanding 4.03 GPA last semester while taking high school's most notoriously challenging class (AP US History) but also gave a spectacular presentation for his classmates about x trick. Hugh always shows up to class with a positive, focused, motivated attitude that is contagious to his classmates and sets the bar high! Keep it going, Hugh!"
- Hannah Green

student life

The students who podiumed at K1 Speed—a favorite weekend activity.

Greetings,

Looking back, Fall term was exceptionally amazing. On the residential side of things we ended fall term with taking the students to K1 speed to race go karts. The students have a blast and it will definitely be a repeat activity going into winter term. In addition, student government worked closely with myself and staff to plan activities and find ways to become involved in the community. Looking into winter term we will be volunteering again with the Special Olympics as well as participating in a clothing drive for a local charity. We can’t believe it's already winter term and are incredibly excited for what winter term holds for our students.

-Netanya Beard

culinary

The month of December was a mellow month for the Culinary Department. As we only had to serve the student body for two weeks. During this time, Ski and Snowboard went to Mammoth to do a little training, leaving only Mountain Bike and Skate to feed for. During this time the students and staff that were here got a little extra attention on the food that we served. For example, one evening Kellen made Cedar Plank Salmon for the students. Everyone enjoyed it all. Then, it was time to say Happy Holidays and we will see you next year.

Looking at the Winter Term, Teams will be traveling a lot throughout the season. So, the campus will be full of teams and then there will be times that we might be serving only a small group of students. But, the Culinary Department will make sure that there is plenty of food for all and have snacks available throughout the day for students to come grab.

The Culinary Department looks forward to this Winter Term with 60 students on campus.

-Travis Gibson

freeski

Greetings Freeski Families,

We would like to warmly welcome all of our new families and welcome back all of our returning families to Second Semester! It’s going to be one for the books. We’ve got some great team trips planned, and are also looking forward to what Mt. Hood and the PNW has to offer us this winter!

Although December was a short month, we really maximized the days we had. With late snow this fall we decided to make the pilgrimage down to Mammoth, who’s great early season snow storms had them almost completely open, with jumps of all sizes, hips, and over 50 jibs across 5 parks. There was something for everyone, and we took advantage of it! At the half point of our trip, a storm blew into town and dropped 4’ of fresh snow over 2 days, closing some of the upper elevation terrain, but provided some all time storm riding on the lower elevation terrain. On the last day of our trip the storm blew out and the sky went blue. As Mammoth opened up the upper elevation terrain we were some of the first people in line and we had some all time powder runs!!

Again, we are psyched at the energy coming into the ski team for second semester, and look forward to sharing that with you all along the way!

-Toph, Breeze & Cam

snowboard

Lyric Hanseder competing in a USASA competition

Hello Snowboard Team Families!

Second semester is officially underway and what a season we have in store for the team. We’ve already started the local USASA competition season with our first two Rail Jams the day after everyone got back to campus. Collectively the team was able to take home 13 medals between 8 competitors; 6 Gold, 5 Silver, & 2 Bronze! We have five slopestyle events planned for those competing throughout the next two months, four of which are here at home and one on the road while we’re on our Midwest trip which happens at the end of the month. I’m excited to expose the team to that integral part of snowboarding where riders are able to get 200+ laps in a day. We’ll be riding 5 different resorts while in Minneapolis including Trollhaugen, Wild Mountain, Hyland Hills, Buckhill, and Elm Creek.

Our second team trip will be in February when we all head east to Salt Lake City with a stop in Idaho at Bogus Basin on our way through. We’ll be spending time training at both Brighton and Woodward Park City where they offer every type of riding from big, steep, technical terrain at Brighton to flowy, creative park laps at Woodward. There will be a mix of small, medium, and large jumps, a full half pipe, and fingers crossed for some pow riding at Brighton. There we will be showing the team the University of Utah and Westminster College for those interested in making Salt Lake their next home while furthering their education.

Our third team trip will be in March when we drive down to North Lake Tahoe and Mammoth to train at Boreal, Kingvale, and Mammoth. The options at Boreal and Kingvale are an incredible combination of creative and large features for those pushing their limits coupled with fast laps for maximum reps. While in Tahoe, the team will be seeing what life could look like in that area if they choose a school like University of Reno, Lake Tahoe Community College, or Sierra College (Tahoe-Truckee campus). While we are in Mammoth, the team will be able to shadow the best park crew in the country to learn what it takes to maintain the 10 terrain parks, 2 half pipes, 100+ rail features, and up to 40 jumps. We started this relationship last year and the park staff was so excited to have our team, that they have invited us back to do it again!

To wrap up our travel season, those that have qualified for USASA Nationals at Copper will be flying out to compete against the best riders in their age groups on the National level to showcase what they have been training towards all year. It’s an action packed week of events and we invite all the families to come be a part of it to support the team. Stewy and I are so grateful for the trust that you’ve put in us to help shape the lives of your kids as we create these training opportunities while showing them what life beyond high school can look like. As always, please reach out with any questions along the way!

-Brandon and Stewy

mountain bike

December was the first time when our time on campus outnumbered our time on the road. This time provided a good opportunity for the students to finish their classes before the semester ended. The snow was falling so we took advantage of that by going up to the mountain with our students that have passes. For those that don’t have passes we took advantage of the facilities we have on campus with gym workouts and riding in the backyard when the snow was not present.

Going into the Spring Semester we have a bunch of trips on the schedule, starting with our trip to San Clemente and Bootleg. After that, we’ll have some time on campus where we are going to be focusing on building endurance and strength. Our next trip will be to Virgin, Utah, to the Freeride Mecca. Our last big trip of the semester will be to Windrock, TN for the Tennessee National. This trip was a big hit with the team last year and we are excited to be going back. The final trip of the semester will be for the first stop of the NW Cup in Port Angeles, WA.

We are excited to have everyone back on campus and looking forward to another great semester!

-Kevin & Asa

skateboard

Hi Families,

December was a fun but fast month on campus. Skate spent the start of the month down in north county San Diego. We scored amazing weather and had great company for the whole trip. We spent time/skated with a variety of pros, ams, social media skaters, and recent college grads to hear their stories and approaches on how they got where they are. A few of the people were Pro/Olympian Heimana Renyonlds, Pro Taylor Nye, Am Archer Braun, Social Media guy Jimmy Rehman, Social Media guy Eric Hutchinson, Pro Jake Reuter, and Pro/Nitro Circus skater Beaver Flemming. The last week of the semester we were back on campus to reflect on the trip and review/reflect on semester goals. Fall semester was epic!!

