PRO FILE: MARIE WANLESS LEVEL I SNOWBOARD INSTRUCTOR; LITTLE SWITZERLAND, WISCONSIN
How long have you been snowboarding and how did you get into it? I started snowboarding 12 years ago, in fi rst grade. My dad would always take my older brother to the local snowboarding hill and just because I wanted to be like my brother, I told him I wanted to snowboard too! My dad got me private lessons, and that’s how it all started.
How did you get into instructing? After I got the hang of snowboarding, my dad signed me up for the SnowStar Program, which is a ski and ride school that takes busloads of kids to diff erent
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then pursued an instructing position at Little Switzerland.
Is instructing something you want to do for a career or at least for the rest of your life? As far as a career, I plan on going to med school and becoming a doctor, but snowboarding will be a lifelong thing for me. Instructing has given me so much joy – I love seeing the people I teach progress! Helping people achieve their goals is something I want to do for the rest of my life.
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Get to know Central Division’s Marie Wanless, a Level I snowboard instructor who attended National Academy as a birthday present from her parents.
You recently attended National Academy as birthday present. Tell us about that. In a passing conversation with my dad, I once brought up the idea of going to National Academy. We didn’t really discuss it that much, but I do remember my parents asking small questions about it here and there. I didn’t really think much of that until the morning of my birthday when I opened my card from them and then at the bottom there was a note saying that I’ll be going to the National Academy!
What are your goals related to instructing? My
goals
skiing hills. We’d alternate between Sunburst, Little Switzerland, and Wilmot in Wisconsin. SnowStar off ers diff erent levels of lessons and when a child has completed all of the lesson levels, and if they are of 14 years of age, they can enter into SnowStar’s JIT (Junior Instructor Training) program. Which is what I did. So then instead of the having scheduled ski or board lessons, the JITs would go over teaching models, techniques, etc. After a year of doing that, I became a full instructor! I continued to teach with SnowStar from 15-17-year-old,
as far as instructing goes
include achieving my Level II Snowboard certifi cation; even just having my Level I has opened many doors. I’d also like to achieve my Child Specialist certifi cation. I love working with kids, so if I can get certifi ed in that area, that’s a double win!
Where do you see yourself a year from now? A year from now I will be attending Western State Colorado University, majoring in pre- med, and hopefully splitting my time between school and working at Crested Butte!
Marie Wanless
What does PSIA-AASI mean to you? It means that there’s a group of like-minded people who share the same interests as I do, and it’s pretty cool that there’s a national organization dedicated to ski and snowboard instruction.
What’s your favorite part of being a member? My favorite part of being a member is defi nitely the network of people I’m now a part of. It’s always really cool when a person sees my pin, stops me at work, and tells me that they’re certifi ed too. It’s an instant connection. It’s especially nice when some of the older members will see that I’m certifi ed and give me little tips and tricks.
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