On Fri., Jan. 22, the Community High Ski Club gathered at Mt. Brighton to go skiing for the first time. The original CHS Ski Club had been founded in 1999 by a student, Robbie Young, and Marci Tuzinski, now the dean of Community.

Maggie Mihaylova, a junior at Community, came up with the idea of starting a ski club during her sophomore year. “I love skiing and I feel as if it’s a sport more people should be exposed to,” Mihaylova said. “Ski club provides both beginners and experts the opportunity to ski or snowboard with friends, which is ideal, because skiing is so much better with other people.”

Mihaylova shared the idea with her teacher, Matt Johnson, who had previous experience as a ski instructor in Colorado and as a leader of other school ski clubs in Oregon and California. “One of my favorite parts of working with ski clubs in any part of the country is that they lower the barriers that stand in the way of many students learning to ski/snowboard,” Johnson said.

The ski club has gone on three outings this school year, all to Mt. Brighton, which offers reduced prices for lift tickets and ski rentals to large groups like ski clubs. Johnson offers lessons to skiers of all abilities and parent or teacher volunteers provide transportation to and from Mt. Brighton. With its location being only 30 miles north of Ann Arbor, learning to ski is made easier for students who have never skied before because they don’t have to travel far from home or spend a fortune doing so.

Despite the cold temperature on the night of the first trip to Mt. Brighton, Mihaylova recalls it as the most memorable experience from ski club so far, “It was the moment all the planning, emails and logistics came together,” Mihaylova said, “To see everyone in their gear, eager to hit the slopes, was so rewarding. It was like, this is real!”

The student and parent involvement has been essential to this ski season. “The energy around it has been wonderful,” Johnson said. “Like seemingly everything else CHS does, the amount of enthusiasm surrounding the new club has been really remarkable and a lot of fun to watch.” Mihaylova and Johnson are looking forward to next season and a longer trip out to Vermont next school year that is already in the making.

“I hope [ski club] won’t fizzle out. As long as there is strong leadership and unity among the members, the club can last for a long, long time,” Mihaylova said. “If you recruit someone, have them recruit their friends and their friends and so on. That way, the club keeps growing. I hope that the future president succeeds in doing this, so that the club never dies.”