Jumping straight into the winter/spring semester which is in full swing now. We will be hosting a monthly contest on campus Jan. 15th Flatground game of SKATE, Feb. 12th Curb game of SKATE, Mar. 12th Jam Session in B.O.B., Apr. 15th Timed Race, and May 20th Jam session in the Jungle. https://seekskatecamp.com/contest for more information and registration. Looking at the skate trips for the semester will be Southern California in February, Phoenix AZ in March for the PHXAM Contest, and NYC in April. I am very excited for everything happening this semester with the skate program.

-Brian Johnson

Guest UserJanuary 1, 2023

WY'EAST ACADEMY DECEMBER 2022 NEWSLETTER

The ski and snowboard teams visiting Mervin manufacturing.

a letter from the head of school

Students volunteering at the Special Olympics for a weekend activity.

It seems like the holiday season has come sooner than ever this year. All of the students have balanced out their busy schedules with time on the road with keeping up with their assignments, tests & college applications. We had our highest two SAT scores ever this semester as more college acceptance letters come in every week. There is a lot of momentum building towards our Good in the Woods annual fundraiser on December 17th & if you have not had the chance please check out the website: GOOD IN THE WOODS (ejoinme.org) where you can bid online for lots of amazing packages & items. The snow has started coming down on the mountain & all three of our local resorts are building up their bases for what is sure to be an amazing winter. Hopefully everyone who went home for Thanksgiving got to enjoy some quality time with friends & family but for the students who stayed on campus, they were treated to an amazing Thanksgiving meal at Black Butte Ranch. The end of the semester is coming up fast so please make sure to get all of your paperwork completed in order to reserve your place for next semester because we are looking at filling every available bed. Thank you for your continued support & communication. See you soon!

-Mike Hanley

academics

November was an exciting month for academics. Our Fall SAT scores became available this month, and we received our two highest scores to date! Nearly all of our seniors have submitted their college applications, and every week we receive another college acceptance letter. The mountain bikers visited Utah Tech University during their trip--which led to several of our senior quickly submitting their applications to Utah Tech. It has been amazing having the support of all of our coaches when it comes to visiting college campuses during their trips. The academic team extended a goal at the start of the semester for the coaching staff to incorporate two college visits, two industry trips, and one service opportunity to their trip schedules--and it has been awesome to see everyone follow through and the enthusiasm from the students.

This month students will be wrapping up their courses. The last day to work on classes is December 15th. Also, you can expect teachers to reach out regarding coursework plans. Congratulations to our Students of the Month for the month of November: Vivian and Thomas!

-Kayla Hokanson

Vivian has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA for the entire month of November, meeting her SMART Goal she set for herself on day one of school. Vivian has set another goal to finish all of her classes for the rest of the year by next Tuesday. Since she’s proven she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to and I have no doubt she’ll get it done! Vivian always comes to class early and prepared, stays focused, and has a positive attitude about school that uplifts her peers and teammates. Go Vivian go!

Congrats, Vivian! Keep it up.

-Hannah Green

My pick for Student of the Month for November is Thomas. Thomas had two goals set for himself over the past few months. He set out to finish early, and get a 4.0 GPA. This month marked the last stretch for him, and he is incredibly close to achieving both of these goals. In order to get to this point, Thomas put in a phenomenal amount of effort. He did voluntary double days, did schoolwork during free time, and completed extra credit in order to get his grade up to where he wanted it. All of this was completely voluntary, and Thomas was constantly asking for ways to boost his grades. It is this determination and drive that has earned him the title of Student of the Month. Way to go Thomas!

-Peter Ellis

student life

Angus Lindsay and William Baker at Top Golf

Greetings Wy’East Families,

We can’t believe Fall term is almost over, this past month went by so fast! On the residential side of things a lot has happened. The Wy’East Academy Student Government has been meeting once a week and I've enjoyed working with them on planning residential activities. We started out the month with a Portland tour where students had the chance to spend some time in Portland exploring the city and some local shops and afterwards we took the students to some local food carts. Trying different cuisines is a favorite among many of the students and we have been able to incorporate this into our weekend schedules. In addition to exploring Portland, this past month we took the students to Top Golf where we were greeted with a buffet of amazing food and hours of golfing. Top Golf was a lot of fun and we will definitely be returning in the near future. The next weekend we hit up Snowman which is the annual snow convention at the expo center and then afterwards the students went and volunteered at the Special Olympics for the evening. For Thanksgiving a majority of the students went home to be with their families, for the several students that stayed behind on campus, we planned a special residential trip to Black Butte Oregon where we rented out a house. On top of this, Kellen one of our chefs joined us in Black Butte and cooked an unforgettably delicious classic Thanksgiving dinner for staff and students. It’s safe to say that thanksgiving on campus was one for the books. Looking into this upcoming weekend we will be going ice skating and rock climbing. The residential staff is incredibly proud of the hard work that each and every student has been putting into keeping their cabins clean, being on time to activities and collaborating with staff in planning activities. We can’t wait for the start of winter term!

-Netanya Beard

culinary

Students and staff enjoying a traditional Thanksgiving meal made by our chef, Kellen, in Black Butte, Oregon.

Well the month of November was good for the Culinary Team. It is so nice to have all the teams on campus for most of the month. The students have been enjoying the food. We have enjoyed the suggestions that the students have come up with to improve their offerings. Since it has gotten colder out, we have started to do daily soups with the hot meal at lunch. As well as having the Deli Bar-Quesadilla Bar out for another option at lunch. At dinner, Kellen has done a great job of creating a great meal every night. We have not produced a lot of desserts this month because the students will get somewhat tired of the same thing. So, we will probably ramp it up again once everyone is back for the final three weeks of the Fall Term.

For Thanksgiving, Kellen went with the students to Black Butte Ranch and cooked for them. They had a traditional dinner that evening.

We are looking forward to the final three weeks of school and will be sending the students home on a good note from the Culinary Team.

