2011 Stratton Mountain School Starting Gate

Starting gateThe alumni magazine of STraTTon mounTain School WinTer 2011

Starting Gate Winter 2011

Letter from the Headmaster

Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends,

At the opening of school, I had the good fortune of addressing the student body and their families. This year, I challenged each member of the Stratton Mountain School community to look at this school year as an opportunity. We pride ourselves on providing the environment and motivation for student athletes to identify and seize their own opportunities at SMS.

This year has already given us many reasons to be proud. We are in the midst of a very successful school year with a full school of 120 students, 44 of whom are new to SMS this year. We opened the year with 13 new faculty and staff who are infusing the school with energy and promise. Within these pages, you will find an introduction to these new members of our community. You will also find profiles of three new additions to the Board of Trustees, who share our vision and passion for the school. With this sense of renewal and progress, there is a palpable level of excitement as we enter the winter competition season. As we shift our focus toward the future, we are also reminded within these pages to look back at our foundation of academic and athletic excellence. For the past 35 years, Peggy deSantis has been the guardian of academic distinction for Stratton Mountain School. Her steady hand guided the way for SMS academics for more than three decades as a teacher, Assistant Headmaster, Dean of Studies and Winter Term Coordinator. On June 19, we were so pleased to honor Peggy with a gathering to celebrate her retirement from SMS. Her impact on us all will endure for many years to come.The 2009-2010 Annual Report, which begins on page 13, is always a big part of the Starting Gate. We are so grateful to the hundreds of donors who consistently make giving to SMS a priority. With your help, we raised $322,635 in 2009-2010, which is five percent more than we raised the prior year.

Although we realized an overall increase in giving last year, unrestricted annual giving decreased. Unrestricted giving is important because these gifts allow us to budget for annual expenses and ensure that your gift goes to the area of greatest need. If I have one message to convey to you this year, it is this: please consider giving an unrestricted gift to the SMS Annual Fund. Your gift will help us purchase needed materials for the classroom like SMART Boards and science materials as well as new weight room equipment and tuning tools. Importantly, it will help us extend financial aid to the 40 percent of current SMS families who receive assistance.We continue to make strides toward our goal of $4 million in the Building for Excellence Campaign. This endowment campaign strengthens the financial foundation of SMS and allows us to plan for the future. Stratton Mountain School is stronger and healthier each year because of your vision and commitment to our collective future. I thank you so much for partnering with us to ensure a bright future for all of our students.

Sincerely,

Christopher G. KaltsasHeadmaster

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2010-2011 Board of Trustees Ronald AlvarezCarolyn Beckedorff ’85Jeffrey R. Bennett ’87James F. CrowleyGary S. DavisDavid EpsteinGary Giulietti, ChairmanJames HaffnerMichael S. HahnDana HollingsworthChristopher G. Kaltsas, HeadmasterRobert J. Lememze, Jr.Jeffrey B. LennoxF. Graham Luckenbill IITD McCormickChauncey G. Morgan ’82, TreasurerWilliam G. Morton, Jr., Vice ChairmanBenjamin F. NeedellJoanna RuneareTodd B. RichterMorton T. SaundersNeal H. SchumanGary SimpsonPaul J. SitarzFor more biographical information on each member of the SMS Board of Trustees, visit www.gosms.org/boardoftrustees.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Stratton Mountain School Board of Trustees welcomes three new members to the Board: Carolyn Beckedorff ’85, Jeffrey Lennox and Joanna Runeare.

Carolyn Beckedorff is no stranger to skiing, SMS and business. Carolyn spent three years as an alpine ski racer at SMS, culminating in 1985, when she returned to her home school in Wellesley, Mass., to graduate. She hasn’t stopped skiing since. In 2008, she was awarded the Al Sise Outstanding Alpine Masters Award by USSA. That year, Carolyn went on to win the Slalom (SL) and Giant Slalom (GS) titles at Masters Nationals in Mammoth, Calif. She traveled to Austria to compete in the FIS Masters World Championships, where she took first in SL, second in GS and third in Super-G (SG) for her age group. Carolyn continued her podium pursuit by nabbing the 2010 Masters National Champion Title for SL and SG.

Carolyn graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a bachelor’s degree in English. She competed on both the ski team and the soccer team for UNH but was plagued by injury. She went to work for Shearson Lehman for a year before moving on to The Baupost Group in Boston, where she is the Head Trader and has worked for the past 20 years.

Now, Carolyn’s focus remains on her 8-year-old son, Harrison, who is usually waiting for his mother to finish her race so they can go ski the mountain. Carolyn, her husband, Tony, and their son, Harrison, live in Wellesley, Mass.

Jeff Lennox is a Senior Vice President and Partner at Leggette, Brashears & Graham, Inc., a hydrogeology and environmental consulting firm headquartered in Shelton, Conn. He has been with the firm since 1982 following graduate school. His work covers environmental investigations and clean-up of sites with soil and groundwater contamination, as well as consulting for several water-utility clients. Jeff earned a Bachelor of Science in Hydrology from the University of New Hampshire in 1979, and he went on to earn his master’s degree in Civil Engineering with a focus on Groundwater Hydrology from Colorado State University in 1982.

Jeff and his wife, Linda, are parents to SMS alpine student athlete, Trevor, a junior, and Jared, a sophomore at Northeastern University in Boston. Linda and Jeff have been long-time supporters of SMS and are especially involved in the annual SMS Winter Ball, donating both time and auction items. Jeff has skied for more than 40 years, and he and his family spend their summers sailing aboard their Tartan 5300 sailing yacht. Jeff, Linda and Trevor now live in Weston, Vt.

Joanna Runeare has a passion for skiing and the mountains. She is one of seven kids, but her parents’ penchant for skiing motivated her family to get everyone on skis. Joanna, the granddaughter of Walt Disney, said that her family’s connection with snow sports started with her grandfather. She described Disney as a lover of skiing, and his involvement with the pageantry of the 1960 Olympics at Squaw Valley infused her family’s love of the sport. To make skiing more accessible for the whole family, Joanna’s grandfather bought a place in Mammoth, Calif.

Joanna raised her children with the same mindset. Her two sons became snowboarders, a passion which led her east to SMS with her son, Sebastian, who graduated from SMS in 2007. Joanna moved to Vermont to share in Sebastian’s SMS experience. During her time in Vermont, Joanna established strong friendships that still endure. “Sebastian pulled me into this wonderful world,” she said. “People worry about their kids leaving home, but sometimes they pull us into this great stuff!”

With her parents and her brother, Walter, Joanna became involved in a family project, which started the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco in 2009. She continues to serve on its Board, which is led by her mother and brother. Additionally, Joanna’s family, including her siblings and parents, own Silverado Vineyards in Napa, Calif., which opened in 1981. Joanna lives in Bonny Doon, Calif., in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Welcome to the Board


STEPHANIE DARLING Stephanie, a women’s alpine coach, comes to SMS with excep-tional experience. Steph was most recently the co-owner and operator of R Tuning in Salt Lake City, Utah, as well as an Alpine FIS Coach at Snowbird Sports Education Foundation. In 2008, Stephanie spent a summer on Palmer Glacier as an Alpine FIS Coach for Mount Hood Summer Ski Camps. She has also spent a summer in Mount Hood work-ing for Fischer as a shop technician and sales representative. Stephanie is very familiar with the ski academy structure. She graduated high school from Waterville Valley Academy and trained for two post-graduate seasons at Mount Mansfield Ski Club. Afterwards, she attended the Univer-sity of Utah where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Ex-ercise Science with a minor in Nutrition. Dur-ing collehe worked for the University of Utah at the Neuromuscular Science Lab, studying neuromuscular and aspects of eccentric muscle damage and recovery.

KYLE DARLINGKyle, a men’s alpine coach, brings a myriad of skills to the SMS community. He co-owned and operated R Tuning in Salt Lake City, Utah, before returning to the East Coast. Additionally, he was an Alpine FIS Coach for Snowbird Sports Education Foundation. He spent two summers as an Alpine FIS Coach at Mount Hood Summer Ski Camps as well as a summer at Fischer as a demo shop technician and sales representative. Kyle graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science. He also earned a minor in Nutrition. As an athlete, Kyle skied for the University of Utah’s Varsity Alpine Ski Team. Before heading out west, Kyle attended Mount Man-sfield Winter Academy in Stowe, Vt. He and his wife, Stephanie Darling, tied the knot in early September.

ALISSA CONSENSTEINAlissa, the Develop-ment Program Coor-dinator, joins the SMS Alpine staff in this new position. Before coming to SMS, Alissa served as the USSA Eastern Competition Manager where she organized events for elite FIS races. She simultaneously worked on special events for Boston-based Preston Marketing Concepts. Before her profes-sional career, Alissa ski raced for Colby College while pursu-ing double majors in International Stud-ies and French. Her language studies led her to spend exten-sive time in France where she immersed herself in the local culture. As a graduate of Green Mountain Valley School, Alissa is familiar with the ski academy lifestyle and will prove useful in the alpine program’s youth development.

JOSH BEDARD Josh ’03, an alpine coach, joins the SMS coaching staff as a part of the JIII Alpine Program. Josh gradu-ated from SMS in 2003 before heading off to Mount Mansfield Ski Club for two PG seasons. He com-mitted to ski for the Plymouth State Ski Team and became the United States Colle-giate Ski Association (USCSA) Giant Slalom National Champion in 2006. Following his 2006 season, he was the recipient of the Plymouth State Paul E. Arnold Male Athlete of the Year award, which is given to the most accomplished athlete at Plymouth State University. As an athlete at SMS, Josh was consistently a leader on the hill. He earned three Alpine Athletic Achievement Awards throughout his career at SMS and competed on the Men’s Varsity Soccer Team.

COLIN IGOEColin, an English teacher, comes to SMS with a wide array of talents. He is cur-rently a candidate for a master’s degree in secondary education from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadel-phia, Penn. He earned his undergraduate degree from Wheaton College in Massachu-setts where he was an active leader in the Wheaton commu-nity. He played Varsity soccer for Wheaton and has extensive experience as a youth soccer coach. Before committing to earn his master’s degree, Igoe spent 2008-2009 in Thailand where he worked as an English teacher and prepared Thai high school stu-dents for English col-lege entrance exams. This past winter, Igoe worked at the Over-brook Educational Center in Philadelphia where he earned his field experience help-ing 7th- and 8th-grade students understand English. Igoe grew up skiing at Stratton and returned last winter to work as a J5 coach for Stratton Training Center.

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DWAINE TAITDwaine, a winter-term tutor and student council advisor, joins the SMS staff with enor-mous experience in psychology and counseling. Dwaine had been practicing family therapy in Hilo, Hawaii, before coming to SMS. Dwaine, however, also has experience working in boarding schools. From 2006-2008, he worked at Leysin American School in Switzer-land as an Interna-tional Baccalaureate Psychology teacher, a physical educa-tion teacher and an activities associate. But before their time in Switzerland, Dwaine worked as a counselor and a therapist for more than 10 years, practicing mostly in Hawaii and Califor-nia. Dwaine earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii before going on to Argosy University in Honolulu, Ha-waii, to work on his Master’s of Arts in Professional Coun-seling. Dwaine lives on campus with his wife, Kim, and their two sons.

