Okemo Mountain School (OMS) is a unique and challenging academic and athletic program offering training in competitive alpine ski racing, freestyle skiing, and snowboarding. Okemo Mountain Resort is the on-hill training facility for the program and the academic building is located at 53 Main Street in Ludlow, VT. Okemo Mountain School is an independent school approved by the Vermont State Board of Education.
Students are selected for admission to OMS based on various criteria. These include, but are not limited to, academic performance, athletic performance, recommendations, and extra-curricular activities. In addition, the ability to balance a demanding physical training program with a rigorous academic schedule and the desire to become a better competitor are necessary qualities for each student to possess.
At Okemo Mountain School students spend their mornings focused on athletics. They train in their respective on-snow disciplines on Okemo Mountain and also participate in dry land training activities ranging from cardiovascular workouts to strength training to yoga and balance work. Academic classes are conducted in the afternoon in six 40 min periods with another 80 minutes dedicated to more dryland conditioning and special programming in sports psychology, nutrition, injury prevention, and more.
Academic courses are facilitated in an instruction based tutorial style. Every student has what is referred to as a “sending school,” the school that the student attends when not at Okemo Mountain School. It is mandatory that a student’s sending school acknowledges his or her participation in our program. Parents must contact the sending school administration to obtain an acknowledgement letter before a student can be formally accepted. This is simply a statement on letterhead from a student’s sending school indicating that the school understands that the student will attend Okemo Mountain School for the intended period of time. If a student is accepted, the Okemo Mountain School Dean of Academics will contact his or her guidance counselor to discuss curriculum and plans for facilitating each academic course at Okemo Mountain School. We have included a letter that you can share with your sending school’s administration. It will help describe our program and what will be expected of them. Also included are the Vermont State Board of Education Independent School Statute and our Collaboration Agreement (this does not need to be filled out until the fall). Please begin the process of speaking to your sending school before the end of the 2012-2013 school year. Do not hesitate to put your school’s administration in contact with us so that we may answer any specific questions. Once a student begins at OMS, it is the role of our teachers to administer the curriculum from the sending school and communicate weekly with sending school teachers.
We offer several options for enrollment. The first is, of course, the full Winter Term, which we encourage everyone to consider. The full Winter Term provides the best opportunities both academically and athletically. The Winter Term coincides with most schools’ second and third academic quarters, which helps with academic transitions. The length of the Winter Term provides ample time for pre-season preparation athletically and also allows our students more time to work with their OMS teachers before the stress of competition season. Additionally, it allows for time at the end of the season to “wrap up” both academically and athletically. However, we will continue to offer Target Term options. Target Term A from December 3 – March 8 is designed with U16 athletes in mind as it allows some early season training and extends until just after what we project to be the dates for the 2013 U16 State Championships. Target Term B from January 2 – March 29 is designed with the U14 and U12 athletes’ competition schedule in mind, as well as with snowboard and freestyle athletes who may wish to start when the parks and pipe are fully operational on the mountain. For athletes who are looking for an even shorter stay, we still offer a seven week Target Term, Target Term C, from January 2 – February 15. Additionally, we will continue offering the option to enroll by semester. Tuition rates can be found under Tuition and Financial Aid in the admissions section of the website.
If you need more information on any of the programs that we offer, please do not hesitate to be in touch.