-Travis Gibson

athletics

I am very excited to announce that we have hired Cameron Weeg as our big mountain coach to assist with our snow programming. Cameron is a local, born and raised in Boring, Oregon. Cameron has a background in coaching mountain sports, marketing, and content creation, so we are excited to see what insights he is able to pass onto our staff & student body!

Cameron is the most passionate about Big Mountain and is excited to share all the insights that come into the line selection element of breaking down the face of a Mountain. The goal he has with the program this year is to get our student body familiar with the IFSA event series where they plan to travel to local PNW events like Alpental & Crystal Mountain. Big Mountain will run under Brian McCarthy and our amazing ski programming.

I worked with Cameron a few years ago on what we now refer to as “The China Project” which was my first year here at the academy. The project goal was to take never ever skiers and snowboarders from China and turn them into Olympic Medalist in 4 years. Cameron believed that we could do it along with the rest of the team we had in place. Most of the people I knew in the industry thought we were crazy pursuing such a goal but sometimes a little bit of crazy is where the magic lies so I am very excited to have Cam rejoining us at the academy!

Big Mountain: what do your turns look like while going as fast as you can down a mountain? Diving more into the technical/tactical elements of an icy face compared to a powder day with how we break down training will be vital skill for our students. “How you do anything is how you do everything” and these guys will be artfully dissecting every mountain they go to this season. Welcome to the team, Cam, lets go create some legacy!!!

-Elijah Teter

freeski

Topher, Vivian, Netanya, Charlie, and Paddy having fun skiing.

Hello Freeski Families,

We have had a great month here on the freeski team. We keep saying it but the team bonding and overall comradery has been unmatched this year. The positive attitude that the team possesses has allowed for ample progression during our daily training. November brought us a wide medley of weather from rainy days ideal for campus dry slope sessions to multiple feet of snow getting us up on hill for some early season jibbing in the woods. Timberline had a soft opening at the beginning of the month and we got a nice day of pow slashes and lift rides giving the team a nice glimpse at the season ahead.

In the middle of the month we ventured north to Washington for a “industry trip." We first visited the Mervin Factory, the company that makes Libtech Skis, Snowboards and Surfboards. There, we were welcomed with open arms and given an in depth tour of their state of the art factory, seeing behind the scenes of just what it takes to make a pair of skis from a raw piece of wood to a polished pair of planks. In addition to the tour, we met with their director of marketing who showed us the process of making team and product videos showcasing how unique their brand is.

After the Mervin tour we were on our way via ferry to downtown Seattle for the night. The next day we woke up to check out the University of Washington and all it has to offer. The team was amazed by the athletic facilities including the massive Husky Stadium. As we wrapped up the campus tour we headed over to the infamous Pikes Place Market. A couple hours later and the team had caught fish out of the air at the fish market, tried the clam chowder, sampled raw honey and some kids purchased a few art pieces from the plethora of local vendors.

Next stop was the K2 Skis and Snowboard World Headquarters. At the Headquarters we were given a thorough tour of all the brands under their umbrella including Line Skis, BCA, Marker Bindings, Dalbello Boots and K2 skis, boards, blades and boots. Needless to say the team was honored to get their eyes on all the 2023/24 products that have yet to hit the shelves. A highlight was getting to hear from employees in Marketing, Design, and Sales all sharing their back stories, how they got their start in the industry, and what a day in the life of each position looked like.

As we put a bow on November, Mother Nature has decided winter is here to stay with feet of snow falling on the daily and the resorts starting to open up. We have had some great pow days this last week and everyone is looking forward to the winter ahead!

-Brian and Topher

snowboard

Hello Snowboard Team Families!

As quickly as November came, it went. It snowed, then it didn’t, then it did again. The snowboard team has seen it all this month from on campus training in the gym & dry slope, to building pow jumps & features in the trees waiting for timberline to open, riding opening day when Timberline finally had enough snow to open. Then we had to go back to building features in the woods when Timberline closed again and finally, within the last few days of the month making it back to the resort for their second “opening day” lapping the chairlift and enjoying some amazing snow. In the middle of all that, we joined forces with the ski team and made a quick trip up to Washington.

The trip was short, but such an incredible experience for the kids. We piled into the vans and drove up to Sequim, Washington to visit “Mervin Manufacturing” where GNU snowboards and LibTech snowboards, skis, and surfboards are hand made. The kids got to hear from a few long-time employees (20+ years each), as well as someone from almost every department. During our tour of the facilities, the kids were able to see every step required in the process of making snowboards & skis. From constructing the wooden cores, to their unique sublimation process for the graphics. We also got a sneak peak into their super secretive surfboard factory!

Following our visit to Mervin, we took the ferry over to Seattle where we stayed the night in a hotel in preparation for what was in store for the next day. We started the day at the University of Washington, where the ski and snowboard teams got a lay of the land on their beautiful campus and a glimpse into what the school has to offer. From there, the crew got to experience Pike Place Market where tons of local artists and vendors set up their crafts in hopes to share their passions with the public. After seeing what Pike Place had to offer, we made our way down the street to the offices of K2 skis and snowboards, Ride Snowboards, BCA, and Line Skis. Michelle, The assistant to the CEO of the collective, gave us an awesome tour of their facilities as well as introduced us to many faces that make all of those brands possible. A fun fact about Michelle is she was a life coach at the academy years ago having some great insight on the doors that can be opened through being a part of our family.

After the return from Seattle, training went on as usual; working in the gym, on the trampolines and on our dry slope facilities here on campus for that final prep before the season really begins. Our focus has been building muscle, progressing air awareness, and learning tricks that are just waiting to be taken to snow. The squad is super excited for the resorts to open and the parks to take shape. We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and we now have our sights set on finishing the semester strong!

-Brandon & Stewy

mountain bike

JM, Josh, and Boden enjoying a sunset in Utah.

We had another action packed month with November and our big trip to Utah. Our trip to Virgin could not have gone any better. The students that have been on the team and been to Virgin in the past said this was our best trip to Virgin yet. There were a lot of goals ticked off the students' lists before even getting down to Virgin with our trip to Woodward Park City. We had multiple students accomplish their goal of trying a new trick and brushing up on the tricks they want to attempt landing to dirt.