FRAN MAZZOLAFrancesca, the front desk adminis-trator and registrar, recently gradu-ated from Castleton State College in May of 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Health Science. Mazzola was ex-tensively involved with her college as a staff leader for the student orienta-tion and a student athlete mentor for Castleton Elemen-tary. Outside of her academic commit-ments, Mazzola played goalkeeper for Castleton’s Women’s Lacrosse team throughout her collegiate career. Before she came to SMS, Maz-zola worked as a physical therapy aid for Optimal Care Physical Therapy in Stony Brook, N.Y. She also has ex-perience in recruit-ment as a Regional Admissions Rep-resentative for her alma mater.

JESSE MALLISJesse, the Pipe and Park Program Coordinator, is ready to jumpstart the new program with his impressive qualifications and experience. Since 2005, Jesse had been the Head Freestyle Coach at Mount Snow Academy, where he worked with a small group of freestyle skiing athletes to provide the highest level of training and coaching. Jesse also has experience working with high school athletes. He was a soccer coach at his alma mater of Keene High School. He spent several semesters traveling abroad to Spanish-speaking countries perfecting his communicating skills and learning about the cultures. A native of New Hampshire, Jesse earned his Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Keene State College in 2003.

BRIAN KNIGHTBrian, a history teacher, boasts a professional resume with expansive expertise in non-profit institutions. Most recently, Knight acted as the Curator for Hildene, the Lincoln family home in Manches-ter, Vt. At Hildene, Knight oversaw the staff, interns and volunteers in addition to fulfilling responsibilities in museum manage-ment, collections maintenance and acquisitions. Before Knight’s work at Hildene, he worked at Saint Michael’s College as the As-sistant Director for Donor Relations. Knight has exten-sive experience with several other non-profit institu-tions. He earned both his master’s degree and bach-elor’s degree from the University of Vermont. He has an undergraduate de-gree in political sci-ence and a Master of Arts in Historical Preservation. Brian lives in Manchester, Vt., with his wife, Corinne, and their two and kids, Lind-say and Archer.

KIM TAITKim, an English teacher, has a book of credentials to contribute to her expertise. For more than 15 years, she has been a prolific and published au-thor. Her poems and articles have been published worldwide in literary maga-zines and books. In addition to her writ-ing experience, she has been teaching English since 1994. She began her teaching career in Hawaii at a board-ing school where she worked for a collective of seven years. She went on to teach at a myriad of other schools along the west coast and Hawaii, but she eventually found herself in Swit-zerland at Leysin American School, where she taught International Bac-calaureate English. She most recently took a year away from teaching in Ha-waii to focus on her writing before decid-ing to move back to Vermont, where she earned her master’s degree. She lives with her husband, Dwaine, and their two kids, Rakai and Taiaroa.

CHRIS WHITEChris, a new busi-ness administrator, graduated from Castleton State College in May of 2010 with a bach-elor’s degree in Business Adminis-tration and a minor in Economics. At Castleton, he served as the Busi-ness Club’s Mar-keting Chairman. White also has sig-nificant experience in web design and marketing. Before taking the job at SMS as a business office associate, White worked as a freelance web designer for Skene Valley Agency in Granville, N.Y., where he created logos and improved webpage function for the agency’s cli-ents. At Castleton, White also served as an intern for the school’s website redesign. White is a Vermont native and graduated high school from Fair Haven, Vt.


ANDY BISSELLE, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENTAndy Bisselle joins the SMS administration as the Director of

Development. Bisselle has extensive experience in independent schools and fundraising, which brings a great sense of understanding to his new position at SMS.

Bisselle spent the past 10 years working as the Executive Director for Camp Dudley YMCA on Lake Champlain, where he raised

$12 million for the Dudley Family Campaign. In his role at Camp Dudley, Bisselle led the admissions and recruitment efforts for 1,000 campers each year. He managed a staff of more than 250 members at two campuses and completed the day-to-day administration.

Prior to his time at Camp Dudley, Bisselle spent 12 years as a teacher, coach and administrator at several independent schools, including The Taft School in Watertown, Conn. Bisselle earned his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a master’s

degree in teaching from Connecticut College. Bisselle lives in Manchester with his wife, Fran, and his two daughters, Lucy and Aggie.

ROSS POWERS, SNOWBOARD PROGRAM DIRECTORRoss Powers ’97 joins the Stratton Mountain School athletic staff as the new Snowboard

Program Director.

After many years competing on the worldwide snowboarding circuit, Ross returns to Vermont to begin a full-time coaching career at his alma mater. Ross is facilitating a new level of performance at SMS as he integrates the latest coaching techniques as well as innovative strength and conditioning movements.

Shortly after graduating from Stratton Mountain School, Powers took the international snowboarding scene by storm. At the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, he captured the bronze medal in Halfpipe, the first-ever US Olympic Snowboarding medal. Four years later, at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, he led the historic sweep by the US Men’s Snowboarding Team and stood atop the podium as the Gold Medalist. Powers continues to hit the slopes and will participate in a few events this winter.

In addition to his riding experience, Powers has consistently been a mentor for young riders. He has been running and operating the Ross Powers Snowboard Camp since 1998 and will continue to do so as the program director for SMS. In 2001, he established the Ross Powers Foundation, which assists athletes with a need for financial aid.

A Vermont native, Ross and his wife, Marisa, live at Stratton Mountain, Vt., with their two daughters, Victoria and Meredith.

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On Friday, May 28, President and Founder of Vermont College of Fine Arts and noted author Thomas Christopher Greene addressed the graduating seniors. Graduation exercises were held at the Burtscher Field House on the SMS campus.

Greene is the author of novels “Mirror Lake” (Simon & Schuster, 2003), “I’ll Never Be Long Gone” (Harper/Collins, 2005), and “Envious Moon” (Harper/Collins, 2007). In 2006, he founded the Vermont College of Fine Arts, widely recognized as one of the top graduate schools in the country focused on writing and visual arts.

Gage Fichter and Paige Chardavoyne were selected by their classmates to address the crowd as senior speakers. All SMS graduates have distinguished themselves in their respective winter athletic endeavors. They also have earned admission to top colleges and universities including Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, The Citadel and the University of Vermont. During his keynote address, Greene relayed a story to the graduates about doing your best, putting yourself out there and hopefully, “getting the girl” in the end.

Congratulations to the 29 members of the Class of 2010: Emily Bamford, Doreen, Australia; Eric Beauchemin, Lake Winola, Penn.; Brandon Bineau, Boonton Township., N.J.; Isabel Caldwell, Peru, Vt.; John Caldwell, Peru, Vt.; Paige Chardavoyne, Glenmont, N.Y.; Austin Cobb, Peru, Vt.; Jennifer Cohen, Bondville, Vt.; Skyler Davis, Jericho,

Vt.; Marta Decarli, Venice, Italy; Gage Fichter, Putney, Vt.; Gregorio Giorgi, Cento, Italy; James Haffner, Darien, Conn.; Jacqueline Hernandez, Londonderry, Vt.; Cameron Howe, Westport, Conn.; Lena Kuchera, New York, N.Y.; Prescott McLaughlin, Millbrook, N.Y.; Vienna McLeod, Queensbury, N.Y.; Joseph Mensch, Manorville, N.Y.; Jay Ogle, Pittsfield, Mass.; Marley Pawlak, West Dover,

Vt.; Kelsey Pearson, West Dover, Vt.; Hunter Resek, East Dover, Vt.; Eric Roomet, Hinesburg, Vt.; Stefan Schmidt, Stratton, Vt.; Shelby Simpson, Bondville, Vt.; Cole Skinner, Londonderry, Vt.; Randall Stacy, Ipswich, Mass.; India-Louise Stephenson, South Export, Penn.

Class of 2010 Graduation

AWARD RECIPIENTSFounders’ Award Isabel Caldwell

Faculty Award Austin CobbFaculty Award Randall Stacy

Lisa Tuttle Award Shelby SimpsonVermont Scholar Award Gage Fichter

VPA Award Stefan Schmidt VPA Award Lena Kuchera

Jay Leach Award Austin CaldwellAcademic Achievement Award

Paige Chardavoyne

Back row (from left to right): Giorgi, Mensch, Cobb, Roomet, Resek, McLaughlin, Ogle, Caldwell, Haffner, Schmidt, Howe, Bineau, Davis, Skinner, Beauchemin, Stacy. Front row: Caldwell, Decarli, Pawlak, Bamford, Pearson, Fichter, Chardavoyne,

Simpson, Hernandez, McCloud, Kuchera, Stephenson, Cohen.

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At a June 19 retirement party, the Stratton Mountain School community bid adieu or

valere to longtime teacher and administrator Peggy deSantis. Peggy retired from her role as

the Assistant Headmaster, Dean of Studies, English Teacher, Latin Teacher and Winter Term Coordinator at the conclusion of the

2009-2010 academic year.

35 years of dedication

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For the past 35 years, Peggy deSantis set the tone for academic excellence and

consistency at SMS. Beginning as a 7th-and 8th-grade English Teacher in 1975, Peggy worked her way up to a position where she was involved in every aspect of the school. Her indelible mark is quite simply everywhere at Stratton Mountain School. Additionally, Peggy worked tirelessly to ensure future momentum of the school when she spearheaded and directed the 10-year re-accreditation process by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

Peggy’s many talents, her steady hand and her firm commitment to academic excellence forever changed the landscape of Stratton Mountain School. Nearly every alumnus and faculty member of the SMS community was strongly impacted by Peggy’s presence in their professional and educational development.

At Graduation in May, Headmaster Chris Kaltsas awarded Peggy the Richard Miller Award for “performing her task with outstanding leadership.” Upon receiving her award, she addressed the Class of 2010 with these sage words:

“So graduates, as we move towards our next step hand in hand, understand that we will follow yet another unfamiliar path. You will seek continued recognition and an extension of your intellectual promise and athletic talent, and I will be seeking those yet-to-be-discovered adventures that await my husband and me. Promise me that you will never forget your high school alma mater. Stratton

Mountain School is such a special place. You have been, and you will continue to be the recipients of a fine education, splendid athletic direction and additional resources for personal achievement from nurturing adults who have and will continue to believe in you. I shall never forget any of you. Enjoy this exciting trip to and through the unfamiliar, as I will enjoy mine. I wish you great good fortune and Godspeed.”

The 2009-2010 yearbook was also dedicated in her name. Peggy’s colleagues and former students took the opportunity to thank her for her role in their lives at her June 19, 2010 retirement party. Below are excerpts from her retirement party. Some were also written in her online memory book. Thank you, Peggy for 35 wonderful years!

