Kate Punderson, Carrabassett Valley Academy

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

My next guest is Kate Punterson, who is the head of school at Carabassett Valley Academy, a private middle and high school at Sugarloaf Mountain. Thanks so much for coming in today.

Kate Punderson:

Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Kate, you've been a skier for many, many years.

Kate Punderson:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about your life of skiing.

Kate Punderson:

Sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I mean obviously it's influenced you to the point where you have taken this job.

Kate Punderson:

Absolutely. I'm from Maine. My grandparents and parents are Mainers, so long time Mainer and my folks had a ski shop in Waterville, Maine, and when I was very little they bought the Sugarloaf Inn right up at Sugarloaf. So we moved to Sugarloaf when I was 5 years old and I've been there really ever since. So skiing is really in my blood. My dad was a ski racer, but my mom was a skier and so they raised us three kids on the mountain. So I grew up skiing at Sugarloaf, got into competitive ski racing early, went to Care Bassett Valley Academy as a student and graduated from there and went on to college and ski raced at Middlebury College, NCAA Division 1, and then after graduation wanted to give back to the sport and got right into coaching and from there into the education side of things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What is it about this idea of giving back is really interesting to me. What is it about your experience that has caused you to want to turn around and offer something similar to young ski racers?

Kate Punderson:

I think because what sports and combining sports with education in such a balanced way really shaped who I am and I really valued the lessons that it teaches you, the lessons of dedication and hard work, self reliance and independence. And I wanted to continue to share that with other young people because it was such an important part of my growing up. And I just see the value every day that it gives to kids. And being able to be super passionate about something and be able to dedicate yourself to it and be surrounded by adults who support you and who you are and your goals and your dreams just gives you that self confidence. And I just see that in the kids every day and it's very rewarding.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

With cva, there's been tremendous growth, really. There's a new competition center up at Sugarloaf, which is beautiful. And you've continued to send students into really national competitions directly from high school. Are you surprised at how much transformation has been occurring within your organization?

Kate Punderson:

You know, I really am not surprised. The school was founded in 1982 and it grew out of the Sugarloaf Ski Club. The Sugarloaf Ski Club was the first organization, first group of individuals that actually cut the first trail at Sugarloaf. And then the corporation grew out of the ski club. And the ski club formed the Sugarloaf Area Ski Educational Foundation. And out of that grew CVA. So, you know, since the 1950s, there's been continual growth and tremendous community support from, for skiing and especially for youth in the sport. So I'm not surprised that the growth continues because there is so much support in Maine, in the ski community in Maine especially, there's so much interest in keeping kids in the sport and keeping families in the sport. The winters here in Maine are really long and taking advantage of those and using those to teach these kids life lessons. And so I'm not surprised there's been tremendous support. The latest growth in terms of physical buildings and venues is the Bill and Joan Alphond Competition Center. And that is a partnership between cva, the town of Carabasset, the Sugarloaf Ski Club and Sugarloaf Resort. And it's those partnerships that have really helped the growth of the organization since the beginning. So it doesn't surprise me that the growth has continued and we're really proud of it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've had the benefit of multiple alumni really being recognized on the national and international ski scene and I guess also snowboarding scene. What has that done for your school?

Kate Punderson:

Oh, it's not a lot. What it's done is it's helped raise the aspirations of every student that comes to cva. They realize that those athletes, those Olympic athletes, those world champions that have come up through CVA are the same as them. And if they can do it, you know, then our latest students can do it. So it continues. That passion fuels that passion and inspires our kids. Also. It has helped put CVA on the world stage and helps to make sure CVA is recognized as a really world class training facility and education institution. So we have been able to design a program and support athletes who are willing to commit themselves. We support them with coaching and with venues and with training opportunities and with educational opportunities so they can really reach their full potential. And when you have athletes that come in and are able to take advantage of all that, we're very proud of each of those athletes. And they also give back to the school in a way that continues to inspire the next generation.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How are you able to support the social and emotional growth of these students? Obviously, you have very high standards academically and athletically, but in order to have a well rounded individual, you're going to want to focus on those other things. How do you do that in your school?

