Three years ago, 20 Morgan students headed on a bus up to Mount Southington on Friday afternoons as part of Morgan’s popular Ski Club. From beginners to advanced, all enjoyed the skiing or snowboarding experience together. However, this year marks the second year that the ski club has been discontinued at The Morgan School. 

For the past two years, ski club has been cancelled due to not enough students signing up. It was announced in the ski club Google Classroom on December 19, 2024, that it was no longer going to continue for the year. “We had almost 25, 26, 27 kids express an interest,” said Mr. Milcent, the current advisor. “Then we have the hard deadline of paying for these outings.” 

Only nine Morgan students, of the 27 interested, paid for the fees, and are still in the process of being refunded. For the Ski club to have continued running, according to Mount Southington website, a minimum of 15 students would have to join the club for Mount Southington to accommodate a group. 

The main reason students decide not to commit to ski club is due to the expenses that come along with it. It cost $174 for a lift pass and there was also a bus fee which depended on the number of students who were in the club. This is not including the expenses to buy or rent ski equipment.

Before Mr. Milcent took up ski club, other staff members such as Mr. Peterson and Ms. Nadeau had run the club in previous years. 

Morgan advisor, Mr. Milcent started to get the ski club running last year, with hopes of getting the club up and running – but has struggled to find students. Mr Milcent teaches honors pre-calculus, honors geometry, and algebra two. He started skiing when he was in fifth grade, and recently has picked it back up three years ago. 

Ski club’s main goal is to get kids out on the mountain, for both skiing and snowboarding. The club included four Fridays, three in January, and one in February. “The plan was,” said Mr. Milcent, “we were going to go up on four Fridays after school, and do night skiing until about nine o’clock, and then come home around ten.” 

Ski club has included students who have never been skiing or snowboarding before, to students who are advanced at skiing and snowboarding. Students were able to bring their own ski/snowboarding equipment, or were able to rent them. “People should expect to ski or snowboard at whatever level they are capable of,” said Mr. Milcent, “People who have never skied or snowboarded before were able to get lessons if they wanted them.”    

Liam Totten is a junior at The Morgan School who has been snowboarding for four years and enjoys the thrill of the winter activity. “I personally enjoy snowboarding because it’s a time when you can have fun with your friends in a different environment,” said Liam, “and you’re able to learn new things every day.”

Due to participating in a winter soccer league, Liam was unable to sign up for ski club this year. “I didn’t sign up because I don’t have the time due to soccer.” Said Liam.

Though the ski club has been discontinued this year, next year will be another opportunity for students to sign up, with hopes of having a ski club. Ski club takes a good amount of planning, if students decided to join during the winter after it being discontinued for the year, they would have to wait till next ski season for the club to return. 

“The best thing about skiing,” said Mr. Milcent, “is that, as far as winter activities go, it’s one that you can do outside and still have fun.”