“I had a wonderful professional experience with Peggy. She led our academic program and maintained the highest standards and quality of education that we’ve come to associate with SMS. It was so important to me to work with someone with her strength and dedication to the values and strict adherence to the mission of Stratton Mountain School. We made tremendous progress over the years, and I attribute much of that to her help and support. I hope she will always remain close to SMS through the years. And that she enjoys the fruits of what has been a long, successful and proud part of our school.” - Chris Kaltsas, SMS Headmaster

“Peggy was the one who set the academic standards of the school and set the standards for the faculty on how you should perform as a professional teacher. As we were transforming the school from a tutoring school to a full-term school, she was really pivotal in providing the standards of a real educational institution. Peggy was always aware of the demands of a ski racer. She was always sensitive to the idea that you should do the best you could on the hill and the best you could do in the classroom. The fact that she could see it from both sides was really good for the school.” - TD McCormick, SMS History Teacher and Coach (1971 – 2006), current member SMS Board of Trustees

“Peggy showed me what it was to be a professional, to have high expectations for kids and to do my own homework. She’s been a wonderful person to work with, and I’ll miss her.” - Alex Lehmann, English Teacher, Dean of Academics

“She’s still my teacher. I still learn from her everyday.” - Dave

Rothman SMS ’02, Math Teacher

“Somehow you managed to turn a flooded basement into a classroom and library, and transform a bunch of kids who would rather be playing in the snow into students. Your long-time commitment to furthering academics at SMS has set the school above all other ski academies. There is only one Mrs. deSantis, and the school will never be the same without you. I hope your influence remains for a long time to come. Enjoy your retirement!” - Kristin Luckenbill SMS ’97

“I’ve been really lucky to work with Peggy for the last 30 years. I have two words to describe Peggy. Consummate professional. She is amazing. In all the time I’ve known

her, there’s never been a personal agenda. It’s always been what’s best for the school and what’s best for the kids. It’s

been an honor working with you.” - Sverre Caldwell, Nordic Program Director, former Headmaster

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The alpine program boasted 25 Men’s Alpine FIS Podiums, 26 Women’s Alpine FIS Podiums, 20 JIII/JIV State (and up) Podiums across all age groups. Overall podiums include (this list is not comprehensive):

-- 12 athletes competed at JII Nationals, which is double the number of participants from any other individual program in the East. -- Prescott McLaughlin ’10 was invited to train with the National Development System (NDS) Junior Speed Project. McLaughlin is one of 30 JII student athletes invited to

participate in the elite training week.-- Prescott McLaughlin ’10 and Jay Ogle ’10 competed at the US Nationals Downhill in Aspen.-- SMS JIII Alpine Program took 10 athletes to the JIII Junior Olympics, which tied for the most of any program in the East. -- Brittany Lathrop qualified for the

Whistler Cup Ski Championships and earned second place overall. She also won the overall at JIII States.-- Kieran Mottau ’14 finished top-10 in two events at the JIII Junior Olympics, allowing him to compete in the 2010 Canadian K2 National Championships.

OTHER NOTABLE RESULTS

Jay Ogle: 2nd at Attitash Giant SlalomBlake Pendleton: 2nd at Attitash SlalomPrescott McLaughlin: 2nd at Mount Hood Meadows SlalomEric Rasmussen: 2nd place at Sugarbush Giant Slalom Emily Bamford: 2nd at Sugarbush Giant Slalom Brittany Lathrop: 2nd at JIII Junior Olympics Giant Slalom

SECOND PLACE FINISHES

Danny Fowler: 3rd place National JII Championships Super-GNick Krause: 3rd at Attitash Giant Slalom

Prescott McLaughlin: 3rd at Mount Hood Meadows Giant Slalom Prescott McLaughlin: 3rd at Alyeska, Alaska Slalom

Madeleine Hall: 3rd at Cranmore SlalomEmily Bamford: 3rd at Stratton Slalom

Emily Bamford: 3rd at Sunday River Giant Slalom Kieran Mottau: 3rd place JIII States Slalom

THIRD PLACE FINISHES

Jay Ogle: 1st at Attitash Giant SlalomJay Ogle: 1st at Attitash Slalom

Prescott McLaughlin: 1st at Mount Hood Meadows SlalomDanny Fowler: 1st place at Sugarbush Giant Slalom

Amanda Reilly: 1st at Stowe Slalom Brittany Lathrop: 1st place JIII Junior OlympicsBrittany Lathrop: 1st place JIII States Slalom

Brittany Lathrop: 1st place JIII States Giant Slalom

FIRST PLACE FINISHES

-- All three Freestyle athletes qualified for Junior Olympics and U.S. Nationals. -- Witt went into JOs ranked as the second-best divisional Dual Mogul skier in the country. -- McLeod has earned several top-five finishes in Eastern Championship Series events

throughout this season, including a second place at Waterville Rosemary Bowl and three top-five finishes at Bristol Mountain, N.Y.-- Lovell found the podium at the Eastern Divisional Championships with his second place finish in Moguls. Lovell increased his overall divisional-competitor ranking from

58th to 21st in Dual Moguls. Lovell earned a spot on the podium at the Bristol Mountain’s ECS Mogul event and has finished top-five several times.-- During the 2010-2011 year, SMS added a Halfpipe and Slopestyle (Pipe and Park) skiing program.

Seven Stratton Mountain School (SMS) alumni and past student athletes represented SMS at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Lindsey Jacobellis ’03, Andy Newell ’02, Louie Vito ’06, Kris Freeman ’99 (winter term) competed for the United States. Jacobellis and Vito competed in snowboarding while Newell and Freeman competed in cross country ski racing. Kendall Brown ’08 (winter term) became one of the

youngest members of the New Zealand Olympic snowboard team and Klara Krizova ’07 (winter term) competed in alpine ski racing for her home country of the Czech Republic. SMS has had more than 53 placements on Olympic Teams in its short history, and more than 90 SMS student athletes have been named to National Teams. To see a complete list of SMS Olympians, visit www.gosms.org/Olympians.

2010 WINTER OLYMPICS REVIEW

A L P I N E P R O G R A M

H I G H L I G H T S

F R E E S T Y L EP R O G R A M

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-- 26 out of 33 snowboard athletes qualified for USASA Nationals.-- Spencer Shaw ’11, Michael Perle ’12, Shelby Simpson ’10, Maverick Shaw ’15 and Serena Shaw ’13 were invited to participate in the 2010 Project Gold for Halfpipe at Mammoth Mountain, Calif.-- Shelby Simpson ’10 and Jacqueline Hernandez ’10 qualified

for FIS Junior World Championships. -- Jacqueline Hernandez ’10 dominated the Snowboardcross (SBX) field throughout the year: she finished second at the final NorAm Snowboardcross in Mont Tremblant, Quebec, where she scored the highest points of her career. Hernandez clinched second place overall in the final NorAm standings.

Throughout the season, she had more than four podium finishes on the NorAm tour. -- Spencer Shaw ’11, Eric Beauchemin ’10 and Randall Stacy ’10 represented SMS in the semi-finals at the U.S. Open. -- Kiley Kennedy represented the SMS women in the US Open Slopestyle Finals.


Randall Stacy: 2nd SS USASA NationalsMike Perle: 2nd HP USASA NationalsSerena Shaw: 2nd HP Mount Snow Revolution TourSpencer Shaw: 2nd SS Copper Revolution TourMaverick Shaw: 2nd SS USASA Nationals


Shelby Simpson: 3rd HP Copper Revolution TourJenn Cohen: 3rd HP Mount Snow Revolution Tour

Serena Shaw: 3rd HP Boreal Revolution TourSpencer Shaw: 3rd HP Mount Snow Revolution Tour

Jenn Hawkrigg: 3rd BX USASA Nationals Jacqueline Hernandez: 3rd BX USASA Nationals

Karen Kobayashi: 3rd BX USASA NationalsMaverick Shaw: 3rd HP USASA Nationals


Mike Perle: 1st BX USASA Nationals Youth Division Mike Perle: 1st HP Gatorade Free Flow Tour Killington Chris Tierney: 1st SS USASA Nationals Youth Division Shelby Simpson: 1st HP Mount Snow Revolution Tour

Shelby Simpson: 1st BX Reef/Corona Open in Argentina

FIRST PLACE FINISHES

-- The program extended its streak to 14 straight years with at least one Junior National Champion and at least one World Junior Team member.-- The girls’ team won the Roger Weston award as the top high school team in the country for the third straight year.

-- Isabel Caldwell ’10, Austin Cobb ’10 and Bridger Tyler ’11 were named to the USST J1 Scandinavian Cup team, which takes the top six J1 boys and girls in the country.-- Isabel Caldwell ’10 and Gage Fichter ’10 placed first and third in the overall Eastern Cup standings. -- Skyler Davis ’10 placed fourth

overall and was the first junior in the Eastern Cup standings.-- 13 of our 14 eligible skiers were named to the New England Junior National team.-- SMS athletes had 14 All-American finishes at Junior Olympics.


Skyler Davis: 2nd at Rumford EC, SprintSkyler Davis: 2nd at USSA JO Championships, Sprint Gage Fichter: 2nd at Presque Isle EC Opener, DistanceHeather Mooney: 2nd at USSA JO Championships, DistanceHeather Mooney: 2nd at USSA JO Championships, SprintHeather Mooney: 2nd at Presque Isle EC Opener, DistanceHeather Mooney: 2nd at UVM EC, Distance


Isabel Caldwell: 3rd at USSA JO Championships, DistanceIsabel Caldwell: 3rd at Presque Isle EC Opener, Distance

Isabel Caldwell: 3rd at Holderness School TD Bank EC Finals, DistanceGage Fichter: 3rd at USSA JO Championships, Sprint

Gage Fichter: 3rd at Black Mountain of Maine TD Bank EC, Distance Brooke Mooney: 3rd at Presque Isle EC Opener, Sprint

Brooke Mooney: 3rd at Presque Isle EC Opener, DistanceTyler Foulkes: 3rd at Presque Isle EC Opener, Distance


Skyler Davis: 1st at Presque Isle EC Opener, Sprint Isabel Caldwell: 1st at USSA Junior Olympic Championships, Sprint

Isabel Caldwell: 1st at Black Mountain of Maine TD Bank Black Mtn. EC, Distance Isabel Caldwell: 1st at Gunstock TD Bank Silver Fox Trot EC, Distance

Heather Mooney: 1st at Presque Isle EC Opener, Sprint Heather Mooney: 1st at Black Mountain of Maine TD Bank EC, Sprint

Heather Mooney: 1st at UVM EC, DistanceHeather Mooney: 1st at NYSEF Harry Eldridge Memorial, Distance

FIRST PLACE FINISHESOverall podiums include (this list is not comprehensive):

Overall podiums include (this list is not comprehensive):

N O R D I CP R O G R A M H I G H L I G H T S

S N O W B O A R D P R O G R A M H I G H L I G H T S

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Starting Gate Winter 2011Starting Gate Winter 201112

COLLEGE GUIDANCE

fall aT STraTTon mounTain School meanS a buSy beginning To a neW year. STudenTS are engaged in inTenSive academic demandS

while coaches drive the students to build their physical foundations for the challenges of the upcoming competition season. Seniors, of course, have the added responsibility of preparing their college applications.

