smarter
slopes
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Students in the ski area management program run the facility.
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Mt. Zion at Gogebic Community College Mt. Zion, located on the Gogebic Community College campus, has been serving the community since 1937. The facility offers skiing, snowboarding and tubing. Just across the parking lot on campus is the Pat O’Donnell
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Civic Center, which provides ice skating and youth hockey. Together the facilities offer hours of healthy family fun. Students in the ski area management program run the facility, learning snowmaking and grooming as part of maintaining Mt. Zion for public use. The SAM program provides technical and academic study as well as internships at major ski resorts in Colorado, California, Utah, Vermont and the Midwest. Freshmen in the program complete prerequisites, which continue during the first eight weeks of their sophomore year. Mt. Zion serves as their training laboratory. Credits are earned in classes including ski area layout, snowmaking fundamentals, emergency response, slope grooming, and classroom courses such as business. Graduates of the SAM program may choose to pursue a bachelor’s degree in ski area business management from Northern Michigan University in Marquette. Young racers from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade compete in a Saturday morning racing series and use the hill for practice.