Kate Punderson:

Good question. Our mission statement actually includes that character development, responsible community living. So we're very intentional about the programming we put in place to develop leadership skills and kindness and civility and respect. And those values really are the foundation of what we do at cva. We work a lot on gratitude, making sure that the students understand the power of gratitude and how important that is. Commitment, hard work, civility, kindness. For example, this past year we worked all year on a kindness campaign. So we worked with our students on what does that mean and how can you manifest your daily life with kindness at its core? And we even do that down to our weekend program. So every weekend we have skiers and snowboarders who are ages 7 to 17 can come and train during the weekends and vacation weeks. And it's primarily an athletic endeavor. But at the same time, we infuse those values at that program as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

When I was there, when I was at Sugarloaf last March, I believe it was during the national championships, I noticed that there were a group of young women, specifically who were cva and I think they were in the upper level age group who were all competing along with the other national athletes. And they were so supportive of one another. I mean, everything. I would see other athletes come down and obviously they were supported by their family members. But these young women, they would come down one by one and then they would wait for each other and they'd congratulate each other and they'd look at the times together. And it was really, it was Interesting, because it. It made it really a team sport as much as an individual sport.

Kate Punderson:

Yeah. Yeah, that's a great story because these three young women grew up together skiing at Sugarloaf. They grew up coming up through the CVA weekend program. They came to CVA together. So they've been training together and racing together their whole careers. So for the three of them to all make it too, to the US Alpine Championships in the same year as juniors was an extraordinary accomplishment. We work on that with our athletes at cva. Yes, skiing and snowboarding is an individual sport, but everyone will perform better and be more successful if they are supportive of one another. So they lift each other up. So we work on that with our athletes. It's really important.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also have. As a product of cva, I guess. Product. As an alum of cva, I met Sam Morse, who was interesting to see him go run the gauntlet of all the reporters because there was a bunch of people who were there from big name sports reporting organizations. And he was able to be so genuine, so friendly. I thought of my question and I kind of shouted it out as he went by, and he was just as genuine and friendly with me. After having come off the hill and raced hard as he was with the first 10 people that he talked to, it seems like he somehow is able to balance this strong competitive edge with the ability to reach out to other people.

Kate Punderson:

Yeah, Sam Morse is a wonderful young man. Again, he grew up at Sugarloaf, came up through all of our junior programs and up through cva. And he has been someone who's always been very introspective and full of gratitude. So I think that gratitude piece is coming out. When you're seeing him like that. He is so appreciative of the opportunities he had at CVA and at Sugarloaf and the community that has supported him that he too, wants to give back. Just yesterday, actually, I was copied on an email that Sam sent to all of our U16 Alpine athletes, talking to them about how important it is to journal. He's a big journaler. He records his. Not only everything that he eats and what his training is, but how he's feeling. So that's the. That's just the type of guy that he is. And on the US Ski Team, he is known as someone who helps to bring their team together. So he's an extraordinary young man and he has made his success. Last year, he won the Junior World Champion Downhill title. And that's been just a culmination of many, many years of hard Work and moving his way up the ladder. So we continue to see, expect great things from Sam. He is also going to college. He goes to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire when he's not ski racing. So he's got a bright future ahead and we're very proud of him.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There have been, not in skiing per se, but there have been cases in athletics in general of people who are so focused on being really great at what they did that something happened in their emotional development, let's just say, and it caused them to almost fall apart once they got through the competition, once they got through winning. I don't want to give examples, but I'm guessing that you can probably think of a few with that in mind. Is there a higher standard that you are working towards with your athletes to make sure that they aren't going to get to the other side of competition and not be able to live their lives?

Kate Punderson:

Yeah, I think a couple of things. That's where we continue our focus on education. And we talk about with our students all the time how important it is that they really study hard and that they have a plan going forward for continuing education and their life after competition. So that's ingrained every day. And it's ingrained because school always comes first at cva. It's always important that they are maintaining good grades, they're doing their schoolwork. They can lose the privilege of going out on the hill every day and training if they're not keeping up with their studies. So right from the first day at cva, our students understand the importance of education and. And that it always comes first. They also understand the importance of making good choices. And we hold our students accountable for those good choices. So it's the lessons that they're learning all along that hopefully will carry them through after their competitions are over.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've spoken with CVA graduates who have gone on to do things in many different fields because obviously not everybody's going to join the USC ski team. I'm thinking of a company that was founded by CVA alums, Winter Stix. And it interests me that in addition to being good skiers and obviously having good educational backgrounds, they've been able to go on and actually create a life, create a business for themselves. Where in the CVA curriculum does this come from?

Kate Punderson:

It's interesting. We actually have a lot of entrepreneurs that come out of cva. CVA alums do every career imaginable, but we do have a number of entrepreneurs. And I think it comes from the confidence that they gain from the experience, the Education, the communication skills that they gain from the small class sizes and risk taking too. The ability to set high goals and work really hard towards those goals and set some goals that you might think are maybe unattainable, but then through the experience you do realize that you can attain them. And skiing and snowboarding are risky sports. So I do think we attract maybe some people who are risk takers, whether it's in their business life, in their careers, or in their sport.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

In a field where, and I guess many fields are like this, where competition is a main thing. How do you work with student athletes who come through that aren't going to do as well in the competitions? Because not everybody can be first.