Stratton Mountain School’s students are certainly a unique and impressive group, and their drive and determination to succeed on so many fronts is a constantly evolving proof of this observation, which manifests itself in the many tangible results our students realize, from the slopes and trails to the classroom, in their personal lives, and in their college acceptances.

Our students have adapted admirably to the ever-changing process of the college application, and last year’s impressive list of college acceptances continued a number of trends that we’ve observed over the past few years. As electronic applications have become increasingly standardized and have replaced the paper and ink pages of the past, our students have found increasing opportunity to apply to a diverse array of colleges. This year, the Common Application is being accepted by a record number of over 400 colleges and universities. This fact allows students to apply to any of these schools by filling out a single copy of the application and then submitting it electronically to the list of schools which they, with the oversight of the college guidance department, deem appropriate. I was thrilled last year to see this expansive opportunity result in students who now attend school in locations not traditionally associated with SMS athletes such as multiple branches of the University of California, Whittier College in Los Angeles, and the Citadel, to the more traditional schools such as Dartmouth and Middlebury Colleges where our students continue to thrive. While athletes at some of these schools may no longer be pursuing the athletic opportunities that were so important to them while at SMS, the work ethic and goal-setting abilities that they developed as students here help assure their success in diverse fields as college students. By Alex Lehmann

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOMThis fall, the Stratton Mountain School Parents’ Association do-nated $2,200 toward the purchase of six new LCD projectors. The generous donation covered half the cost of the projector purchase and installation project, and now all classrooms are equipped with this technology. From English to Phys-ics, SMS teachers are using this and other technology to maximize the delivery of their curriculum. “I’m able to project position-versus-time graphs and have a student come to the board and draw a velocity-versus-time graph right on the position graph,” said Tim Taylor, a physics and math teacher. “I also use a document reader with the projector to show student home-work assignments to the class.”The projectors also come to great use in the English classrooms. “My new LCD projector makes it possible for me to have several documents prepared for projection in the course of a single period,” said Kim Tait, an English teacher. “I can project a freewrite prompt, for example, but then click back to a Kierkegaard quote on existential-ism for reference and then back again, without having to erase material from the board.”No matter what the use, the pro-jectors allow teachers to cater to different teaching techniques and learning styles, making the class-room a more dynamic learning experience.

Professional DevelopmentStratton Mountain School Spanish Teacher Matt Seager toured Central America last summer as part of a professional development trip. He spent two weeks at LSSN-León Spanish School of Nicaragua where he took advanced Spanish classes. Additionally, he spent time in Copán,

Honduras touring the ancient, Mayan ruins there. Pictured here is the city of León, Nicaragua, as seen from the Cathedral de León.

Annual Report2009-2010

Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends,

I’m so grateful to look through this Annual Report and see all of the loyal friends of Stratton Mountain School. Many of you have supported SMS each year without fail. During these difficult economic times, you have made your gift to SMS a priority, and that has made a significant difference in the lives of our student athletes everyday. Thank you for your continued support of this great school!

For the 2009-2010 fiscal year, ending on June 30, 2010, the SMS Annual Fund raised $322,635, which represents a five-percent increase over total Annual Giving to SMS last year. With giving across all sectors down by 3.6 percent in 20091, we are grateful for your steady support and guiding hand.

Your gift to the SMS Annual Fund is crucial to the continued success of Stratton Mountain School. The Annual Fund sustains the excellence in academics and excellence in athletics that is the trademark of an SMS education. Your support allows our teachers and coaches to

provide the absolute best in classroom delivery and athletic programming. Your gift allows us as a school to pursue our mission without reservation. With your help, we are able to help a new generation of student athletes pursue excellence in competitive winter sports and college preparatory academics while developing strong personal values.

We realize that each of you have many claims on your time and attention. We are so happy that you continue to value your membership in the SMS community. Thank you for continued support

Sincerely,

Gary Giulietti, ChairmanBoard of Trustees1. Giving USA Foundation Annual Report on Philanthropy 2009.

Building for Excellence CampaignTo establish an endowment fund;

to provide a secure financial base; to complete current capital

campaign building projects; to provide stability for the future of

Stratton Mountain School.$4 million campaign goal$2.8 million raised to date

Thank you to our current campaign donors!

We take great pleasure in recognizing these generous

participants in the Building for Excellence Campaign.

In turn, we are grateful for their recognition of the importance of this campaign to the mission and

future of SMS.

We welcome new donors:Please contact Andy Bisselle at

802-856-1112 if you would like to learn more about the

Building for Excellence Campaign.

To access easy ways of giving to SMS, please visit our website at: www.gosms.org/waysofgiving.

$1,000,000

$1,500,000

$2,000,000

$2,500,000

$3,000,000

$3,500,000

$4,000,000

“The Annual Fund raised $322,635, which represents a five-percent increase over total Annual Giving to SMS last year.”

annual reportfor fiScal year July 1–June 30 2009-2010

13Winter 2011 Starting Gate



Annual Giving Report for gifts received July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010For all gifts to all funds excluding the Building for Excellence Campaign, the Winter Ball and Beckie McGill Scholarship Fund.

Gifts and pledges to the Building for Excellence Campaign

$250,000 and above

Mr. & Mrs. Gary Simpson

$200,000 – $249,000Anonymous The Gilo Family FoundationMr. & Mrs. Duncan Tenney

$150,000 – $199,999Mr. & Mrs. David Epstein

$100,000 – $149,999Anonymous (3)Mr. & Mrs. Gary GiuliettiMr. & Mrs. James HaffnerMr. & Mrs. Robert LememzeMr. Todd Richter*Mr. Morton Saunders

$50,000 – $99,999Mr. & Mrs. James CrowleyMr. & Mrs. Michael FultonMr. Michael HahnMr. & Mrs. Dana HollingsworthMr. & Mrs. F. Graham Luckenbill IIMr. & Mrs. William Morton

$25,000 – $49,999AnonymousMr. & Mrs. Thomas Evans

Ms. Jody FooteMr. & Mrs. Ian JonesMr. & Mrs. Robert JonesMr. & Mrs. Benjamin NeedellMr. & Mrs. Christopher SmilesMrs. Jessie Snyder$20,000 – $24,999Mr. John S. McCormick Mr. & Mrs. Burton Tremaine$5,000 – $19,999Mr. & Mrs. Mika BrewerDrs. Richard & Tricia GibbsMr. & Mrs. Andrew MalloyMr. & Mrs. TD McCormickMr. & Mrs. William Stutt$2,500 – $4,999The Hadden Family$1,000 – $2,499Andersen WindowsMs. Carolyn Blitz*Ms. Lisa F. DensmoreMs. Cindy Oak GoodinMr. & Mrs. Paul McNamaraMedImpact Health Care Systems*Mr. & Mrs. DW Porto*Mr. & Mrs. William Thomson*

Mr. & Mrs. CB Vaughan*

up To $999Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Barclay*Mr. & Mrs. Scott Bergman*Mr. & Mrs. Barry Bernard*Mr. & Mrs. Jack Derby*Mr. & Mrs. Robert D’Loren*Mr. Brian Kinkaed*Mr. & Mrs. Jim Lanzillo*Mr. & Mrs. William MillerMr & Mrs. Philip Pucciarelli*Mr. David Rosow Mr. Kenneth Smith*Mr. & Mrs. John Sohikian*

maTching gifT programS

Bank of America Matching Gifts*Bank of America United Way Campaign**contributions to Todd B. Richter Endowment Fund

Although every effort is made toward accuracy, human error is always a possibility, and we would appreciate being notified of any change that should be made to our records. Please contact Wendy Schriebl at (802) 856-1101.

World Cup Champion $25,000+Mr. & Mrs. William P. Scully Neal & Elizabeth Schuman

Olympic Gold $10,000 – $24,999 Tony DiGangi & Carolyn Beckedorff ’85Mustafa Abadan & Susan BradyThe Ellen & Gary Davis Foundation TD McCormick Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation Joanna Runeare The Joseph F. Stein Family Foundation Gary & Sally Simpson

World Cup Gold ($5,000 – $9,999) David & Betsy Epstein

Peter J. Novello & Dr. Renee NovelloBenjamin & Kathleen Needell Morton T. Saunders Chad & Susan Waite

National Gold ($1,000 – $4,999) Dr. & Mrs. James Abbenhaus Dr. Susan Adler James & Pamela Chiasson Class of 2009 Class of 2010 Joseph L. Gillis Gary & Mary Ellen Giulietti Jim & Lynn Haffner Todd & Susan C. Hermanson ’83 Richard H. Holzer Memorial Foundation

Tom & Joanne Head Robert & Laura Lemenze Alex & Liza Lynch David & Lisa Linton Landy Family Foundation Bill & Meg Morton Chan Morgan ’82 David & Julie Nocek Laird & Freya Pendleton Nina & Scott Reichhelm ’76 Tim & Debbie Reilly Rich Ross ’ 77 (in honor of Peggy deSantis’s retirement) Hans Schmidt & Dr. Mary A. Tarkington Paul & Kimberly Sitarz Sun Products Corp.

All gifts and pledges, historical and current, given to the Building for Excellence Campaign.

14


Annual Report

2009-2010

Winter 2011 Starting Gate

William & Carolyn Stutt Keith & Marsha Therrien Fritz Wahl ’77

Junior Olympic Gold ($500 – $999)George Abdow ’84 Jeff & Darcy Ahl ’80 Mr. & Mrs. Robert Alexander Michael & Alison Barry Michael & Margaret Cobb Jeff & Maureen Crowley Mr. & Mrs. Thomas M. Evans, Jr. Heidi Frost ’83 Mr. & Mrs. Edward M. Gillis ’83 David & Suzanne Hudson William & Sarah Hadden John & Heather Kreitler Michael & Laura Kaplan/Aspen Community Foundation Yvonne Lodico Marc & Nancy Lobell Henry & Vivien Malloy Mark & Wendi McKenna Ian & Ann Murray Dave & Mimi McGill George & Norene Peck IV Herve & Mary Pelletier Thomas & Rudy Rasmussen Cheryl LaFlamme Rothman John & Mary Stichter Cornelia V. Tuttle (in memory of Lisa Tuttle ’78, Emo Henrich & Rick Hube) The Winthrop Family

Eastern Cup Gold ($100 – $499) Mr. & Mrs. Stig Albertsson Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Appenzeller Bill & Donna Appenzeller Sandra S. Bennett Carole Brown Megan Brown Brent ’91