During this trip we spent two days in Big Water, Utah which was a new stop for us at the academy. Big Water is an amazing zone that is similar to backcountry skiing with hiking up ridges, often with bikes on your back or carried in front of you, then getting to ride down these open canvases where you can paint your own pictures with your carves. There are no rules. No right or wrong way to get to the bottom. It is the most creative form of expression where your style really shines through. Though it may sound cheesy but you get to see someone’s personality through their riding of lines like this.

While in Virgin, we had a shuttle day riding some of the classics like Flying Monkey, Kong, Natty’s and Nephis. Most of the time spent was at the old site and the most recent rampage venue. The kids had the opportunity to walk around and check out the level of riding and scale of features that makes up Red Bull Rampage. We had amazing sessions at the zones in Virgin and a lot of them accomplished the goal of pushing themselves whether it be riding something they are uncomfortable with or landing a trick to dirt. I asked the kids while we were driving back to Salt Lake City, if they did one thing that scared them on this trip, and the response was unanimous, yes.

We are so happy with the culture of our team and the environment created where the kids are willing to embrace their own fears and push themselves. We hope to continue on this momentum and at this point, it’s good to see where your expectations have been surpassed and now you are along for the ride.

-Kevin and Asa

skateboard

Skate students getting ready to do volunteer work and talking with Joey, the head builder for the Warm Springs Skate Park.

Hello Skate Families,

November has been another wonderful month for the skate program! We took advantage of the sunny weather to spend a few days skating in Portland and outside on campus in the jungle. The students spent a couple weeks working on their own digital contest run, using the format from the USA Skateboarding national championship digital contest. This meant each student had to film and submit a 50sec run to me. They were paired up on the last day and had to work together to film their runs--this is easier said than done! 4 hrs for 2 people to land a run they are each proud of with difficult tricks and filmed in a way to highlight what they did. Each run was judged for use of park, trick selection, speed, and difficulty of tricks. Additionally the filming of the runs was judged separately on creativity, clarity of shots, and following ability. To keep the contest fair and make it more exciting I had friends and industry connections judge it. They provided me with unbiased feedback on each of the runs and filming which I shared with the students when reflecting on how it went. In the end Hudson took Best Run and Kado took Best Filming! We will be doing this again in the spring so students can compare/track their improvement.

On the 10th we had the opportunity to visit and volunteer with the construction of a new skatepark on the Warm Springs Reservation. It was a great learning experience for us all to spend the day on the reservation. The building crew did an excellent job of explaining how special this park/place is and how important it is to give back to the community. The first thing we did was grab some trash bags and gloves to help clean up the park and surrounding area. After that we helped clean up the jobsite moving gravel and organizing the metal from the old park. There wasn’t any concrete being poured that day so we will try and go back out on a pour day to see what that is like. Before we left the students got to skate a new feature of the park that had just been finished.

To wrap things up I’m looking forward to getting down to San Diego with the students here soon and looking forward to a great month of December with the skate program!

-Brian Johnson

Guest UserDecember 1, 2022

WY'EAST ACADEMY NOVEMBER 2022 NEWSLETTER

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

The O'Brien Family at Timberline Lodge for Parents' Weekend.

Fall has officially fallen upon Oregon. It has been a funny year where we didn't really have any shoulder seasons, it was snowing in May & summer in June. Now it has transitioned from sunny in October to snowing in November. All of our students hit the road with the snow athletes heading over to Austria to make the most of the Alps while the mountain bikers got up to our northern neighbor to ride Coast Gravity. Our skaters hopped on a plane to head on down to the Frisco Bay & check out some scary hills & stair sets. There is a lot more to an education than just the amount of time in the classroom, so we are very proud of all of our programs getting the opportunity to learn by seeing the world. I am sure that students are very happy to be done with the PSAT & SAT. We are still waiting for results, but the practice tests had some of our highest scores ever for the Academy. Acceptance letters have started to roll in for our seniors with Angus Linsey & Jack Morris accepting their offers to Montana State in addition to John Michael Ajemian being accepted to Brevard University. The early acceptance deadline for most schools is November 1st so our seniors have all been working hard to plan for their futures.
Our second annual Parents Weekend was a lot of fun & we wanted to thank all of you who took the time to make it out. It was a great opportunity to get everyone on the same page to experience how dynamic of an environment we all exist in. The demos were hard to compare to the food or the paintball & pumpkin catapulting sessions, but smores at the campfire was the perfect way to wrap up each action packed day. We look forward to seeing everyone back here in Oregon for the Good in the Woods Annual Fundraiser on December 17th & would like to specifically thank the PTO for all of the amazing work they have been doing behind the scenes to make this the best year ever. Thank you & see you in December!

-Mike Hanley

ACADEMICS

October Students of the Month: Wheeler Snyder and Michelangelo Palumbo

Hello Wy'East Families,

It was so great seeing so many of you during Parents' Weekend! If you didn't get a chance to have a parent teacher conference and would like one, please reach out—we're happy to accommodate with a virtual meeting. October is the month we host our fall standardized testing. We administered the PSAT on October 25th and the SAT October 27th. Students worked hard to prepare for the exams, and we are awaiting their scores. Students will have another opportunity to take the SAT on campus this spring.

October has been a busy month for seniors, as they have been finishing up their college applications. Our goal is to have all students submit college applications in November. Already students have received acceptance letters to Montana State University and Brevard University. We are so grateful to the coaches for incorporating university tours in their travel itineraries. During the month of October, students have had the opportunity to visit UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University and, internationally, Capilano University and University of Innsbruck. We appreciate all of the support on the academic front and look forward to November!

Lastly, congratulations to our Students of the Month for the month of October: Wheeler Snyder and Michelangelo Palumbo!

-Kayla Hokanson

Wheeler has been on a rampage to get ahead in his courses. He worked tirelessly earlier this month in order to get his assignments done before going on the trip to Canada, and just hasn't stopped working since then. Wheeler did all this without any complaints or hesitation. He set a goal for himself, and followed through. It's that level of dedication that I love to see, and is the reason he is receiving Student of the Month. Keep crushing it, Wheeler!

