MMA 2023 Fall Newsletter

MT. MANSFIELD ACADEMY NEWSLETTER FALL 2023

Top News

Fall 2023

Mt. Mansfield Academy welcomes Coach Mike Day as Director of Athlete Development.

Mt. Mansfield Academy named to Platinum AP Honor Roll - the only school, public or private, in Vermont to earn this honor.

Senior John Kerbaugh accepts nomination to the US Ski and Snowboard Team.

From Executive Director, Igor Vanovac

Head of School Lori Furrer inducted into the VARA Hall of Fame .

Welcome to our first newsletter for the 23-24 school year. It’s been a busy start to the academic year. Classroom and community work has started, and we have already had two ski camps. The holidays are upon us and before you know it, we will be full speed ahead into ski racing season.

We are continually looking to provide top-level service to our MMA family. In that light, we have some new strategic hires this year. Mike Day is our new Director of Athletic Development, Michelle Rath is our new School Counselor, and Mike Anthony is our new Director of Strategy and Development. I’m sure you have met our new staff, but if you haven’t, please make sure you get a chance to do so.

Our student athletes continue to work hard as we move from dry land to camps to training at Stowe.

Our strength metrics are improving and we are building a strong technical foundation.

Congratulations to John Kerbaugh for being named to the US D Team and to Beana Winchell for being named to the US Ski and Snowboard Eastern Region Team! We look forward to seeing everyone grow and compete during the upcoming season.

We are excited about the season and look forward to seeing you on the hill or in the club.

Student Reflection, Maxi Hoder

Maxi Hoder, MMA Class of 2024

Inside the Dorm...

As we start the ski season, our student lodge is filled to capacity with student-athletes from around the country. With so many new students, and boarding students of all ages, our house is very lively and fun!!

We are looking forward to working together and spending a memorable winter together!

Did you know ... ?

Earlier in the year, MMA received NEASC accreditation. NEASC is a globally recognized standard of

My name is Maxi Hoder and this is my seventh year at MMA. I have been asked to reflect on my final fall at the Academy. Coming home from summer break to the tight-knit MMA community, it really felt as if I was coming home.

Transitioning back into classes, I have truly enjoyed continuing to foster amazing relationships with my teachers. Because of an incredible, individualized learning environment with my teachers, they have grown more into friends than instructors, while keeping a very professional environment.

MMA doesn't like to sit still. After only 3 weeks of school, we departed for Zermatt, Switzerland.

This incredibly productive and well organized camp really set the tone for this season. Having 11 days of perfect snow with no clouds really was special; it provided a pristine environment to hone our technical and tactical skills, truly elevating the team dynamic. Coming home to the fall colors after our spectacular camp made us eager to jump back into our rigorous studentathlete schedule, which incorporates dryland with the most bubbly of trainers, Sam. We also partook in community activities such as volunteering at the Lamoille County Food Shelf and doing trail work with the Stowe Land Trust.

After such an amazing fall, I can only imagine what the remainder of the year has in store for me. As it is my senior year at the Academy, I couldn’t have asked for a better fall.

excellence for schools.

COMING IN 2024 02/05

MMA TURNS 90!

Academic Update, Lori Furrer It has been a very busy, but productive and positive fall! Full-Time students have been studying, traveling, providing service to local non-profits, and have taken part in outside activities. Academic highlights include the always popular skits in Mary’s literature classes, explosive labs with Seychelle, and Blooket competitions that fire up the math mind (and energy level) with Anna. Juliet is working with students in different mediums with a favorite subject being the Matterhorn while Psych students are delving into the conscious and unconscious mind. Students have worked with the Stowe Land Trust and Lamoille Food Shelf, attended a modern-day version of the Odyssey at the Flynn Theater, and frequent trips to Foster’s swimming hole.

We now have the full contingent of students here and it is bustling!

Mt. Mansfield Academy has an expansive list of course offerings, a new blend of students, added faculty, and a redesign of classroom spaces to accommodate our student-athletes. The classrooms are full, the dining room is brimming, as is the dorm, and students are making use of every available space. It is a thriving community with a very lively atmosphere – and we have not even seen snow here yet.

