Students in Lucas Milliken’s History and English classes recently completed a variety of projects. Some examples include: Lake Lindelof ’22 and Eli Fournier ’22 created a piece of historical fiction for US History - they recorded a conversation between Andrew Carnegie and one of his workers. Acy Craig ’21 called her Congressman, Peter Welch, asking him to take action about the protests in Hong Kong. Josie Alexander ’23 wrote a poem about saying goodbye and Dory Michaud ’23 wrote a poem about a photo from the early days of scuba diving.

Students in Ainsley McClachrie's English I class held a debate on Frankenstein during a recent class. They each chose a topic ranging from Victor's sanity to a question of culpability--whether Victor or the Creature is responsible for the deaths in the novel. Each debate partner picked a side and wrote and delivered an opening statement, 3 arguments, 3 rebuttals to their opponent's arguments, and a closing.

Alpine: We’re racing! U16 and U19 alpine Academy and Weekend Program athletes competed at Sunday River on January 11th in Maine Alpine Racing Association’s (MARA) “Turkey Chase”. Due to Covid-19 the flow of the day and the racing scene looked and felt a bit different but the athletes and coaches quickly adapted to the changes. No spectators were allowed to gather at the finish line but a new web cam facing the race trail, Monday Mourning, broadcasted the races online. The traditional in-person awards ceremony was replaced with results published online. 

The slalom course was a great venue for our athletes to rid themselves of their early season jitters. Several top finishes were earned; the U16 Men went 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th, the U16 Women had two top 10 finishes with 7th and 8th, and the U19 Women had 3 top 10 finishes with 7th, 8th and 10th.

Freestyle: The team has appreciated training on the mogul course at Sugarloaf. The jumps are in great condition, allowing athletes to finally bring the skills they developed in the off-season to snow.

In this photo, Chase Littlefield ’24 throws one of his first cork 7’s this season.

Snowboard and Ski Cross: Gate training, jumps, lifting at the Anti-Gravity Center, video analysis, and a practice day on the start section at Sunday River have been on the schedule for the Snowboard and Ski Cross teams this month as they prepare for their first competition on February 10.

Backcountry: The team recently enjoyed a great trip to the White Mountains. Program Director Patrick Scanlan says “Without much snow, we got creative and were able to have a crash course in ski mountaineering this week. We took lots of time to work on skills in some epic locations, and even got to accomplish some pretty big objectives. Kudos to the backcountry athletes who embraced the snow conditions and dove in head first to learning new skills and going the extra miles to find some snow.”

One of CVA’s most treasured and long-standing traditions is volunteering at the Special Olympic Maine Winter Games held annually at Sugarloaf. Due to the pandemic the Games have been canceled this year but that doesn’t mean we aren’t thinking of the amazing Special Olympians we meet each year. 

CVA wishes the best to all the athletes training and competing virtually in the Special Olympics programming this year. We’ll miss our opportunity to cheer you on in person, but know we’ll be supporting you from afar, and we can’t wait to see you at Sugarloaf next year! Please enjoy this heartfelt video that CVA student-athletes contributed to, and CVA National Honor Society members put together for you. Watch the video here

New role and staff member: Patrick D'Amboise LCPC has joined CVA as our new part-time school counselor. With a B.S. in education and a M.S. in counseling, Pat has over 37 years of experience in counseling, with a focus on youth. As a father of CVA alum Sean D’Amboise, Class of 2004, and through his additional passion as an outdoor educator (he worked for Outward Bound and founded Project Quest, an outdoor education program for teens), he is uniquely positioned to connect with, guide and support CVA students and staff.

Pat’s role will be to assess the impact of the students’ mental health needs on learning and school participation, provide on-call duties, and collaborate with the health care team to promote health and wellbeing of the student body. Pat’s role will be to assess the impact of the students’ mental health needs on learning and school participation, provide on-call duties, and collaborate with the health care team to promote health and wellbeing of the student body. Pat will provide confidential emotional support to our students including short-term, solution-focused therapy, crisis intervention, advocacy, and referral, when necessary. He will be providing support on campus in the form of pre-scheduled meetings and drop in office hours, as well as conduct group work and activities. His services will augment the Community Clinical Services Outpatient Counseling our students currently access through telemedicine.

Liam Moffatt '15 of Truro, NS is one of three recipients of the 2020/2021 Neil Daffern Award for Excellence. The Award, named in honor of the legacy of Neil Daffern, aims to recognize and provide financial assistance to Canadian riders who have the potential to be among the World’s best in their respective disciplines.

A pioneer in snowboarding, Neil Daffern co-designed the first twin-tip snowboard under the BARFOOT name, which paved the way for progression of freestyle snowboarding as we know it today. His legacy has lived on and through his charity has helped numerous Canadian athletes achieve their goals.

Moffatt is no stranger to the contest scene or podium on the Nor-Am Cup Tour. He’s one of Canada’s top snowboardcross riders and is looking to make his mark on the World Cup Tour.

“I am so honored to receive this award. There is a long list of athletes that have received this award that have gone on to do amazing things in the snowboard world and I’m really excited to not only have the help from this award for this tough season ahead but also be added to this list to go try and make my mark.” – Liam Moffatt '15

CVA Ski Cross athlete Stuart Whittier was featured in an article in Maine’s “Portland Press Herald” this month. Read the article online

US Ski Team member and CVA alumni Sam Morse ’13 was recently featured by Maine's Portland Press Herald in an article titled "Maine native starting to make an impact in World Cup skiing". Read the article online

Weekend Program families gathered on Zoom recently to get together in a social setting, talk with coaches, and learn more about the Academy. Each team met separately, first as a whole group, then broke out into smaller groups by athlete's age. Next year we plan to resume the usual tradition of meeting in-person at the end of December while families are at the mountain during vacation week.

In this photo, a group of athletes in the Alpine Weekend Program is enjoying the spectacular view of an inversion at Sugarloaf on January 3rd.

CVA Camps and Training Days are great ways for athletes to improve skills and learn more about the CVA experience. 1-3 day camps are available in Alpine, Freestyle, Snowboard, Ski Cross and Backcountry.

CVA Scholarship Bash raffle tickets are now on sale! The winner will be drawn at this year’s virtual event on February 20th. Buy a ticket to the virtual event and enter for a chance to win $10,000 while supporting the CVA Scholarship Fund. Please contact Melissa Fogg if you’d like to get involved with the event by becoming a sponsor, donating to the auction, selling tickets, joining a committee, or by raising your paddle from away.  Thank you to our presenting sponsors Pine Capital and Trapper and Brooke Clark.

Enrollment is now open for the 21-22 school year. Start here, stop at nothing. Contact Erin Whipple, our Director of Enrollment, to ask questions, gather information, or arrange a virtual tour. She can be reached at ewhipple@gocva.com, office (207) 237-4466 or cell (207) 671-8976.