Suzanne M. Callen John Casella David W. Clark (Ben Clark Library Collection in memory of Ben Clark ’79) Kevin & Tricia Davis Dr. & Mrs. Michele deSantis Michael & Joan Dritz Peter & Susie Dow Mr. & Mrs. H. Thomas Dyett Sky & Sue Foulkes Mr. & Mrs. Thomas B. Finan, Jr. Donald & Christina Gilbert Peter & Ruth Hall Becky Hall ’82 Lucy Hamnett Michael & Patty Hernandez Kim Hartsen ’99 Kimberly S. Jochl ’88 Dennis & Kasey Kinsella Hunter Kaltsas ’99 Marianne Lipa ’96 Vincent & Ali Lopez (in honor of Peggy deSantis’s retirement) Jim & Tamra Mooney Al & Mary Mottau Michael & Meredith Morin Clarence F. Michalis Michael & Shari Mattice Mr. & Mrs. D. J. Miller Timothy Mabee Mark Mensch The Maneggia Family Patrick McNamara Mr. & Mrs. Lance Odden Robert & Ellen Page (in memory of Louise Roomet) John Passarelli, M.D. Peter Hentschel & Elizabeth Prete (in memory of Louise Roomet) Neiko Razinger Andres Roomet

Bryan & Diane Ross The Rodrick Family Christine Schozer ’08 Nancy Shuell Marc Sorel ’91 Vermont Country Store Kevin & Molly Visnic Louie Vito ’06 Alan Waxenberg White Mountain Capital (matching gift) Kenneth M. Woods

Support Team (up to $99) Cort Ahl ’08 Mike & Laurie Brown Lilly Caldwell Robert M. Davidson Lisa Densmore ’79 Charles M. Feinberg Joe & Laurie Fichter Ellen Leigh Hyde Paul & Pat Killigrew Shayne Lynn ’89 Jeanne H. Larsen ’78 A. E. Laidlaw, Jr. Laura & Chris Megroz Manchester Taxi Bryan Pell ’91 Wendy Schriebl Donald Tarinelli ’75 Paul & Betsy Thornton Frances Weeks

Gifts In Kind Daniel Crain Paul & Jill Choma Susan Brady Gary Davis Equipe Sport Robbin Gibson Anne Henrich Walker S. Kimball

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Mr. & Mrs. Jeff CrowleyMr. & Mrs. Gary DavisMr. & Mrs. Michael FultonMr. & Mrs. Gary GiuliettiMr. & Mrs. James Haffner

Mr. & Mrs. Robert LemenzeMr. & Mrs. Jeffrey LennoxMr. & Mrs. Douglas MacKenzieMr. & Mrs. TD McCormickMr. & Mrs. Benjamin Needell

Mr. & Mrs. Laird PendletonMr. Todd RichterMr. Morton SaundersMr. & Mrs. Hans SchmidtMr. & Mrs. Neal Schuman

Mr. & Mrs. Gary SimpsonMr. & Mrs. Paul SitarzStratton Resort

2010 Winter Ball Benefactors


’70s1974 Fritz Wahl lives in New York City and is an active supporter of Stratton Moun-tain School.

1977 John Grush has opened a new ski shop, First Trax, near Mount Snow Resort.

1977 Scott Hardy is a Stratton Vt., resident. Scott still hits the slopes in the winter and was seen hiking the mountain many times this past summer.

1977 Stephen Diao recently saw Benzi Henrich in Park City, Utah. Stephen wrote, “We had a wonderful time over some wine and caught up on the past 20 years.”

1978 Darcy Chapel Ahl stays busy as the Co-founder and Vice President of Public Af-fairs of Illume Software, Inc. The company’s first product, iZUP, is a technology solution to the deadly habit of dis-tracted driving caused by cell phone use behind the wheel. The company has recently made tremendous progress. Darcy lives in Connecticut, but works at the company’s headquarters in Newton, Mass. Her son, Cort ’08, is taking a semester away from Duke to enjoy studies in Bar-celona, Spain, where Cort’s SMS roommate, John Sitarz ’08, is also studying. Darcy says, “Sounds like trouble to me!” Her middle son, Kemper, began his freshman year at Davidson. As she watched the local news in Charlotte, N.C., when she dropped Kemper off at college, she caught a glimpse of City Councilman Andy Dulin ’79

on the television. Lastly, her eighth-grade daughter, Signe, is gearing up for ski season and preparing for boarding school visits, including SMS.

1978 Jeanne Hammond Larson just bought a fold-ing bicycle for adventures in America and abroad. She still spends her summers com-mercial salmon fishing near Kodiak Island in Alaska with her husband.

1978 Jody Linehan lives in Newfields, N.H., with his wife and two children. His son, Blake, is a JII day student at Waterville Academy this winter. His son is also an avid, competitive rock climber. His 12-year-old daughter, Olivia, is a very accomplished equestrian and field hockey player. Two years ago, Jody started a new company with some colleagues from the footwear business. They purchased a trail running and outdoor brand from Timber-land called GoLite Footwear. Jody says his company has innovative technology that is gaining some real market momentum. Be sure to look for GoLite Footwear in major retailers across the US.

1978 Kim Reichhelm recently returned from a two-month trip in Chile where she heli-skied in fresh snow with fun clients and friends. She spent the first 10 days in Valle Nevado where she and seven others used a private helicop-ter to ski 200,000 vertical feet in a week. Many of their drops were more than 13,000 feet high! She’s posted photos on Facebook or go to: http://gallery.me.com/skiwith-

kim1#100114. In the next few months, she’ll be testing new products, shooting photos and skiing with her friends. She says, “I enjoyed many glasses of Los Vasco with the wine king, Mario Lobo, ran some gates with Portillo’s new ski school director, Robin Barnes, and made many lake runs, possibly one of my favorite runs in the world.” Right now, she’s working on her 2011 schedule, negotiat-ing contracts for 2011-2012 and updating her website. She wishes everyone well, and she hopes everyone is getting stoked to be back on snow soon. Be sure to visit her website, www.skiwithkim.com.

1978 Sue Long Wemyss had a chance to return to SMS this August to be a part of Sverre Caldwell’s BKL sum-mer camp. Four of her skiers from the BKL Club Great Glen Trails in Pinkham Notch, N.H., also attended. She said, “It was fun to see that Stratton athletes are still visiting some of our favorite spots in the area, such as Pikes Falls!” She was impressed with the improvements in the SMS fa-cilities. She frequently follows the SMS Nordic program, enjoying the daily updates posted on the Nordic blog (www.smsxc.blogspot.com). She wishes the SMS skiers good luck and hopes to catch the group in action in Rum-ford this January.

1979 Glen Mottau recently purchased a house on Strat-ton Mountain. He’s the proud father of two current SMS students, Tanner ’12 and Kieran ’14.

1979 Heidi Preuss says she loves seeing so many of her SMS classmates on Face-book. Because of it, she had been able to meet up with a number of people she hasn’t seen in years. She says, “Benzi (Ross) posted a great class photo that brought back many wonderful memories. We all wondered about those we haven’t heard from. Come find us!” She’s expanding her gardening passions, run-ning an annual street festival www.9thand9thstreetfestival.com, doing Bikram Yoga as much as possible, managing winter condo rentals in Park City, Utah, visiting her parents in New Hampshire when she can and geocaching every-where she goes. She says, “If you come through Salt Lake City, I’m always open to have people visit, go skiing, hiking, dinner, etc. Don’t be shy!”

1979 Lisa Densmore lives in Hanover, N.H., and owns Densmore Designs. After almost two decades, she’s resigned from the SMS Board of Trustees. She’ll continue to be involved with the school as an advisory to the Head-master and in whatever other capacities in which the school needs. Lisa keeps busy as a freelance television producer/host, writer and photographer. This past year, she ski raced on the Masters circuit, taught women’s ski clinics and promoted her compositions, “Hiking the Adirondacks,” “Hiking the White Mountains,” and Backpacker Magazine’s “Predicting Weather.”

1979 Mike deSantis owns and operates a world-class ski and snowboard tuning

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T H E F I N I S H L I N E

business in Framingham, Mass. This summer, he was seen golfing several times in Dorset with his mom, Peggy, and dad, Mike.

’80s1980 Anastasia Fischer cur-rently lives in a pink house in Rockland, Maine. She keeps busy by working as a Customer Experience consul-tant (mostly in the Financial Services industry). She home schools her son, Lucas, who is 9. She tries to keep Lucas and their puppy from tearing each other apart. This past year, she stayed busy learn-ing to play the fiddle, traveling to various places and produc-ing events.

1980 Andy and Jack Coghlan ’81 just completed their first year with the Park City Snow-board Academy. They had 17 full-time students and nearly 50 students on the local team. This next winter, they have decided to shift the academy into a winter-term school only. They had a mini SMS reunion in Park City last December when The Frends Crew stopped by the academy to celebrate Jack Mitrani’s 21st birthday. Tyler Emond, Kevin & Adam Pearce, Jack & Luke Mitrani, Louie Vito, Ellery Hollingsworth, Danny Davis, Christian Connors, Andy Coghlan, Scotty Lago and Jack Coghlan all helped Jack Mitrani celebrate his big day! Jack Coghlan said, “We are really excited to hear about Ross Powers running the SMS Snowboard Program!”

1980 Deborah Scranton’s most recent film “Earth Made of Glass” premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in the world documentary competition. The film also screened at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival and will air early in 2011 on HBO. Watch the trailer at www.earthmadeofglass.com. Her son, Benjamin, is an avid swimmer, and she is spending many hours inhal-ing chlorine instead of being on snow-covered mountains. She lives on her family farm in New Hampshire and would love to re-connect with old SMS friends.

1980 Hayley Wolff moved to Boulder, Colo., with her family in August. She accepted a job in the finance group with Vail Resorts in Broomfield, Colo. Although she says she still has many boxes to unpack, her family is settling in nicely. Her two daughters, who are 10 and 13, are happy in their new school, and the entire family is looking forward to powder days.

1980 Heidi Radloff McClellan lives in White River Junction, Vt., with her husband, Derek, and son, Max, who is 2. When she’s not chasing Max on the slopes or at the beach, she works as an Athletic Trainer for the Sharon Sports Medicine Clinic. She says, “It’s amazing how many past and present SMS families I have run into in the past 30 years since graduation. Give a big ‘hello’ to Sverre and John Casella! I still hope to visit the ‘new’ campus some-day soon. All the best!”

1981 Connie Lizza Moyer now lives in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. She keeps busy by rais-ing her three children with her husband. This past year, she has been coaching the Mam-moth Mountain Mighty Mite Ski Team. Her family enjoys skiing, camping, biking, boat-ing and hiking.

1981 Eric Vainu resides in Colorado Springs, Colo. He works for Hewlett-Packard, travelling the world teaching and managing several sales tools. Besides work, he likes to cook and go geocaching. This past year, he saw SMS alumna Heidi Preuss twice. Before this year, he hadn’t seen her since 1980. Preuss stopped by for a visit last fall and got him hooked on geocaching.

1982 Greg Needell resigned from the US Ski Team in 2009 to spend some time at home with his family. He has been coaching local kids at the ski area in Wenatchee, Wis. He recently started a business called Alpine Race Consulting, which specializes in training and educating ski club staffs. He also writes a blog called “The World Cup According to Grande” on his website: www.alpineraceconsulting.com, which occasionally appears on www.skiracing.com.

1982 John Borwick is working as the as CEO/COO/Presi-dent of Gilded Otter Brewing Company in New Paltz, N.Y. He resides in Egermont, Mass., where he lives with his wife, Ingrid, and sons, Jack-son and Hunter. He is also an alpine coach at Jiminy Peak.

