Shredding at SMC

Tyler Prime ’19

By Tyler Prime ’19
Feb. 16 2018

My name is Tyler Prime. I am a junior business administration major with minors in economics and history, and I am a member of ShredMC, our ski and snowboard club on campus. I am an extremely passionate snowboarder and I love spending time in the mountains with my friends. This College’s close proximity to the mountains was a big deciding factor for me in choosing to attend St. Mike’s. Going to school and snowboarding in the Green Mountains for the past three years has allowed me to have some pretty amazing experiences, both on campus and in the mountains.

St. Mike’s location in the heart of the Green Mountains is the perfect place to go to school if you’re a ski bum like me. With four major ski resorts within an hour of campus and many more close by, students at St. Mike’s are able to find the perfect balance between work and play. I always try to choose a class schedule that allows me to snowboard as much as possible. Being so close to the mountains, it is possible for students at St. Mike’s to go skiing 4-5 days a week and still be successful in their classes. In fact, I managed to go snowboarding 65 days last season and was still able to receive a 4.0 GPA for the first time in my academic career. The incredible skiing and snowboarding conditions in this area make going to school at St. Mike’s a dream come true.

Every year, ShredMC hosts the Jibfest Rail Jam in the 300s Field right next to the townhouse residences of juniors and seniors on the St. Mike’s campus. It is a skiing and snowboarding contest where competitors drop in from a three-story ramp built with scaffolding and perform tricks to impress a panel of judges. Club members and volunteers spend months planning the event, contacting local mountains and companies to sponsor the event, prepping the supplies to build the drop in ramps, and performing other tasks to prepare for the event. On the day of the contest, the riders finally set up the scaffolding, get snow from local ice rinks, and throw down on their hand-built set up. It is an awesome event that I have been proud to be a part of for the last three years.

Learning on the job

By Susie Ellicks ’18

Last Spring, I decided to apply for a summer job with the St. Mike’s Marketing Department and was thrilled to be offered the position. The Marketing and Communication team were so welcoming to me; they immediately made me feel like I was an important part of this department. As an English major, they helped me expand my skill set and learn how to apply those skills to a marketing position.

Prior to this job, I never would have expected to find myself working for a marketing department – I had always planned on going into Publishing or editing – and I am so happy I decided to branch out.

Working for St. Mike’s was such a positive experience for me. I wasn’t just a student worker to the department; I was someone who was trusted with important responsibilities, actively contributed to campaign ideas, and became a member of the team. Once the position and the summer came to an end, I was able to continue working for the Marketing Department as a work-study. Working on campus is a great way for students to learn important workplace and real-world skills that they can use in the future.

Because of this summer job as the Writing, Photography, and Social Media Coordinator, I am now planning on going into the Marketing and Communication field once I graduate, and feel very confident about what I can offer to my future employers.