Academy at Mount Hood caters to action sports, students

MOUNT HOOD, Ore. – While it may be a tough sell for parents, Windells Academy is a dream for every kid who aspires to be the next Shaun White: a boarding school for boarders.

For more than two decades, Windells has staged summer camps for skateboarders, snowboarders and skiers on Oregon’s Mount Hood, which is blessed with snow year-round. Founder Tim Windell, a former professional boarder, brags that all of the American Olympic medalists have either spent time at the camp or used its facilities. So it wasn’t that big of a stretch to go to a full-time high school.

“I came here just to have fun and I’ve progressed so much I can’t even believe it,” said Jamison Skinner, 17, of Toronto, who starts his second semester at the academy this fall. “It’s just such an awesome place.”

From the outside, it may look as if the academy might be embracing the same training philosophy that elite gymnasts and figure skaters have long followed: taking young athletes and sending them off to train full time – with school on the side.

Windell laughs at the notion. That would be way too traditional.

“That’s just not what we’re about and that’s just not what action sports are about,” Windell said.

The full-time academy started last year with 14 students, with the focus on snowboarding and skiing. This fall they’ll have doubled that – with skateboarding added to the curriculum.

Tuition – which includes room and board – is $35,000 for a full academic year, and $20,000 for a semester session.

The days are long, and while the overriding theme is becoming a better athlete, academy president Mike Hanley said, Windells is more than a “sports school.”

“We’re not encouraging kids to drop out of school and cross their fingers they can retire on this because that’s just not going to happen,” Hanley said. “We want our kids to go to a good college – and the X Games.”