Hello MLC Instructors!
Please see this important update from Kelly Howle, MLC Training Supervisor … replying to this email will go to Kelly!
Some training news! After a wild couple weeks, your trainers are back to adding events to the calendar. This weekend so far has been completed so check that out HERE. We will continue to do so for most of February.
Canceling A Clinic
With some major changes on the portal, training calendar buttons have been added throughout the training pages as well as a link that takes you where to cancel your clinic participation. Please cancel if you don’t think you can make it. It opens up the spot for others and doesn’t leave the group waiting around at 3:30. You will need to be signed in.
New Hire Reboot Clinics
If you were a newly hired instructor for this year, this is a mandatory PAID clinic for you. Generally three hours long and running in the afternoon. This is the point where we check in with you and see how your season is going. We answer questions, make sure the teaching is going well, and add some helpful tips for your lessons. We will be keeping track of attendance so please get yourself into a Reboot clinic!
Early Load Clinics
Alpine side is hopping but seeing slow turnout on the snowboard side.
Just to let you know what early load clinics are about: You! We are student-centered and these clinics mostly focus on things that you want to get better at. You’re in the parking lot early anyway, so you might as well hop on a chair and learn some brilliant techniques that you’ll have the rest of the day to practice. We will also start running some more early load adaptive clinics for those of you interested in that.
Just a reminder: You should not already be scheduled for something (setup, rentals, etc.) but if you want to attend occasionally and yet you’re always scheduled early morning, we can usually fill in with enough notice. This is a paid clinic so… wear that uniform!
Uniforms
Please remember that if you are on a paid clinic, you should be in uniform. However, if it’s unpaid, you should be in your own jacket and clothes. Paid clinics right now include Early Load, New Hire Reboot, some Adaptive, Children’s stuff, and Crossover clinics. Beyond that, most clinics are voluntary. Paid clinics will explicitly detail that in their description. If it doesn’t say paid, it probably isn’t. Have a question about it? Ask!
Also something else to remember, you should not be in uniform when smoking or drinking alcoholic beverages. Seems self-explanatory, but sometimes we need a reminder…
Exam Prep
Written exams are due 2 weeks before the on-snow exam for Level 1 candidates. Level 2 and 3, this is 30 days. Slight difference but make sure you start looking at those dates. Registration for on-snow is 2 weeks out for all exams. Check the checklists tho on your discipline pages, there’s usually stuff that needs to be done beforehand. Don’t wait til the last minute!
The first Level 1 Alpine Exam is next Wednesday. If you did not sign up for that and are interested in taking a later date, let us know. The snowboard exam was rescheduled for January 25. Spots are limited and those not taken by Meadows candidates will be given to folks from outside our resort. Please register sooner than later. We will likely have more exams, one each month, and hopefully one on a weekend once programs are over. Let us know your interest so we can plan accordingly. PSIA-NW webpage is here
If this is all new for you this year, make sure that you are signing up for the exams through the division and not just signing up on the Portal. The Portal calendar is just a placeholder for this exam. Questions about how this works? Access your training pages HERE and migrate to your discipline pages. Alpine side is still being built up as is telemark. Email us if you’re still stumped.
Cert Interest
Please let us know of your interest in exams or accreditations (Freestyle, Children’s, Seniors) by clicking HERE. By doing this, we can send emails to those folks specifically interested in specific things, like when an exam becomes available. It also allows us to gauge interest and whether we should ask for exams at Meadows and when. Generally we’re looking for 4-6 people to make events like the CS1 or FS1 run, and because your training staff is so awesome, we often have the examiner available here at Meadows. That’s super helpful because we don’t have to send you elsewhere that adds up the $$.
Level 2 Exam Passes
We just finished up our Alpine Level 2 exams this week and 8 of our your fellow team members are rock and roll Level 2 ski instructors now!
Clifford Babad
Keeley Brownback
Milli Chennell
Jesse Cook
Jeff Ely
Lynn Hickcox
Kelly Howle
Claire Thomforde-Garner
All these folks worked HARD for their certifications. Training pays off! In addition to the celebration of these instructors, I gotta give a huge hand to the alpine trainers who helped make it possible! Seeing a 100% success rate for our candidates is really awesome (it’s kinda rare too) and we would not be the snowsports school we are without our diligent training staff.
I really hope that seeing these names and these successes gets you stoked about our training program. If you’re going for your 2 later this season, seek these people out and asked what help make them successful. Reach out to trainers and ask if that’s something you can achieve too!
Upcoming Exams
We’re still waiting to see the divisional event calendar update but I’m 100% confident that we will see both Snowboard and Alpine L2 & L3 exams start popping up in the next few weeks. Keep training!
Freestyle Clinics
If you’re interested in doing your FS1, you should be attending the 4 part clinic series for your discipline. It entails three clinics of riding technique and another clinic specifically working on teaching a freestyle progression to your peers. This is to help prep you for the “exam” which we need to start scheduling at Meadows soon!
Children’s Clinics
Roxanne has been leading several Parent and Me clinics to support that new program. We will start rolling out more kid-specific clinics in the future that will help support those instructors who work with kids (pretty much all of us!!) and if you’re interested in attaining your CS1 or CS2, you should definitely seek these out.
E-Learning Courses
Going through the roster of who has completed their e-learning courses, we’re missing a LOT of folks for many courses. If you haven’t spent the time going through these courses, please check them out here.
Our two newest were created by Emily (Adaptive Skills 101) and Jenn (People Skills 101). These courses are full of pertinent and awesome info. Oh and they’re REQUIRED.
Other courses you should have done by now:
What’s New for 2020/21
Covid 19 MLC Department Operations
Nuts and Bolts Training
Extremely Difficult Terrain Safety Protocol
One more for those of you interested in your Level 1 and is required to take that exam: Level 1 Cert Kickstart
Set aside some time each day and get these done. This is paid training!
Morning Huddles
As your training supervisor, I’ve been steadily working on the portal trying to get training ready for this season. This means I haven’t yet put a lot of faces to names yet and this is SAD. I will be trying to attend morning huddles, switching back and forth from kids to adults, some program stuff in there too, so that I can get to know all of you. I will also be able to bring more of this info to you verbally and can be available to answer questions. I know it’s been a little challenging trying to figure out all the details, but we can do this!
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That’s it, that’s all! Hope you have a great weekend and we’ll see you on the slopes.
Kelly Howle
Mt. Hood Meadows Learning Center Training Supervisor
AASI-NW Snowboard Division Clinic Leader
Tyler
