The Winter Sports School (WSS) in Park City, UT, founded in 1994, is an instructor-led, college preparatory program for dedicated winter athletes (grades 9 through 12), with an academic calendar running from April through November each year. Our students pursue their athletic goals during the winter months without compromising their academic goals. We officially began operating as a Utah State Charter School in July 2014. Our current enrollment is 117 students. Our mission is to provide our students with the tools, support and balance necessary for them to achieve the highest possible levels of success in education and life.
Our vision is to be the leading college-preparatory school for dedicated student-athletes. There are tradeoffs students and families make selecting WSS, including going to school all summer and tackling a rigorous academic program of study at an accelerated pace in a condensed calendar. Our students have a passion for sport and demonstrate a high level of commitment to both their academic and athletic ambitions.
As of June 2023, 27 WSS current students and alumni graduates (since 2015) are on National Team rosters in two countries. WSS celebrates 24 Winter Olympians who have earned 15 Olympic medals in 48 Olympic Games appearances. WSS alumni have earned 11 Overall World Cup titles, 82 Individual World Cup titles, 33 World Championship medals and hundreds of World Cup podiums. Notable graduates include Olympians Ted Ligety, Julia Mancuso, Steve Holcomb, Alex Hall, Colby Stevenson, Sarah Hendrickson, Joss Christensen, Andrew Weibreicht, Ellie Ochowitz, Resi Steigler, Bryan Fletcher, Anders Johnson, Izzy Atkin, Zoe Atkin, Nick Page, Cole McDonald, Ben Loomis, Jared Shumate and Stephen Schumann.
The main beneficiaries of this project will be our current and future student population, our faculty and all of their family members. WSS is strictly an academic institution. Our students choose the athletic sport club that best fits their training and coaching needs anywhere in the world. It also means that we can educate all students, competing in any sports discipline, as opposed to only a subset often served at other sports academies that will integrate athletic and academic programs. As such, we serve student-athletes in every ski discipline as well as other Olympic sports including soccer, mountain biking, hockey, sport climbing and equestrian sports. We attract students nationwide as well as locally from Heber City, Kamas, Midway, North Salt Lake, Ogden, Park City, Salt Lake Valley and eastern Summit County.
As a public charter school, we receive considerably less funding per student than the public school district. To achieve our ambitious educational goals for students and our school, we rely on private contributions to supplement public funds.
We report directly to the Utah State Charter School Board and the Utah State Board of Education. We enjoy a very friendly and cooperative relationship with the Park City School District, but we are not a district school. Those of our students that live within the district bounds are eligible to participate in extra-curricular activities including Park City High School sports teams. As a State Charter School, we are not a taxing authority, so we do not receive funds directly from Park City or Summit County property taxes but receive alternate Charter School Local Replacement funding which provides some portion of the locally generated property tax we are unable to access. We do not receive any funds from the Park City Education Foundation.
To receive more information about the Winter Sports School and the Reaching New Peaks Capital Campaign, please contact Tess Miner-Farra at tminerfarra@wintersportsschool.org.
