Gone, but Not Forgotten - A Look at a Few OMS Alum!
Dolores White with the UConn Huskies Mascot!
Elise Michaels with some of the Cornell Women’s Ski Team
Anna Valentine
Dolores White, OMS Class of 2017
“I’m currently in my sophomore year of college at UConn in the School of Business, as a marketing major. While at UConn, I’ve become involved in the club ski team and a women’s fitness organization called CHAARG. This year I was the secretary of both organizations but was recently elected as CFO for the ski team and VP Media for CHAARG for next year. As for this summer, I’m going to intern at Publisher’s Clearing House in their marketing department!
OMS has prepared me not only academically for college but also taught me how to carry myself independently while at school. By letting me spearhead the clothing orders at OMS, I’ve gained experience with vendors that I’ve already put to use multiple times for the UConn Ski Team. Additionally, the smaller class sizes at OMS helped me adapt to learning in large lectures because I already have my own methods of studying and reviewing material that was very important at OMS, while we were traveling for days at a time. Ultimately, OMS prepared me to be responsible and independent and I can’t imagine going about high school any other way.”
Elise Michaels, OMS Class of 2016
“I graduated OMS in 2016 and now am attending Cornell University where I am a junior. I am majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in both Business and Spanish. I am the captain of the Women's Ski Team at Cornell, where I compete in the USCSA division, so I keep skiing very close to my heart each winter. College so far is going great and I am looking to go into Pharmaceuticals, specifically project management in my future career.
“OMS gave me the opportunity to pursue not just my interest in skiing and ski racing, but my academic and outside interests as well. I was given the skills to manage my time correctly, the exposure to interact with all kinds of really great, motivated people, and establish clear goals. Going straight into college from OMS was hardly a transition, because I already knew exactly what I had to do to stay on top of things. I think long term and after college, OMS will have given me the ability to jump into new situations and new experiences without hesitation.”
Anna Valentine, OMS Class of 2018
“I am currently undeclared at the Colorado School of Mines, but am still on the Engineering track. I have gotten involved heavily with the outdoor Recreation Center here and have a job as a guide, as well as a ski/bike technician for the school. This has brought me in to get training for backcountry skiing, and I now have my AIARE Level 1 Certification, and have gotten somewhere around 15 days in the backcountry this season. I am also took my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course in May, a two week long course regarding medical care in the backcountry. OMS prepared me for this position by providing leadership opportunities, whether that be trying to lead by example in workouts or cleaning crews.
I also value the mentality that OMS provided for life after competition. I didn’t feel at any point that I needed to continue going to the resort every weekend to fill my identity as a snowboarder, but instead I could branch out to different things. This helped me adjust to not getting to snowboard everyday, unlike last year, and I have very much enjoyed finding different fun things to do now that I have a little more time on my hands. I have been rock climbing, and mountain biking a lot, and I even made it onto the national team for Mines Fall Cycling Team.
However, I have still been getting shreddy every now and then. I competed at the Trick Ditch Banked Slalom and Style Comp at Eldora and won second in the style competition, which was very fun. Met some new girls to snowboard with and some older pros that I have looked up to growing up.
Going forward, I hope to get more days in the backcountry and hopefully help educate people about the outdoors through my job as a guide. This summer I am taking an internship at VELCO (Vermont Electric Company, which supplies (transmits) power to all of Vermont), working in the transmissions planning department, which uses all different engineers on one team- civil, electrical, computer science. I am optimistic that this internship will help me choose what I want to major in. I will also be coaching at the OMS Mount Hood Summer Camp.”