1982 Scott Summers lives in Sonoma, Calif., where he raises his four children who are 16, 14, 12 and 8. He says, “This involves schedul-ing, negotiating, teaching, coaching, driving, cooking, cleaning, playing, understand-ing and loving – the usual. It’s often crazy but so worth it.” He works as the information and graphic designer for a wine industry trade publica-tion in his beautiful small town, which is famous for its grapes. He bikes to work, where he creates the graph-ics for both web and print.

1984 Susanna Giombetti Whitcher lives in Concord, N.H., with her 7-year-old son, Will. She is the Vice President of Public Affairs & Marketing for Elliot Health System in Manchester, N.H. She and her son stay busy with school, work, football, skiing and baseball. They are anxiously awaiting the return of his dad (and her husband) from a second tour in Afghanistan. She says, “Life is grand, and we are looking forward to hit-ting the slopes this winter!”

1985 Carolyn Beckedorff is excited to join the Board of Trustees at SMS. She cur-rently resides in Wellesley, Mass., with her husband and son. She works as the Head Trader for Baupost Group in Boston. She is looking forward to another season on the Masters circuit and getting time on the hill with her son.

1985 Griff Long lives in Ridgewood, N.J., and is con-sistently training for triathlons, particularly the 2011 Lake Placid Ironman. He spends

17




most of his time with his wife and two kids, John, 12, and Katelin, 8. This past year, he competed in eight triathlons, including the US National Age Group Championships in Tus-caloosa, Ala. Unfortunately, he had a tire blowout, which killed his opportunity to qualify for the World Championships. He says, “Not to worry, more motivation to make next year’s team!”

1985 Juli Furtado lives in Santa Cruz, Calif. She drinks coffee, does crossword puzzles and often goes to movies. This past year, she spent a lot of time chasing her son around.

1986 Steve Hayes has launched an action sports financial planning service with Morgan Stanley Smith Bar-ney after a 10-year run with Hayes Brothers Snowboards. He works as a financial advi-sor to industry brands, suppli-ers, vendors and athletes. He lives in Cos Cob, Conn., with his wife, Michelle, his son, Jack, 6, and daughter, Xoe, 4. He has a third daughter on the way, and she is due Nov. 12. He is enjoying a wonderful life focused on family, fatherhood, business, sailing, a J24, Mountain bik-ing, Motocross, golfing and snowboarding.

1987 Eric Grosse is the Presi-dent of Expedia Worldwide and lives in San Francisco with his three children.

1988 Ariana Grosse is mar-ried with three wonderful girls. She’s a veterinarian practic-ing in the Chicago area.

1988 Marcus Parmegiani works in public sector man-agement in Toronto, focusing mainly in e-government and e-health initiatives. He was only able to ski once this past year, and he says it was a great day at Whistler-Black-comb. Most of his free time goes to his two daughters, Tabitha, 5, and Sofia, 3.

1988 Sam Punderson just finished up his first summer as the Director of Mowglis, a summer camp for boys on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire. He is still married to Kate Webber Punderson ’90.

’90s 1990 Aili Ojala Blank lives in Somersworth, N.H., with her husband, Brian, and 5-year-old daughter, Harper. She tries to keep up with Harper’s soccer, skiing, school and sense of humor. Aili recently painted the rooms in her house pretty bad colors, she says, and does way too much laundry. She reads the blog “Hyperbole and a Half” when she can. Now that Harper is in Kindergarten, she’s going to try to re-enter the work force. Unfortunately, she says she’s not very certain how to go about it.

1990 Andy Hare is married to Wendy Reger and is em-ployed by Nordica USA.

1991 Marc Sorel recently bought a beautiful home in Conway, N.H., which gets his family closer to the moun-tains. Marc is living life just trying to find peace and bal-ance in life, work and rela-tionships. He has seen Rand

Neeves ’92 quite a bit, includ-ing the party at his place for the Olympics in Whistler. Marc also had a chance to see Gaku. He said, “We talked for hours! It had been 20 years (since I had seen him) but it felt like yesterday. I guess SMS does that to you.” Marc also recently saw Yoshi working for the Ski Team. He misses all and hopes to re-connect with everyone soon.

1991 Megan Brown Brent lives in California and is hap-pily married to Rick Brent. She enjoys spending time with her lovely children.

1992 Darren Bloch still lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., with his wife, Jill, and their little one, Adison. Their daughter is 18 months, and Darren says she is a handful. They’re planning on getting her some training skis this winter just to see what happens. As for work, Darren had been working as the Executive Vice President for New York State’s Eco-nomic Development Office for the past three years, but he just took a new job to be the Publisher of Capitol Publish-ing. The company produces newspapers, online content and live events focused on the New York government and politics. Darren also plays in a friendly touch-football league and a competitive men’s baseball league. He says, “Although, at age 36, I’m depressingly the oldest on a team of 20-somethings, I’m happy to still be able to keep up with the youngins — for the time being at least.” At the end of October, Ren, Darren and their dad headed out to Arizona to play in an annual

father-son baseball tourna-ment, a trek they’ve done every year since 2003.

1992 Melissa Welch Pat-terson teaches and lives in Rutland, Vt. She teaches 11th- and 12th-grade English at Rutland High School and coaches skiing for the hope-fuls at Pico. Her son, Drew, is 9 years old and plays hockey. Her daughter, Alexis, 7, plays hockey and ski races.

1992 Randy Neeves lives in Florence, Colo., at the ADX Supermax Federal Prison. He keeps busy by lifting weights and making new friends in the big house. OK, just kidding. He kindly hosted a number of SMS alumni and friends of SMS at his home in Whistler during the Olympics. He en-joyed introducing his family to the SMS crew, and we greatly appreciate his generosity!

1993 Josh Yoshi Applegate coaches for the US Ski Team. Josh often visits the SMS campus to workout and scout new talent for the Team!

1993 Renny Bloch is recently engaged and ran in the New York City Marathon.

1993 Steve Perrins attends University of Vermont’s School of Medicine and will graduate in this spring.

1994 Gordy Megroz has moved away from New York City and has become a freelance journalist. He is cur-rently based in Vermont and continues to write for national publications such as Outside, Men’s Journal and several other magazines.

1995 Jesse Gallagher resides in Talkeetna, Alaska, and

18


works as a fly-fishing guide. This past year, he was lucky enough to ski off the summit of Mount McKinley.

1995 Luke Omand was recently married on October 10, 2010, a.k.a. 10/10/10. He hopes the date gives him a shot at remembering his anniversary. SMS Snowboard Program Director Ross Pow-ers stood by his side as the Best Man. He and his wife, Kristina, are settled into their place in Landgrove, Vt. He recently started his own paint-ing business, Mountain View Painting. His wife now runs all management of the Altru Share Securities. He says, “Hunter (Kaltsas) should be logging the property here in Landgrove this winter! I’m looking forward to seeing the kid in action with all his toys!”

1995 Drew A. Thorne-Thom-sen (right photo, p. 18) lives in Pinehurst, N.C. He has a wife and two girls. Drew runs the marketing for a sales and marketing company. He and David Lord ’96 often play doubles together, and they teamed up to compete at the state championships this past summer.

1996 David Lord (right photo, p. 18) also lives in Pinehurst, N.C., and runs the operations for a sales and marketing company. David is married and has two daughters.

1996 Emily Thurber lives in Boise, Idaho, and enjoys spending time with her three children: Gray, Briar and Ade-line. Emily and her husband, Matt Carter, spend their sum-mers in Vermont to be closer to family. Emily plans to build

a home in Vermont in the near future.

1996 John Bainton lives in South Norwalk, Conn., and works as the Sailing Director at Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Conn. He is also the Head Sailing Coach at Rye Country Day School. When he’s not running sail-ing events or coaching, he tries to get some time on the snow. He visits his friends in ski towns and finds some good snowfall. He also heads south to Miami a few times during the winter to compete in regattas in Key West to keep his sailboat racing skills sharp. He buys a Stratton value pass every year to en-joy some time at Stratton.

1996 Katy Czesnowski Moore started a new job as a project manager for MVP Healthcare. She graduated with her Mas-ter’s of Public Health. She and her husband recently built a new home just outside of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. They are happy to be moved in and are enjoying the down-time. She enjoys reading about the new things going on at SMS and likes hearing about all the great accom-plishments of the athletes.

1996 Sarah Laidlaw Wilde moved back from Italy this spring and now works in Burl-ington, Vt., at Tag New Media, a digital creative studio. She and her husband live in South Burlington, but they are hop-ing to sell their condo and buy a house. Just before print, SMS found out that Sarah is pregnant! Congratulations!

1997 Justin Beckwith is the head Nordic coach at GMVS.

Justin coached the GMVS Nordic athletes to a great season last winter. The SMS golf team ran into Justin at the Middlebury Country Club last spring.

1997 Kristin Luckenbill (left photo, p. 17) has ventured into a totally new world and is working towards her Master’s in Business Administration at the Darden School of Busi-ness at University of Virginia. She says, “It has been both very difficult and very fun. I can’t believe how much I have learned already!” Not surprisingly, she was voted the Athletic Representative for her section, and she is happy to stay active in sports as one of her requirements.

1997 Kristina Joder Casey and her family moved to New Hampshire. Her husband, Pat, got a job teaching Biol-ogy, coaching running and Nordic skiing at Holderness School. Their two daughters, Mabel, 2, and Hannah, 6 months, are enjoying New England, and they’re excited for the snow. Her two older brothers are also doing well: Marc (Joder) ’93 lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Sandy, and their daughter, Kate, 18 months. Eric (Joder) ’94 is in Bozeman, Mont.

1997 Matt Whitcomb works as a US Nordic Ski Team Coach. He recently ran into his classmate Ross Powers in the streets of Wanaka, New Zealand, where Matt was coaching 2010 US Olympi-ans including SMS graduate, Andy Newell ’02.

1997 Ross Powers is in his first year as the new SMS

Snowboard Program Direc-tor this fall. He has already made a drastic impact on the program, and we are all looking forward to an amaz-ing competition season under his leadership. He lives in the Stratton area with his wife, Marisa, and his two daugh-ters, Victoria and Meredith.

1997 Tim Mathews has been living with his wife, Brandy, in Albuquerque, N.M., for the past five years. They currently have two children, Addison and Connor, and are expect-ing their third child in Decem-ber. Tim works as a Regional Manager for a medical equip-ment company and enjoys travelling through the region. He still skis every chance he gets, mostly at Taos, N.M., but he sneaks a few trips to Utah and Colorado each sea-son. He says the powder out there is addictive, so he has a hard time planning a trip back East for the purpose of skiing.

