PAUL SMITHS — In a virtual gathering of Olympians, Paul Smith’s College recently organized a meeting of the five Adirondack region athletes who form the school’s Olympian Advisory Council. The athletes account for six Olympic medals and a total of 16 United States Olympic teams. They discussed the college’s sport and education initiative, and offered recommendations from their own experiences.

Andrew Weibrecht, Bill Demong, Chris Mazdzer, Andrea Kilbourne-Hill and Tim Burke comprise the council, a group put together in 2018 by John F. Morgan, PSC’s Director of Sport Initiatives, to provide input and guidance as the school’s sport and education program grows. All five come to the council from different sports and academic backgrounds.

The overriding concept behind PSC’s sport and education program is to allow athletes in the Winter Olympic sports to receive an education while simultaneously training during normal college years.

“Paul Smith’s is so blessed to have this diverse group of Olympians sharing their time and expertise with us,” said Matt Dougherty, head nordic ski coach at PSC. “These are people who understand the uniqueness of the Adirondacks having grown up here. They mirror the community at Paul Smith’s College perfectly — a diverse group of people who have a passion for education and share immense respect for the uniqueness that is the Adirondacks. Athletes who join this education and sports initiative are going to find so much support at Paul Smith’s from the professors, classmates, and staff. These Olympians are helping us pioneer a change in sports and education, melding a powerful education while pursuing world-class sized dreams in sport.”

In recent weeks, Lina Farra and Garrett Beckrich, members of US Biathlon, committed to such a program. Farra, born in Saranac Lake and living in Heber City, Utah, will begin her studies in the 2020 fall semester, as will Beckrich, who will come to PSC from Grand Rapids, Minnestoa. The college has official training and education relationships with US Biathlon and USA Nordic.

In December, USA Nordic, led by Demong, its Executive Director, signed with PSC. Demong is a five-time Olympian who won a gold and silver medal in nordic combined at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. Demong, from nearby Vermontville, trained extensively in the Lake Placid-Saranac Lake-Paul Smiths region and sees great potential here for his organization.

“Our big upside right now is that we have a lot of junior national team members,” Demong said. “It’s a program that was started two years ago with athletes that are slowly aging from that 15-16-year old age group into college age group, so we reached out to the group this year and there just weren’t that many that were of college age. As the venue in Lake Placid returns to prominence as well as this group ages into their college years, we’re going to continue to do outreach and not only try to fill the slots that are available, but really build a program at PSC that’s a center for education and sport where we can base a de facto junior national team in that U18, U20 age group as they’re getting ready for the national team in the future.”

The college and its setting near Whiteface, the 1980 Olympic mountain, is also well-positioned for the slightly older alpine student/athlete, who may need more seasoning prior to advancing their career. From that perspective, Weibrecht of Lake Placid, a three-time Olympian with silver and bronze medals in super G, brought forth the notion of Paul Smith’s College appealing to athletes and families looking for gap years after high school. The so-called PG (post-graduate) student uses one or two years after high school graduation to accrue college credits while improving their athletic skills. The combination of the two hopefully makes the student attractive to NCAA Division I schools and can possibly land the youngster a coveted college scholarship.

“Having a program that’s catered toward that, both online and in-residence, would be really sellable to a lot of families,” said Weibrecht, who attended Dartmouth College and finished his degree after a 16-year racing career. “The Division I world has gotten crazy competitive, both admissions into these colleges and getting slots on the team which often go hand in hand. If you’re being recruited by the team, it does help you get into the school itself.”

USA Luge’s Mazdzer, of Saranac Lake, came to the advisory council from a different direction, having received his degree online from DeVry University through the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. The 2018 Olympic silver medal winner had the luxury of creating an academic schedule that fit his racing career, a notion that PSC will use in tandem with classroom learning.

“Right now, everyone on the luge team is going to DeVry because the USOPC offers that,” Mazdzer said. “But physically going to school and getting an education is completely different than pure online. I think that being able to mix that a little bit is incredibly useful, especially for a lot of the luge athletes, and I think flexibility is going to draw people in.”

Kilbourne-Hill is a Saranac Lake teacher who won a 2002 Olympic silver medal in hockey. Despite taking a year off to train and prepare with the U.S. Women’s National Team, she nonetheless graduated with her class at Princeton University. But to stay on schedule, Kilbourne-Hill, who started men’s and women’s hockey two years ago at PSC, took a summer course at St. Lawrence University, a scenario that PSC officials would like to address.

Burke, a Paul Smiths native now living in Lake Placid, competed in four Olympic Games and was the first American, in December 2009, to hold the World Cup biathlon leader’s bib. Burke is now the Director of Athlete Development for US Biathlon, and helped guide Farra and Beckrich to PSC. The college hopes they will be the first of many. When that happens, the school located about 20 miles from Lake Placid will be ready, having spent ample time preparing for their arrivals.

“All the different options are important and offering different pathways,” said Melinda Bard, Academic Success Coach at PSC. “I think being flexible is important, but there are some really cool things going on here, and I think we could offer education to student-athletes in some unique and different ways to accommodate different needs.”