I'm what the snowboard world calls a "late starter". While most kids catch the addiction sometime during high school, I wasn't able to pursue snowboarding at all until I graduated and it wasn't for lack of trying. See, I went to a boarding school. For me high school meant being locked down every hour of hour day, being forced to play interscholastic sports like football and basketball (literally forced, every kid had to pick a sport), and having every planned trip up to Bear Mountain cancelled because either nobody was interested or the whiny, overly-paid teachers thought the conditions just weren't good enough for their "skills". In boarding high school, snowboarding was just an illusive dream and a heavy reminder of everything I couldn't do.
Now picture the complete opposite: a boarding a school where scholastics matter, but the big focus is snowboarding. Impossible? Introducing the Windells Academy, a boarding school scheduled to open this year that opts to completely disregard those plain, boring interscholastic sports and use the time instead to let kids shred the many giant snowcapped mountains that the Northwest is proud to host.
As if the chance to snowboard year-round wasn't enough, Windells Academy students also get enjoy everything Windells has to offer including the skate parks, foam pits, trampolines, BMX dirt park and tons of other things that would make even the most privileged high school student insanely jealous. Take a look at the proposed class schedule... I cry a little thinking of how much fun I could have had if I was only born 8 years earlier:
7:00 : Wake upDon't let the fact that it's snowboarding fool you, this schedule is actual even more intensive than the one I experienced and probably 100 times more rewarding. All Windells Academy students are part of a rigorous educational program provided through Kaplan and find their way into some top colleges across the nation. Of course on top of a fantastic education they also get top-notch snowboarding, skating and biking instruction from some of todays most talented riders.
7:30 : Breakfast
8:30 : Load into vans and head to the Mountain
9-1:30 : On-snow Training at Timberline
1:30 : Load into vans and head back to campus/Lunch
2-3:45 : First Block of classes i.e. English & History
3:45-4:15 : Break from class, free time on campus
4:15-6 : Second Block of classes i.e. Math & Science
6:00 : Dinner
7-8:30 : Mental/Physical Conditioning session
8:30-10 : Free time on campus & study hall for those who need it
10 : Lights out
And isn't the tuition something insane that most parents that aren't in the top tier could afford? I'll take living 15 miles away from the local hill and a shitty public education over this.
ReplyDeletemy boarding school wasn't cheap either. I think high tuition just comes with the territory. If you are the kind of parent that's looking for a college prep school, than you probably are expecting to pay in the tens of thousands. Schools like that usually include financial aid as well (but that's a sketchy enterprise in itself).
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that there are most boarding school had a higher tuition fees but getting through those things if they are effective and efficient enough to your expectations. In a boarding school find a close-knit community, wide variety of clubs, teams and activities that help to have a proper intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual growth.
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