1997 Hope Thornton is the manager of Nature’s Gift Permaculture in Lilongwe, Malawi, Africa. Hope, oth-erwise known as Chiyem-bekezo (Hope in Chichewa), went to Malawi soon after her on-campus phase at SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont in 2006. She started to work for Never Ending Food as an intern where she organized community outreach activi-ties and worked with com-munity members to design a model village based on permaculture principles. As a part of her master’s degree in International Education and Sustainable Development, Hope conducted research on permaculture adoption

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T H E F I N I S H L I N Eamong Malawian farmers. After finishing her thesis, she returned to Malawi to design and enumerate a Food and Nutrition Security baseline survey for Temwa. In 2009, she worked as a district level technical advisor for GTZ and the Ministry of Education on the national School Health and Nutrition (SHN) strategy. Most recently, she joined the team of pioneers at Nature’s Gift Permaculture as the founding manager.

1998 Brie Pike-Sprenger is the Women’s US Ski Team Head Physical Therapist. She says, she lives out of her Subaru station wagon that is parked in southern Vermont at her parents’ house. She travels eight months of the year to places such as New Zealand, Chile, Colorado, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Germany and Austria. She has a lot of celebrations in the next year: She’s turning 30. Her sister, Tyne ’99, is getting married, and her best friend and former GMVS racer Madaileine Krebs is having a baby. Follow her travel stories on www.bbptvt.blogspot.com.

1998 Todd Kremin (right photo, p. 16) lives and works in New York City with his wife, Jamie. Todd practices law in New York and makes it to Stratton every winter.

1999 Dave Giulietti (right photo, p. 16) lives in West Hartford, Conn., with his new wife, Jessica, and works for Lockton Companies. He and his wife were married on Aug. 7, 2010. Dave looks forward to seeing some alumni this winter at Stratton.

1999 Drew Valentine moved from San Francisco, Calif., to Toronto, Canada, where he now attends law school at the University of Toronto.He recently worked on two albums of music, co-authored curriculum for training people with barriers to employment for jobs in the green economy and attended the Peggy deSantis retirement party. He says, “Coming back to SMS this summer after nearly 10 years really brought back some great memories. I miss all of my classmates, teach-ers and coaches from those days, and I hope everyone is doing fantastic. I want to wish Ross all the best this year as he begins his new endeavor as the SMS Snow-board Coach. What an honor it would be to have one of the greats as a head coach!”

1999 Ethan Foster resides in Andover., Vt., and is em-ployed by Marvin Windows. Ethan traveled to Whistler, British Columbia, for the Olympics this past year in the comfort of a 24-foot RV with Ryan Foster ’02, Will Reed and Rob Bruggemann ’99 (left photo, p.20).

1999 Hunter Kaltsas recently got engaged to Jessica Roan (inside photo, p. 18 and p. 21). Hunter continues to own and operate Hunter Excavat-ing in South Londonderry, Vt.

1999 Logan Thurber still lives in Nampa, Idaho, and spends most of her time trying to stay a step ahead of her daughter, Reese. Logan was in Ver-mont this summer, visiting family and friends.

1999 Marina Knight recently moved from Stowe, Vt., to Norwich, Vt. Her husband, Chip, is the new women’s coach at Dartmouth College. She recently left the Stowe Reporter and is now running the T2 Foundation, which supports up-and-coming rac-ers on the US Ski Team. The Foundation advocates for the elite athletes’ involvement to grow the sport at a grassroots level. In addition to her new job, she’s expecting a baby in early December!

1999 Tyler Brinkmann lives in Falmouth, Maine, and can often be found training for tri-athlons and marathons. This past year, he ran the 2010 Boston Marathon and quali-fied to run it again in 2011. He works in real estate in and around Portland, Maine. Additionally, he owns and op-erates Think Water, a filtered-water cooler business.

1999 Tessa Benoit Westbrook had a baby girl named Aven on May 18, 2010. She and her husband, Seth, still live in the Sun Valley area.

’00s 2000 Brookie Kaltsas lives in Stowe, Vt., and re-branded her company, TruckieLoo Photography. Find her work at www.truckieloo.com.

2000 David Koop and Sydney Mickelson Koop ’02 bought a house in Madison, Wis., 18 months ago, and they both have been moving up in the corporate world. Sydney has worked at Fiskars (think orange handle scissors) for the past four years and is now

a Marketing Manager. David works at UBS Financial with a Wealth Management team called the Burish Group. This year, Barron’s ranked his group 33rd as the top advis-ing team in the US. He was promoted to the Business Manager for the team. He and Sydney also help ski coach for the Madison Alpine Race Team, where they coached Morgan Klein ’11.

2000 Gretchen Black Tuff lives in Washington, Conn., with her husband, Ben, and their kids, Wyatt and Maisie.

2000 Jordi St. John Iives in Portland, Maine, with his wife, Katrina. He is the captain of a windjammer in Portland, coaches a high school devel-opment Nordic ski team and is teaching one course of US History at Westbrook Voca-tional High School. He and Katrina bought a house in Portland, where she teaches Biology at Waynflete School, a private school in Portland.

2000 Laura Scripture lives in Virginia and works for her family business.

2000 Mike Glita resides in Short Hills, N.J., and is finish-ing up his degree in Sociolo-gy, Psychology, and Music at Rutgers University. He hopes to pursue an Master’s in Busi-ness Administration shortly after. He has also been work-ing on a new musical project called “Love Automatic.” The project has had more than 100,000 downloads! He hopes he can make it out to an alumni event soon to see everyone.

2000 Seth Therrien (left photo, p. 19) was married in

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April in Florida. He recently overcame cancer. He’s back in Miami and on the road to recovery!

2000 Tom Wisdom is a Cap-tain in the Marine Corps and lives in San Diego. He flies the AH-1W “Cobra” attack he-licopter. This past spring, he returned from a seven-month deployment to the Western pacific and the Persian Gulf. He’ll be deployed again this coming spring to Afghani-stan for another six to seven months. He had the unbe-lievable opportunity to ski in the tunnel at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. Unfortu-nately, he says, that was the only day of skiing he had this past winter. After he returned, he was lucky enough to come back to Vermont this summer and hang out with his SMS classmates. He also was able to spend a few days in Ann Arbor, Mich. His job keeps him very busy, but he bought a 1968 Dodge Dart to restore. Hopefully, he says, he’ll make it to Tahoe and a few other places to ski this winter.

2000 Tyne Pike-Sprenger (left photo, p. 21) works at SMS and recently became engaged to David Rothman ’02. In the spring, she earned a Master’s in Education from Antioch University.

2001 Bobby Barnes and his wife, Christina, were married on August 14, 2010 at The Wentworth in Portsmouth, N.H. They spent a couple weeks enjoying their honey-moon in Italy. They now live in Ann Arbor, Mich., and enjoy college football Saturdays at the Big House. Christina is

a first grade teacher for Ann Arbor Public Schools, and Bobby is a Regional Vice President at John Hancock Wealth Management.

2001 Erin Davis moved to Fayetteville, N.C., in June when her fiance, Kendrick Williams, returned from Afghanistan. She spent the summer getting to know the area, involving herself in the community and learning how to be on the family side of the Army. They’re getting mar-ried in a few months and are starting to hunt for their future home. It’s been a big change from Washington, D.C., but she says they are enjoying every minute of their time together.

2001 Joe Dunn works for Bliz-zard and enjoys being back on the ski slopes.

2001 Margaret Schlachter works at Killington Mountain School and has been pro-moted to BOOST Program Director and Head of the Dorm. She was accepted into the University of Vermont Master’s of Education Leader-ship Program in the spring of 2010 and is attending school parttime. This past summer, she spent two weeks surfing in Costa Rica. She’s recently been competing in adventure races. She finished in the top 10 of the finals in the first-ever Spartan Race in Burlington, Vt. She also competed in the Spartan Race in Boston, the Warrior Dash Northeast and Rugged Maniac. She plans to start the next season off with the Tough Mudder at Mount Snow, Vt., in May of 2011.

2001 Rachel Roosevelt (right photo, p. 17) lives in New York City and visits Stratton as often as possible.

2002 Andy Newell (photos, p. 20) races and trains through-out the world as a member of the US Ski Team. He was a crucial member of the US Olympic Nordic Team in 2010 and earned a third place spot in a World Cup event last year. He recently bought land in Weston, Vt., where he intends to spend more time in the future.

2002 Carson Thurber (left photo, p. 20 and 21) enjoys living in Stratton, Vt., and keeps busy by playing golf, doing Crossfits and enjoy-ing southern Vermont. He now works in the Admissions Department at SMS and will probably see you on the hill this winter trying to recruit your athletes!

2002 Chance Longley lives in Boulder, Colo., and can be found on the slopes during most powder days.

2002 Dave Rothman is a math teacher at SMS. Dave spent this past summer on a road trip throughout the US with his finance, Tyne Pike-Sprenger ’00.

2002 DJ Wassick currently lives in Sydney, Australia, where he teaches elementary school and surfs. Before he left for Australia, he worked at his father’s tire business to save money for his trip to Australia. He also just finished building a house in Bennington, Vt.

2002 Erika Hogan lives in Ketchum, Idaho, and ski

coaches at Sun Valley during the winter. She recently got engaged!

2002 Greg Hardy has moved back to Vermont and has taken a coaching job at Kill-ington Mountain School. Greg visited SMS many times over the summer and worked out with fellow alumni.

2002 Gus Kaeding coaches the CXC Elite Team, which is a professional Nordic team that races internationally. He had the chance to visit Ver-mont recently to attend Dave Smutok’s wedding.

2002 Kurt Hostnik lives in Brielle, N.J., and has a son, Harrison, who is nearly a year old. He just graduated from Chiropractic school and started practicing in Long Branch, N.J.

2002 Marley Cloyes was to accepted Duke University School of Nursing. Marley is sad to be leaving Boulder but very excited be starting nurs-ing school.

2002 Pat Bachant is a me-chanical engineer at Westing-house Company in Provi-dence, R.I. He coaches at Wachusett during the winter months and loves to race in the local beer leagues.

2002 Rush Hawkins is living in Park City, Utah. He’s a Re-gional Promotions Manager for Marker Volkl USA. The SMS alumni office caught up with Rush in Mount Hood this past summer. Rush made a few turns with current SMS students and showed them skiing tricks.

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T H E F I N I S H L I N E2002 Ryan Foster (left pho-to, p. 21) is building a home in Andover, Vt., with his wife, Kate. Currently, Ryan is finishing up his degree in architecture from the Boston Architectural College. Ryan’s full-time employer is McGin-ley Kalsow and Associates, Inc., in Sommerville, Mass.

2002 Scott Vennis spent the summer skiing in Mount Hood and Chile. This winter, Scott will be coaching full time for Rowmark Ski Team.

2002 Smaranda Munteanu (right photo, p. 17) had a successful first year at Sugar and Spice, her wine and coffee bar in the Stratton Vil-lage. She welcomes all SMS and Stratton folks to swing by to check it out. Addition-ally, she’s building a house in Romania for herself, which will allow her to split time between Vermont and Romania.

2002 Toni-Ann Ammaturo lives and works in Den-ver, Colo. Greg Hardy ’02 stopped by when he was moving back to Vermont, and they reminisced about their senior trip.

2003 Adam Snyder just finished another successful season of racing the Nation-al and World Cup mountain bike circuit for the Jamis Factory Team.