-Peter Ellis

Michelangelo has been selected as October student of the month in my class. Miky finished his Edgenuity classes in just 6 weeks--less than half the scheduled time! This stunning achievement is thanks to Miky's unwavering work ethic in and out of class--Miky always comes to class on time with a positive attitude and determination to succeed. Miky is serving as an inspiration to all the students--he's become an academic legend across all sports and he has motivated many students to get ahead of pace and finish classes before winter arrives. Go Miky!

-Hannah Green

STUDENT LIFE

Ozzie Kroop launching a pumpkin during Parents' Weekend.

Greetings Wy’East Families,

The month of October was quite a busy month for our students. We started off the month with taking the students to Liepold Farms for their Fall Festival where students had the opportunity take on a corn maze, attempt to escape a dark maze, check out the pumpkin patch and participate in fall activities such as apple launching, and eating the classic Liepold Farm Carmel apple. The following week our ski and snowboard teams departed for their trip to Austria. With ski and snowboard gone campus was pretty quiet. That following weekend we took the mountain bikers and skaters bowling while the girls had a girls day where they explored Portland and went shopping. With the amazing weather we had on campus for the first few weeks of October the students on campus spent a lot of time skating outside, slack lining, and riding out on the trails in the backyard and we even planned a day trip to the beach where students were able to surf and hang out on the beach. With mountain bike on the road, ski and snowboard still in Austria and Skate down in California, we took the remaining students out to see the Matchstick Productions ski movie premiere and the highlight for the students was being able to ride the scooters around downtown Portland afterwards. The following day we planned a special dinner off campus at a local BBQ spot. The following weekend we had all of our students back on campus suffering from extreme cases of jetlag so we planned a relaxing weekend where we took the students out to the local movie theatre for the typical seasonal horror movie. My favorite weekend of October was parents weekend where we planned a whole weekend filled with fun activities ranging from checking out the historic Timberline Lodge, water balloon fight on campus, pumpkin smashing and launching, dry sloping, tramping, and finally ending with paintball where it was staff and parents versus the students. Paintball was an absolute blast and its safe to say that I’m sure many of us are still feeling it days later and it was totally worth it. We will definitely be bringing back paintball again for parents weekend next year and it will become a parents weekend tradition. Lastly, in honor of Halloween instead of trick or treating students requested going to a haunted in Portland. Looking into this next month we can’t wait for more exciting weekend activities and enjoying everything that campus has to offer.

-Netanya Beard

CULINARY

Parents, students, and staff enjoying a delicious dinner during Parents' Weekend.

Greetings from the Culinary Department,

What a month to be in the Culinary Department! We started out with a full house of students, then we went quiet as all the teams were traveling around the world. Then, we finished off the month of October with welcoming parents into the cafe. I just want to say it was so nice to meet all the Parents that joined us for a fun weekend. I hope everyone enjoyed the food that we provided. Moving forward, the Culinary Department is looking forward to doing Thanksgiving on Campus for any of the students that want to stay and enjoy another great meal for the Culinary Department.

-Travis Gibson

FREESKI

Joey Killeen demoing the dryslope during Parents' Weekend.

Hello Freeski families,

For those of you who made it out to parents weekend, it was great to catch up and for you to get to see this place in action!

It's truly hard to put in words how incredible the trip to Austria was. Leaving campus on a dark and early October morning with a caravan of 32 people, 27 of which are teenagers, to head to a foreign country where German is the main language sounds wild even on paper, BUT wow did everything go dangerously smooth. Connecting flights, customs, sorting out 5 rental vehicles, all the bags showing up and 22 hours later we were settling into our 3 different houses in Mayrhofen, Austria.

Our house was a four story vintage farmhouse nestled literally on the side of a 45 degree slope with panoramic views of the valley similar to what you would recall from the movie The Sound of Music. Every morning we were awoken to bells from our onsite sheep. We began our first full day by heading up to Hintertux for a day on snow giving everyone a chance to get their feet back under them. The vistas were jaw dropping with near vertical grassy cow filled slopes leading up to jagged peaks following alongside an aqua blue river throughout the windy mountain pass road. Three gondolas later and alas we were officially back on snow reunited with winter. The park was filled with something for everyone accessed by two parallel t-bars allowing for non stop skiing.

Throughout the next four days we spent our days at Banger Park, the airbag site just outside of Innsbruck. The team got right to it, working on tricks they had been training the prior month at campus. The facility there offered small, medium and XL jumps into separate landing bags which were ideal for progression. Each day everyone went home having executed a new trick, axis, spin or grab variation, and the overall morale was at an all-time high. It was great to see the focus and contagious motivation throughout the team.

After those four days we were right back to Hintertux for the remainder of the trip. As everyone warmed back up to being on snow again it was clear to see the time on the low consequence airbag really paid off. We were blessed with great weather including a day with a few inches of snow to help soften up landings throughout the park. Each athlete was able tick off boxes on their goal sheets and get a leg up on the competition prior to the winter season starting up.

Our nights were filled with countless card games, foosball and conversation in our WiFi-less house. The lack of Wi-Fi was absolutely healthy for everyone to come out of their shell and experience true socialization. Screen time was down 90 percent throughout the trip in the best way possible. We made sure to experience as much local cuisine as we could, with a highlight being the Schnitzel Station. The Schnitzel Station was a very authentic Austrian stop down a rural farm road where we all enjoyed schnitzels the size of our torsos. During our one rest day of the trip, we ventured into the city of Innsbruck. While there we got the chance to tour around the University of Innsbruck campus and check out what it would be like to go to school abroad.

To go with the theme of the trip we had a very successful trek back to the states with the squad. We were pleasantly welcomed back to Oregon with nearly two feet of fresh snow. We have had a couple fun days building jumps or sliding some early season rails in the woods but mainly been back to the grind at campus. Yoga, core and gym workouts mixed with trampoline, dryslope and airbaging have filled our time nicely. It really has been great to see the comradery and overall positive vibe of the team. With more snow in the forecast it won’t be long now till the lifts start to spin.

Brian and I greatly appreciate all your timely communication with passes, memberships and trip planning. As always feel free to reach out with any questions.

Let it snow,

-Topher & Brian

SNOWBOARD

Hello Snowboard Team Families!

I’d like to start by saying how great it was to spend time with a lot of you this past weekend on campus. Thank you all for making the trip and showing support as we continue to help shape the future of your kids!

