CANMORE – Ready, set, ski.
Canadian Rockies Public Schools (CRPS) is adding an extension to the International Student program by piloting a Canadian Rockies Ski Academy that will launch in November.
“Over the past two years I’ve had numerous calls from Italy and other European countries looking for opportunities for students, not only to be able to ski at a variety of locations, but to look at competitive skiing and looking towards an instructor or guide within the ski industry,” CRPS superintendent Chris MacPhee said.
Partnering with Lake Louise, the 54-day skill development program will be the only ski academy in the Canadian Rockies offered to international students in Grade 9 - 12.
“Numerous agents have asked me to develop it and said, ‘We will bring you the students,’ “
MacPhee said.
“Initially the ski academy will just be for the international students coming in and we will look at expansion in the future years to our own students, but right now we are piloting it to students coming in from abroad.”
The main reason the pilot will be only offered to international students initially is because Alberta students are “bound by instructional hours,” the superintendent said.
Alberta high school students are funded based on the number of credit enrolment units (CEU) a student takes each year – the previous CEU cap was 60 before 2018-19 when the provincial government reduced the funding cap to 45 CEU per student.
“We’re excited for this to begin and this is something that we could expand to any student who wants to take it, but there has to be a cost recovery,” MacPhee said.
The international student program, which also hosts long/short-term programs in the Canadian Rockies Public Schools, ultimately helps boost the CRPS bottom line.
“[The ski academy] will be a way to generate revenue, but we don’t look at this as a revenue-generating stream at the present time,” MacPhee said.
The pilot semester launches this November with a full-year rate costing $9,500 and a semester rate at $6,000. Both rates include a Lake Louise season pass, transportation and coaching fees.
A Level 3 Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance (CSIA), who is also Level 1 CSIA course conductor with race training experience, will coach those enrolled in the program.
Students will have the option to take the Avalanche Safety Course (ASC) Level 1 and also get to challenge the CSIA Level 1 or the Canadian Alliance of Snowboard Instructors (CASI)
Level 1.
“It’s our hope this will expand quite rapidly into other aspects and then it becomes an additional revenue stream for our student system that we can add into our instructional budget to support areas of need,” MacPhee said.
INTERNATIONAL IMPACTS UNKNOWN
With a new stream of revenue for CRPS, school officials are excited for the launch as the Chinese-Canadian relations have been tense and the rippling effects to the international student program remains unknown.
“We are not sure yet,” MacPhee said when asked about the future of the short-term program involving Chinese students.
“Our main work in the international student program with the Chinese market is our short-term programs, which happen in the summer and one two-week program in October.
“We are supposed to visit those agencies to solidify our relationship and get those programs moving into the future, but right now we are waiting to see what transpires on the political landscape before making the decision to travel.”
Referring to the short-term programs that were launched last summer, three international student groups from China came to CRPS to spend up to four weeks in the Bow Valley to learn English, experience Canadian culture and explore the mountains.
It is with help from the short-term international programs that the CRPS had its highest grossing year, according to administration, and was able to record a surplus in 2017-18.
“We have heard there has been programs that have been cancelled in Canada, but not in our school division,” MacPhee said.
“We are waiting to see what happens on the political landscape.”