Kate Punderson:

Yeah. So what we do is we want to support every athlete regardless of the level that they're at. So our goal is to help that athlete reach their full potential. Whether that's being the best in the state of Maine, whether that's being the best on that particular day at Shawnee Peak, or whether that's winning a world championships. Every level is very important and equally as important. And so again, we work with the student athletes on setting their goals and then we set, celebrate those successes. And we also work on celebrating when they're able to control the things that they can control. Right. So there's so much in skiing and snowboarding competition that you can't control. The weather, the, the other competitors, the snow conditions, but you can control how, how sharp your skis are, how, how hard you trained in the gym all summer long, getting to the snow start on time. And so we celebrate those things, those little successes, and we teach our athletes how to appreciate the things that they did well on that particular day and then grow, grow on that for the next competition, do it even better, three more turns that you did really, really well. So we teach our athletes how to appreciate those things and build on them. And also at cva, We celebrate the work ethic, the hard work, the dedication to the sport, the commitment, the kindness. We celebrate those things, not necessarily the medals. I mean, everyone loves to be on the podium. And we celebrate those as well, and we're really proud of those. But we also celebrate those other things that get, that get you to reach your goals.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's an interesting thing that you're describing because you're talking about middle school and high school kids and there is really a cumulative effect, but it's incremental. So sometimes you're trying to explain to somebody why they need to do something today that's going to benefit them in three years, five years, 10 years, which is hard for adults to understand, never mind middle schoolers. How do you approach that?

Kate Punderson:

Yeah, that's interesting. It is really a long road. So we talk about the long road. We talk about how the little decisions you make today will build on that long road. And today, especially for kids, there's so much instant gratification. They want to win the video game that they're playing right then. They want this or that right then. So we work with them on this is a long road and a long process. And I think it takes time, but they get it. They get it. After a while they get it. And they also can start to appreciate that not every year is going to go the way that they want it to go, but it doesn't mean the next year isn't going to be great and they're going to make those jumps.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So we started the conversation by saying that you've been skiing for a long time, and sometimes people who have been doing something for a long time, they kind of think, oh, well, I've done that. I don't need to do that anymore. Does skiing still bring you joy?

Kate Punderson:

Definitely. No question about it. I love to ski as much as I can. I don't ski as much as I want to ski, but it's still brings me tremendous joy. And I get a lot of joy teaching my son to ski too, showing him all around the mountain and the places that I used to go as a kid. So I still love it. I enjoy backcountry skiing. Now we have a program at CVA that is non competitive. It is called our backcountry program and it opens the doors to this experience and all these life lessons for skiers and snowboarders who aren't necessarily competitive. They don't want to go through a start and a finish gate, but they want to continue their skills and have all those life lessons. So I really enjoy that aspect too, the non competitive aspect. So later in life, as my ski racing career is long gone, I continue to enjoy those parts of the sport.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What do you want for your own self? You mentioned that giving back is very important to you. And I'm assuming that you have felt as if you are giving back in education, but also as somebody that I know is very driven, very goal oriented, probably always looking to the future. Is there something that you are hoping that you yourself will be able to offer in terms of giving back back that you haven't quite gotten to yet?

Kate Punderson:

One of the parts that I'm really proud of at CVA in addition to helping the kids is the providing professional jobs and economic growth in Carabassett Valley in Franklin County. We're really proud of the fact that we are able to provide these jobs and we're able to keep families and draw families and young professionals to Sugarloaf and to Carabasset and be an economic driver. So that part of my job in running CVA is also really important to me and I want CVA to be there for many, many generations to come and continue to help the state of Maine and continue to help keep skiing and snowboarding alive for many kids. So for me it does go beyond the walls of the school and wider out into the community, which is really

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

continuing on your parents legacy.

Kate Punderson:

Yes, yes. They were very obviously involved in the growth of Shoreloaf in terms of, you know, in the 70s, going up there and buying an inn and developing, making sure that the mountain could continue to thrive. They had that goal as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I appreciate what you're doing for the students of not only the state of Maine, but from everywhere that they are coming from and really for the all the things you've described, the economic growth opportunities that you're providing for people who work at the academy. I've been speaking with Kate Punderson, who is the head of school at Carabassett Valley Academy, a private middle and high school at Sugarloaf Mountain. Thank you for your time and for everything that you and your colleagues are doing.

Kate Punderson:

Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the support.