This past month at Wy’East Mountain Academy has been one for the books. The team had about a week to prepare for our big trip to Austria for which they put in the work in the gym, on our dry slope facilities, and grinded their academics. Both Stew and I were very impressed with how serious they took their prep for the trip and it paid off. What an incredible experience for everyone to travel to Europe and have the opportunity to train on snow & on the best landing bags in the world! At the mountain they were instantly making new friends, connecting with other snowboarders who also traveled across the world to be doing the same thing. Once they got the rust knocked off, the whole team got right into pushing their progression on all size jumps, filming rails tricks, and riding as a team.

We logged 3 days at Banger Park, and 8 days on snow at Hintertux, with 1 day spent exploring the city Innsbruck and the University there. At Banger Park, the whole crew got to train on two different size landing bags, but spent the majority of their time on the medium/large bag. Most kids were working on their stock tricks, and then progressing into some bigger spins and doubles. Besides getting absolutely soaked from their helmet to their socks, those landing bags are such a useful tool in the world of learning bigger tricks. About half the crew stepped up and spent 2 sessions on the XL bag working through different double cork variations and pushing their potential. I think they all surprised themselves with what they are actually capable of doing!

On the mountain, the team was looking strong. Almost everyone was working to film clips each day we were up there either on the jump line or the rails, and so much good content came out of this trip. We’re super proud to see them trusting the process of posting content and getting out of their comfort zone. Our goal is to have them stay the course and create a marketable social page to then pass along to teams in the industry for future sponsorship opportunities. We are happy to say that since this trip was so successful, we will be putting it on the calendar for next year!

After getting back on campus, the whole team filled out a reflection sheet that we created so they could write down their personal wins, as well as areas for improvement so that they can continually improve as the season goes on. Hopefully as you all have heard, we have a big season planned for these kids to train hard, travel, compete, and keep improving their lives through the passions they all share.

Until next time,

-Brandon & Stew

MOUNTAIN BIKE

Mountain Bike demo during Parents' Weekend.

We moved into October with the momentum created in September and we had an awesome month! This was the first month that we have had the majority of time on campus which has given the students an opportunity to get caught up, even ahead in school. The weather held out for us on campus and we were able to take advantage of that with our training sessions. There were days at Wildcat, plenty of airbag and mulch time, gym time in BOB, and our new Yoga Sessions with Barb. Barb has been joining us during our training time to do yoga with the kids and this has been going great!

Our trip to Coast Gravity Park was incredible. We had the park to ourselves and the kids took full advantage of that, getting lap after lap. They worked together to get clips for each other which resulted in a bunch of Instagram edits that you wanted to watch on repeat. The level of riding keeps on progressing because of the team dynamic we have. We had two houses in Canada but had all our meals together. In the morning, after breakfast, Barb led Yoga with the kids to get their mind and body ready for the day ahead. In the evening, after dinner, we stretched and watched movies together as a team/family. We also visited a satellite campus of Capilano University in Sechelt, British Columbia and talked to the kids about what opportunities come from going to college. Our first international trip for the mountain bike team was a great success and we look forward to having more in the future.

Going into November, we hope to continue on the trajectory we are going and believe that it is possible due to the foundation that we laid in the beginning of the semester. We have such a good thing going this year and we are excited to see what the future holds.

-Kevin & Asa

SKATEBOARD

Hello Families,

October has been an incredible month for the skate program. First off I would like to say I’m so hyped on how well everyone in skate is doing with their academics!! I love that they are holding each other accountable and setting a high standard for one another. Big Congratulations to Hudson for finishing high school!!

Our San Francisco trip was one for the record books. We scored amazing weather and were able to get the full city experience. We toured SF State University and UC Berkeley with current students who gave us insight to what attending each school is like as a skateboarder. Both tour guides also spent time skating with us, showing us the spots they skate around the universities. SF is home to some of the most famous skate spots on the planet. Even our tour of Alcatraz resulted in us finding a spot on the island of an infamous skate photo. Reading the reflection papers after the trip the highlight was spending the day at DLX Distribution. DLX is home to Real, Anti Hero, Krooked, Unity, There, Spitfire, Thunder, and Venture brands. The students got to talk to and spend the day with the people that make skateboarding what it is. We met with Sales, Production, R&D, Art, Finance, Marketing, and Special Projects departments. The goal for this tour was to build contacts for the students but to also get the students thinking about what else is out there other than being pro or what you can do after being pro. I think it will take some time for everything from the trip to set in. I’ll end this with the departing advice we got from the head of DLX (same advice I got from him when I was younger). “Show up early, Stay late, Try to hit it hard every single day, and Try to be cool to people.”

-Brian Johnson

Bobby MeeksNovember 15, 2022

WY'EAST ACADEMY AUGUST 2022 NEWSLETTER

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

The summer of 2022 has been one of the best ever. There has been a seemingly never-ending supply of snow on the mountain that was matched with sunshine & mild temperatures off hill. Our classroom time has been a nice change of pace with the limited schedule of only two hours a day which has allowed all of the students to maximize their time in athletics. Enrollments have continued to come in so we have been working on scheduling our rooming assignments & trips for the fall semester. With the summer beginning to wane down our staff has been focused on planning on building out the best year ever for the 2022-2023 school year. We will have positions available on our PTO as well as Student Leadership so we look forward to working with you in the upcoming year.

-Mike Hanley

ACADEMICS

Greetings Wy'East Families,

July was an exciting month! The energy on campus was high from all of the campers on campus, and we had peak numbers of students this month. The classroom also served as an oasis for students during the heatwave, as the classroom is one of the coolest spots on campus. Look out for an email introducing our new academic staff as well as emails regarding coursework plans by the end of August. This has been an amazing summer at the academy, but we are so looking forward to the fall semester!

Congratulations to Lily for becoming Student of the Month for July. Lily has been with the academy for the entire month. She has been working on French, SAT practice, and individually motivated reading. Lily has read ten books already this summer. One of her favorite quotes is from the book The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. It follows: “If we wish to know about a man, we ask ‘what is his story -- his real, inmost story?’-- for each of us is a biography, a story. Each of us is a singular narrative which is constructed… through our perceptions, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions…. Biologically, physiologically, we are not so different from each other, historically, as narratives, we are each of us unique.”