Seniors are in the thick of college applications while juniors are beginning their search for the “right fit” school. We look forward to celebrating the next steps in their journeys and will share updates as

Save the Date!

they become available. It is hard to believe that the young 6th and 7th graders who just arrived will be those confident individuals in the blink of an eye.

Winterfest Gala, Saturday, January 6, 2024 Stowe Derby, Sunday, February 25, 2024 Sugar Slalom, April 6 and 7, 2024

03/05

Finance Request: Please remember parents are required to have a credit card on file and/or auto pay set up for invoices associated with race travel. Invoices will be paid automatically when students return.

In the Classroom with Dave McGowan Students are taking the lead in MMA social studies classes in choosing and developing course content. In Argumentation and Debate, a half-year elective course for juniors and seniors, students have chosen to debate a wide range of topics including government access to personal devices, gene editing, and the role of the media in the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp defamation case.

In Research, a sophomore class focused on academic reading and writing, students have been summarizing articles on topics like goal-setting and recycling in the form of precis paragraphs (our version of a precis paragraph includes four sentences: the claim, the evidence, the purpose, and the tone) and using these paragraphs to write essays.

Finally, in World History I, our eighth grade students researched two ongoing debates within the scientific community: when did the first humans arrive in North America and why did the megafauna, the super-sized animals such as mastodons and giant sloths that inhabited the continent 10,000 years ago, suddenly go extinct? They created and presented a slideshow that identified the competing theories and the evidence that supports each theory.

With the addition of Winter Term **Fun Fact Training Update, Ben Blakely student-athletes to the Dorm, we

have a total of 26 dorm students -4 After the competition season had concluded, the preparation period commenced with Full-Time 22 Winter-Term.

With MMA students working through on-snow skill progression led and

by Mike Day. This year MMA

so many new students, boarding dispensed with the midsummer European training camp to place a greaterand priority on students of all ages, our house is longer and less interrupted blocks of strength training that follows our periodized very lively and training plan to build strength and fitness in student-athletes fromfun!! stabilization to

maximum strength, power, power endurance, and speed. We have recently completed We are47looking forward to working our last training camp of the preparation period, totaling days on snow since April. together and spend a memorable

together!

The skiing we witnessed as a staff in Zermatt this fallwinter and again in Colorado this past

month is showing improvement and continued skill development through the preparation period.

04/05

From the Hill, Mike Day I want to start by saying thank you to everyone for such a warm welcome to this community. I have been very impressed with the effort and commitment of our athletes and staff. We have had great buy-in to our fundamental skiing focus and we are seeing nice improvements from our athletes.

We will continue this fundamental focus throughout the competition season. The coaching staff has been working hard to establish technical and tactical focus points for our entire program. We are simplifying the approach to a very dynamic sport. We will continue to push the theme of not wasting a single vertical foot, turn or run - maximize every opportunity you have to improve.

I look forward to meeting and seeing you all on the slopes this winter.

Junior Program Update The Junior Program is at capacity and ready to start on December 2nd! We had fun Dryland Training in late October and it was so nice to see so many returning athletes and new faces. We also spent some time after having a staff collaboration session to talk about all the things we want to

**Fun Fact student-athletes to the Dorm, we

continue and add to thisWith coming season. of Winter Term the addition

Eleven U12 athletes made it toaColorado and enjoyed the - 4 have total of 26 dorm students pristine snow and sun! We spent time our Full-Time and revisiting 22 Winter-Term.

With

fundamental skills and making the most of every turn!

We also so many new students, and boarding

had a fun day with Mike students Day and of Igor! areour so excited all We ages, house isabout

MMA senior Beana Winchell has been named to the US Ski and Snowboard Team Eastern Region Team!

the addition of Mike Dayvery to the organization lively and fun!! and our program.

I am looking forward to the start of the weekend program!

We are looking forward to working See you all December 2nd! together and spend a memorable

winter together!

Questions? Email Andrew at akohn@mmsca.org

05/05