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PrintBeyond the Brick Walls
Teton County School District’s Winter Sports Program provides a different sort of lesson
PHoto by MEL BEST
The Winter Sports Program serves students of all ages and grades in the Teton County School District.
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In stiff-soled, awkward ski boots, the six-year-olds clunk down the school-bus steps. Volunteer instructors stand smiling to greet the small, stumbling children. For many of these first graders, it’s their first time in ski boots and their first visit to Grand Targhee Resort.
For the past thirty-plus years, Teton Valley students have been introduced to new activities through Teton School District’s Winter Sports Program. Students at the high-school and middle-school levels are released early from school one day a week over a four-week period; elementary kids in grades one through five, for five weeks. Kids of all ages can participate in skiing, ice skating, or swimming, while the high schoolers have several other choices, including indoor soccer and options that expand the definition of “sports”—for instance, cooking and photography.
The program has grown into a Teton Valley tradition. Monte Woolstenhulme, superintendent of Teton School District and a Teton High class of 1988 graduate, recalls winter sports as an instrumental experience in his own education. “It was the highlight of the school year—outdoors, social, and athletic,” he says. “And I had a chance to socialize with adults that were not part of my circle.” His weekday afternoons at “the hill” were the foundation for a lifelong pursuit, one he now enjoys with his family. And today “Mr. W,” as he is called, participates in the program not only as a school administrator, but as a father.
Now seeing her second generation of students, longtime volunteer coordinator Alice Williamson explains the program’s exact beginnings. In 1978, her husband, Larry Williamson—Tarhgee’s general manager from the late ’70s through 2007—approached the school district about offering a Saturday Ski School program. He and others in the community wanted to provide an opportunity for all local kids to learn to ski. Grand Targhee agreed and trained parent volunteers as ski instructors for the school-age children. Ski lessons were offered on Saturdays, and participants were charged $2.50 a day for the lesson and lift ticket.
As Targhee grew, weekends became too busy for the resort to host the school program on Saturdays. In a collaborative effort with the district, the program was moved to Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, with the schools offering a noon release for those participating.
Volunteer instructor Dennis Sessions and his wife, Lynn, both learned to ski while growing up in Teton Valley—but not at Grand Targhee. Every Saturday they drove west out of Teton Valley to where Pine Basin Lodge stands today; Dennis recalls a couple of rope tows and a poma lift at the small area by Pine Creek Pass. “The only other places to ski back then were Teton Pass and Snow King [in Jackson],” Dennis recalls.
Dennis and Lynn’s five children, though, were able to take advantage of the ski hill a bit closer to home, with the 1969 opening of Grand Targhee. The days at the hill were an opportunity for the whole family to recreate together, and Dennis says time with the family was precious. “At the time we were participating in the ski program, we were actually running two businesses, the hardware store and the Best Western, which kept us pretty busy. But I always took Tuesdays to ski.” While choices of skating, swimming, and cross country skiing were also offered, Dennis’s children always chose the alpine skiing. “I’m not sure we gave them an option otherwise,” he says with a laugh.
Grand Targhee provided the volunteers with two days of training from full-time instructors. “I always enjoyed the time with the instructors,” Dennis says. “It improved our own skiing.” In addition to a few free tips, the volunteers also received complimentary day passes. It was these days of volunteering by parents, and the dividend of a few free day passes, that enabled many local families to ski together on the weekends.