-Kayla Hokanson and Barbara Edwards

STUDENT LIFE

Greetings Wy’East Families,

The month of July was filled with lots of sun, exciting activities, hard work in the classroom, and tons of time spent up on hill. We started off the month with exciting Fourth of July weekend filled with cliff jumping, fireworks, BBQ, The BigFoot Museum and going to the movies. The following weekend was spent up in Washington doing a zipline course high up in the trees. The students had so much fun at the zipline course that the following weekend we went back and went bungee jumping! In addition to adrenaline packed activities, there has also been a lot of leisure time spent on the weekends exploring nearby lakes and rivers. With summer camp in full swing on campus, there have been many evenings where students have had the option to participate in Camp activities such as dodgeball, evening waterfall hikes, rail jams, and skating events on campus. It’s safe to say that this summer has been an absolute blast on the residential side of things and we are looking forward to the start of Fall term.

-Netanya Beard

FREESKI

Greetings Freeski Families

July has been one for the books! Perfect temps, record snowpack, and an incredible park offering have been the recipe for success this month! We had a good number of ski athletes joining us and the energy in the Govy house has been high. Everyone was hungry for progression, and progression is what we got. From spinning their first jump or doing their first flips, all the way to learning a plethora of new doubles, everyone got to work and is going home with new tricks!

Summer time on Hood is a special time and we are glad that we get to spend it with your athletes. I am beyond excited for this upcoming season after a long summer of training and can’t wait to check in with everyone when things settle down next month! We hope everyone is enjoying some summer activities with your athletes and enjoying the warm weather. Looking down the road we are starting to get excited for our upcoming fall semester!

-Breeze & Toph

SNOWBOARD

Greetings Snowboard team families!

I’m happy to announce that we officially crushed this summer’s offering on Mt. Hood! July was a month to remember as the weather was nearly perfect, the parks were top notch, and the progression matched both of those. Everyone who came through for training worked so hard, accomplished so much, and really represented the Academy well on-hill. Their engagement with campers, staff, pro riders, and everyone riding the parks & skating on campus was very impressive to see. Some big take-aways from my perspective was working with everyone on solid fundamentals through jump drills first thing in the mornings to then watch that blossom into new tricks being landed and goal sheets getting checked off. I loved seeing them utilize their social media platforms to showcase their new learns and create serious buzz about what the academy does on a daily basis. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been complimented on our crew from other coaches and pros throughout the summer on their style, work ethic, and overall ability to get things going in the park.

Some things to look forward to for the Fall Semester is the Austria trip that the team will be taking in October. We’ll be going over there with the ski team to spend some time on the progression bags at Banger Park, and then riding the terrain parks at Hintertux on the glacier. Tentative dates for that trip will be October 6th - 20th. As plans and budgets get finalized, please keep an eye out for email communication regarding that first trip. We plan to utilize a good portion of the fall term to get ready for the snow to fall with skating, surfing, riding the dry slope on campus, and get our bodies and mind ready to push it once the snow falls. We will also be going south during November to get involved with more industry brands, visit some colleges, and continue to skate and surf.

I very much look forward to seeing everyone back on campus come September. Until then, enjoy your time at home being together!

-Brandon Sorel

SKATEBOARD

Hello Skate Families,

We are in full swing with skate camp up here on campus. It’s great to see so many skateboarders on campus utilizing the parks and long warm summer days. Looking forward to a few of the 2022/23 students visiting skate camp over the next couple weeks. Our campus will be playing host to the Northwest Open presented by Tactics August 26th-28th. This event will be a multi-day contest all over campus. More information and registration can be found on the Tactics site and at northwest-open.com. Lots of planning still going on for the upcoming school year and I’m excited for what is to come.

Hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather and getting lots of skating in this summer!

-Brian Johnson

Bobby MeeksAugust 1, 2022

WY'EAST ACADEMY JULY 2022 NEWSLETTER

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

High Cascade, Windells & Milepost 35 campers head on a Wy'East Academy hike!

There really is nothing quite like summer in the Pacific Northwest. With a record breaking spring of snowfall on Mount Hood, the summer camps sold out of available bed space before the first camper arrived this year. With the influx of summer campers, all of our Academy students made the move up to Government Camp to maximize the opportunities provided by an Oregon summer. We have already had students from four different countries join us over the last month & we are looking forward to many more to come. Unlike last year, the weather has managed to stay consistent for us which has allowed for never-ending fun on the hill & off. Whether or not it has been whitewater rafting, hiking to a waterfall or going to an amusement park this has been an amazing summer with much more in store.
-Mike Hanley

ACADEMICS

July Student of the Month: Charlie Newman

It finally feels like summer at the academy! The sun is shining, summer camp has started, and students are now staying in Government Camp and coming back to campus for class, dinner, and evening activities. This summer, students have been working on a myriad of things: Edgenuity, Khan Academy, SAT prep, Common App college applications, artwork, species identification in nature and more.

As a reminder, we will be administering the PSAT and SAT again this October. It's never too early to start preparing. Reach out if you would like direction for SAT prep. We highly recommend all sophomores take the PSAT and all juniors and seniors take the SAT this fall.

Congrats to Charlie Newman for being student of the month! Charlie is taking four courses this summer, and he has been on track for the entire month while maintaining one of the highest GPAs. He is focused and dedicated in class every day.