2003 AnnMarie Turner Jermy (right photo, p. 19) is married and living in Burling-ton, Vt. AnnMarie recently ran the Maple Leaf Half-Mar-athon in Manchester, Vt.

2003 Howard Foote lives in New York City and works in the shipping industry. In his free time, he enjoys the many sights of the city. This summer he was able to play a lot of golf. He plans to hunt this fall and looks forward to skiing Stratton this winter.

2003 Kaitlin Fox just moved to Denver, Colo., in August and is in her second year of law school at the University of Denver.

2003 Kelly O’Hear attends The State University of New York at Buffalo medical school. She will be a class of 2013 graduate.

2003 Lindsey Jacobellis travels the globe competing as a professional snow-boarder. Lindsey often finds time for friends and family in Vermont.

2003 Morgan Smyth is living the dream in Anchorage, Alaska, she says. She keeps busy by ski racing and taking graduate classes.

2003 Teri Schlang (right photo, p. 19) loves living in Montreal, Canada. She loves it so much that she recently decided to apply for permanent residency in Canada. She has returned to school at the John Molson School of Business where she is happily learning a lot about management. This past September, she and AnnMarie Turner Jermy ’03 ran in the Montreal Oasis Half-Marathon. They plan to run the full marathon next year. Teri was able to catch up with classmates Kelly O’Hear ’03, Kaitlin Fox ’03 and Megan Barnes ’03 at AnnMarie’s wedding in May of 2010. She says, “It was a beautiful weekend at Hunter Mountain Resort full of new memories and reminiscing about old ones, too.”

2003 Worthy McCormick is working hard at his bar, The Goose, on The Hill in Boulder, Colo. The bar is co-owned by Peter O’Brien ’03. Worthy is recovering well from his skydiving injuries and has been flying air-planes around the Rockies in his spare time.

2004 Ben Smiles graduated from the University of Colo-rado-Boulder and continues to live in the area.

2004 Chris Wheeler still lives in Jackson, Wyo., where he works as a guest services manager for Spring Creek Ranch. He still skis a lot and travels when he can.

2004 Mac Cloyes recently worked for the USDA Forest Service with the Ecosystem Services and Urban & Com-munity Forestry program in their Washington, D.C., headquarters. He now lives in Amherst, Mass., and will be graduating in December (a semester early, not late) from the University of Mas-sachusetts with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry.

2004 Peter Lodi lives in Bozeman, Mont., where he is finishing his second degree. He first graduated with a degree in aviation science, and he is now earn-ing a sociology degree. He still builds hours flying and hopes to start flying profes-sionally by next year. He is recently engaged to Whitney Hardeman, from Jackson Hole, Wyo. His wedding date is set for June 25, 2011. He’s also working in promotions for a new ski and snowboard brand called RAMP.

2004 Stephanie Hampton Pitts and her husband, Chad, had a baby girl, Char-ley Lynn Pitts, on August 17, 2010. Stephanie and the baby are doing very well, says Rachel Davis ’03.

2005 Cameron MacKugler lives in Middlebury, Vt., and works for JMA, an architec-ture firm in the area. He is working on getting a hunting, fishing and outdoors televi-sion show in the works.

2005 Chris Culnane lives on the Gold Coast in Australia

where he is studying for a Master’s Degree in Tourism Management. He’s been surfing, hiking, traveling and getting involved in many ac-tivities at his current school, Bond University. He’s also been working as a DJ in both Australia and at the Burning Man festival.

2005 Justine Bushey lives in Los Angeles, Calif., and stays busy by working and acting. This past year, she graduated from Suffolk Uni-versity and moved out West.

2005 Rachel Beckwith works in marketing and promo-tions for the United Football League (UFL) for the Hart-ford Colonials in Hartford, Conn. She lives in Wood-bridge, Conn.

2005 Sean Mallia lives in Schenectady, N.Y. This past May, he graduated from St. Lawrence University with a degree in Government. He recently moved to Thailand with his girlfriend to teach English. They will be living in Thailand for at least eight months. Before he left, he worked for Michele Morris (mother to Kieran ’14 and Tanner Mottau ’12) at her restaurant, Scallions, in Saratoga, N.Y.

2005 Whitney Coombs lived in Salida, Colo., for the sum-mer where she worked as a white water rafting guide. At the beginning of November, she moved to Ohakune, New Zealand, on the north island where she plans to work as a raft guide for the New Zealand summer. She’ll return to the states some-time in March to catch the last couple weeks of the ski season in the Vail or Beaver Creek area.

2006 Briana Ferrera lives in Washington, D.C., where she is attending graduate school at American Univer-

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T H E F I N I S H L I N Esity. She will graduate in December and is interning at Brotman Winter Fried Communications, a sports and entertainment public relations firm. She graduated from St. Lawrence University in May, and she says, she is on the job hunt!

2006 Connor Lemenze is a senior at Babson College and competes for the Bab-son Ski Team.

2006 Jen Kish had dinner with Dave Rothman ’02, Tyne Pike-Sprenger ’00, Smaranda Munteanu ’02, Heidi Skinner ’03 and Greg Hardy ’02 in early Septem-ber. She said it was nice to sit around with everybody and hear about SMS from the perspective of teachers, staff, coaches and alumni. She graduated from St. Law-rence this past May along with, David Slungaard ’06, Chris Culnane ’05, Briana Ferrera ’06, Jim Andersen ’06 and Sean Mallia ’06. She says they all stayed very close throughout college. She recently took a job offer in Cambridge, Mass., as a molecular diagnostic techni-cian at the Laboratory for Molecular Medicine in Part-ners Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (an affiliate of Harvard Medical School). She and Heidi Skinner are living together in Boston.

2006 Louie Vito (left photo, p. 18) had a very successful season last year. He com-peted on the television show Dancing With the Stars, made the 2010 Olympic Halfpipe Team and took sec-ond at the Burton U.S. Open at Stratton! He earned sever-al podium spots throughout last year and continues to prepare for another year on the world snowboard scene.

2006 Marty Smith spends most of his time kayaking, working and studying in his

hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colo.

2006 Max Winthrop lives in Boston, Mass., and stays busy as a co-captain of the Babson Ski Team. He will graduate in May.

2007 Fritz Horst attends University of Vermont (UVM)and is a member of the UVM Nordic team.

2007 Kelly Skinner is a senior at St. Lawrence University (SLU) and will be graduating in the spring. She worked as a zipline guide this past summer with Jer-emy Lawless ’07, who also attends SLU. They are both skiing for SLU and are doing wonderfully.

2007 Will Hadden is a junior at Williams College majoring in English and skiing for the Williams Ski Team. This past summer, he worked in Man-chester, Vt., at The Ekwanok Golf Course. Will’s parents have their fingers crossed for him to have an injury-free ski season.

2008 Alex Bayer visits Vermont often and always makes time to visit SMS. Alex has found a new-found love for running and fitness.

2008 Amanda Chase plays soccer at St. Lawrence University.

2008 Christine Schozer attends Middlebury College where she races for the Middlebury Ski Team and plays golf.

2008 Dan Feldman is study-ing abroad at the TelAviv University in Israel for the fall semester. Dan will return to the University of Colorado as a junior in January.

2008 John Sitarz is currently studying abroad in Barce-lona, Spain, with his fellow SMS classmate Cort Ahl ’08. He had the opportunity to

watch the Ryder Cup and cheered on the Americans.

2008 Sophie Caldwell (right photo, p. 21) skis for the Dartmouth College Nordic team where she spends most of her time training and studying.

2009 Annie Davis lives in Boulder, Colo. She says, as much as she loves it there, Vermont will always be her home. She is the Creative Director for Boulder Fre-eride, the largest ski and snowboard club in the world and the largest collegiate club in the nation. She con-tinues to enjoy her classes at University of Colorado at Boulder.

2009 Karmen Whitham attends Northern Michigan University (NMU). She is a member of NMU’s cross country running team and cross country skiing team. She visited Vermont a few times this past summer to see her family.

2009 Kelly Orme is a sopho-more at the University of Vermont. She is very happy and enjoying this year so far. She misses the rest of the 2009 class and can’t wait to see everyone over the holidays.

2009 Courtney Lemenze is a sophomore at Bates and is enjoying the Maine lifestyle.

2009 Mike Nocek is a fresh-man at Boston College.

2009 Richard McCarthy attends the University of Vermont.

2009 Lizzy Beerman was re-cently cleared to snowboard after a nine-month recov-ery from concussions she suffered last season. She’s currently taking classes at Westminster and is heading to Colorado at the end of the month to get back on snow and start the season.

2009 Ellery Hollingsworth has been back in the East for the fall, training and get-ting ready for the season. She recently took some art classes. She’s heading out to Colorado after Thanksgiv-ing, and she’ll be based out of Park City for the winter.

2009 Thomas Tikos-Kadji has been taking photos like crazy at Skidmore College. He says, “It’s been weird going to school with normal people; by that I mean not us winter people?” Keep up with his photos at thomastikoskadji.blogspot.com.

2010 Skyler Davis is a post graduate athlete at SMS and is looking forward to an exciting race season.

2010 Randall Stacy com-pleted his Wilderness First Responder course and was hired as an intern backcoun-try guide for South American Snow Sessions.

23Winter 2011 Starting Gate

Dedicated to: Patti KaltsasOn Nov. 4, Stratton Mountain School lost one of its most devoted family members with the passing of Patricia “Patti” Kaltsas, wife of Headmaster Chris Kaltsas. Patti also leaves her three children, Paige Kaptuch, Hunter Kaltsas SMS ’99 and Brooke Kaltsas SMS ’00. A talented artist, Patti touched SMS in all areas, from her decorative style throughout campus to her class rocks devoted to each graduating class. Her steady presence was always one of comfort, love and support.

STraTTon mounTain School

7 World cup circle

STraTTon mounTain, vT 05155

www.gosms.org

How can I help?We’re so proud of all of the accomplishments of SMS students and alumni, and we want all of us in the SMS community to share the success. So, how can you help?

We’re so glad you asked! • Donate to the Annual Fund. Use the enclosed envelope, and donate today. Annual Fund donations directly impact the way SMS operates every day, and it’s tax deductible. (802) 856-1112; [email protected] • Refer a student. On the chair lift, at a meeting, or at your home ski area, use that time to spread the word. As you know, SMS is the best program in the country! (802) 856-1108; [email protected] • Stay in touch. Married, kids, new degree, starting a new business? Share your news with us, so we can share it with your fellow alumni. Be sure to send us your current address, phone and e-mail. (802) 856-1108; [email protected] • Contribute to the Winter Ball! Make a donation, buy a ticket, or bid on an item in the auction. Any contribution helps the SMS Scholarship Fund. www.gosms.org/winterball

www.gosms.org/winterball

January 29, 2011Join us at 6 p.m. for dinner, dancing and a silent

auction to benefit the SMS Scholarship Fund. Limited tickets are available.

Be sure to reserve your tickets today before the event sells out for the third consecutive year!

Documents

2011 Stratton Mountain School Starting Gate