-Kayla Hokanson and Barbara Edwards

STUDENT LIFE

Greetings Wy’East Families. This past month has been quite the whirlwind filled with exciting and fun activities on the residential side of things. We started off the month with a trip to Oaks Park which is located in the historic Sellwood neighborhood in Portland and is also one of the oldest continually operating amusement parks found in the United States. The following weekend, we went to the Tree to Tree Adventure Ropes Course located outside of Portland. Tree to Tree Adventure Ropes course is a returning activity from winter term that has been repeatedly requested by students, and safe to say it was a blast. With the start of summer camp, students moved up to Government Camp to a condo which we have rented for the summer and let me just say, the place is pretty awesome, it’s four stories tall and is located in the heart of Government Camp. Since we have moved up to Government Camp, students have the chance to participate in Camp Activities after dinner each evening on campus as well as having campus days on Saturdays which include sessions in BOB, sampling the demo fleet of mountain bikes, dry sloping, dodgeball, and skating around campus. With the warmer weather we have been spending a lot of time outside hiking, checking out local water holes, cliff jumping, and the last weekend of June we went white water rafting on the White Salmon River. If you haven’t had a chance check out our social media pages for recaps on weekend activities as well as a glimpse into some of the fun activities we have planned for Fall Term. We are looking forward to another action packed month filled with making new friends, exploring the Pacific Northwest, and making unforgettable memories.
-Netanya Beard

FREESKI

Greeting Freeski families,

After a long, wintery, spring… summer has finally arrived! Although the weather didn’t quite cooperate early June we made the most of it by bringing up some jibs and building jumps! These session ended up being super productive and fun! I commend the crew that was here early June for not letting the weather get in the way of their progression! Come mid June summer finally arrived with warm weather, slush and sun. That paired with Timberlines great FTC offering for us to train on, had everyone firing on all cylinders. It was great to meet some new students, reconnect with current students and we look forward to seeing those who still have yet to show up!
-Brian McCarthy & Topher Newett

SNOWBOARD

Hello snowboard team families!

What an incredible month of June it has been here in Oregon as summer weather has finally showed up for us! The mountain is in the best shape I’ve seen in years with snow all the way down to the parking lot. It’s been great to have a mix of some new faces in the crew along with the returning students here to take advantage of the magic on Mt. Hood while everyone else in the country is wishing they were boarding. We are in full swing of the private FTC (Freestyle Training Center) parks with creative set-ups each week for us to train on. The academy students have been absolutely crushing it and working hard 5 days a week on snow.

I’m excited to have more students returning for this next month and finish the summer out with a bang! Fall semester will be coming up sooner than we all think, and with that in mind I’d like to mention that we are preparing some travel plans I’d like you all to start thinking about. Brian McCarthy and I are working through the details of bringing a crew to Austria in mid October to get on snow at Hintertux and spend some time working on the progression air bags at Banger Park. That trip should be pretty incredible for the Fall Semester students! The team seemed to really enjoy our southern California trip last year, so I’d like to plan something similar to visit some colleges, some industry businesses, and mix in some skating & surfing. Details for all the Fall Semester will be communicated soon so please keep an eye out.

Until then, I hope everyone is enjoying their time together as a family and getting the most out of this summer break. I love hearing updates from the kids about their adventures, accomplishments, and as always, thank you for your continued support!
-Brandon Sorel

SKATEBOARD

June has been a fun month up here on campus. Our students progressed a ton while they were here. We took full advantage of BOB on wet days to focus on progression and utilize the trampolines for cross training. On dry days we have been able to get off campus and enjoy some of the amazing parks Portland has to offer. The variety of features and parks keeps progression fun and fresh. June 21st was Go Skateboarding Day and we were down at The Courts in Downtown Portland with Tactics skate shop. We helped pass out stickers and watched local incoming 2022/2023 students win lots of product and keep the stoke high throughout the event. Looking forward to July with more sunny days up on campus as well as the start of skate camp!
-Brian Johnson

Bobby MeeksJuly 1, 2022

Wy'East Academy welcomes Brian Johnson as Director of Skateboarding

Brian Johnson Joins Wy’East Mountain Academy

MT HOOD, OREGON, May 25th 2022 – Wy’East Mountain Academy announced today the addition of Brian Johnson as its Director of Skateboarding, where he will set the vision and direct the day to day skateboard coaching program for the academy.

Over the past 17 years, Brian Johnson has worked closely with youth in The Skateboard Industry. Brian split his time between running skate programs at Woodward and Skate Care and Proper Ride Shop. Brian also spent years competing in both amateur and professional level skate contests.

Johnson will be working hands-on in the development of the skateboard program, recruiting and working with both athletes and coaches. Brian’s outlook on the program revolves around improving skate ability and marketability.

“I love skateboarding and am so incredibly thankful to the people I’ve met and places it has taken me”, says Brian. “ Working for Wy’East Mountain Academy allows me to not only give back to the skate community but help it grow. The academy is a special and unique place where kids get a holistic look at skateboarding. I want to foster a positive environment for our students to set skate/personal goals and accomplish them. I love that campus is amongst the trees and streams at the base of the Mt. Hood, it is surreal to skate in such an incredible place”.

“An application came in with a few of these reference points of prior experience; I have Managed 100-200 skate campers successfully, I have managed 40+ staff at one time, I have been a professional skater, snowboarder, I have taken skaters from baseline to the highest level of competitions”. Then Brian has since come in and been nothing but a positive/humble force on/around campus. His knowledge and experience around child education is best in class and I can’t wait to see what new insights he brings in to make all of our programs even better. Welcome to the team Brian Johnson” says Athletic Director Elijah Teter.

For more information on The Wy’East Academy skate program, head to our website www.wyeastacademy.com/skateboard

Guest UserJune 13, 2022

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

ACADEMICS

STUDENT LIFE

CULINARY

FREESKI

SNOWBOARD

MOUNTAIN BIKE

SKATEBOARD

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

ACADEMICS

STUDENT LIFE

CULINARY

FREESKI

SNOWBOARD

MOUNTAIN BIKE

SKATEBOARD

CABLE MACHINE ADDITION

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

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skateboard

time to say goodbye

now introducing our new teachers

a letter from the head of school

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a letter from the head of school

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LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

ACADEMICS

STUDENT LIFE

CULINARY

FREESKI

SNOWBOARD

MOUNTAIN BIKE

SKATEBOARD

A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

-Mike Hanley

ACADEMICS

Greetings Wy'East Families,

-Kayla Hokanson and Barbara Edwards

STUDENT LIFE

-Netanya Beard

FREESKI

-Breeze & Toph

SNOWBOARD

Greetings Snowboard team families!

I very much look forward to seeing everyone back on campus come September. Until then, enjoy your time at home being together!

-Brandon Sorel

SKATEBOARD

Hello Skate Families,

Hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather and getting lots of skating in this summer!

-Brian Johnson

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

ACADEMICS

STUDENT LIFE

FREESKI

SNOWBOARD

SKATEBOARD

Brian Johnson Joins Wy’East Mountain Academy

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