Students Travel to Jay Peak for Annual Ski Trip

Attendees will stay at the Stateside Hotel, spend the weekend skiing and snowboarding at Jay Peak, and enjoy the waterpark and arcade in Jay Village. They’ll be accompanied and supervised by ski team coaches and teachers, John Isaacs and Derek Byron, along with a team of chaperones.

Students described the mountain and its appeal. Natalie Billings ’27 said: “Jay Peak is a really cool mountain because it has a lot of different types of trails, so if you’re a beginner, you can spend a lot of time on greens, or if you’re advanced, there are a lot of blacks.” For Carlos Camacho-Lopez ’27 “the thing that really enticed [him] was the fact that we were gonna go to this really big resort, rather than a small mountain in Connecticut.” He added, “that experience with a really challenging course [...] enticed me into going on the trip.”

The trip is extremely popular with new and returning attendees. “It sells out within an hour. I mean, in that first 5, 10 minutes, it’s more than half full, ” said Byron. Isaacs agreed, “we had 90 signups since five and a half minutes.” In previous years, bus capacity limited the number of available spots. This year, however, the overflow from the buses will travel in a Hopkins van. “The new vans we have are creating some flexibility,” noted Isaacs. 

Students attend the trip for various reasons. Billings explained, “I wanted to go because my family doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to go skiing.” Audrey Xia ’29 said, “I went on the ski trip because I loved skiing and some of my friends were going, and I thought that it would be a great opportunity for us to hang out outside of school.” Nia McKeithen ’26 explained, “I chose to go because I just generally like trying new things […] when else […] do you get to go on trips like these?” Experience from previous trips also encourages many students to return. Timothy Edwards ’28 is returning on the trip again “for the same reason as last year […] well, I got a taste of Jay Peak.”

The weekend getaway accommodates skiers of all levels. Byron notes that of the students who go “10% of them maybe, have never skied before. So for some folks, it’s the first time ever, ever doing it, which is great.” McKeithen was part of that ten percent last year: “You can take lessons there, like, first time on skis. So I took those […] it’s enough to get you skiing, and it’s actually really fun,” she said. Billings — who has been skiing for many years — said, “I like that in the beginning of the day I can warm up on greens, and then in the afternoon I can go to harder blues and blacks.” Aiden Gomez ’28 added that he would “highly recommend [the trip], even if you don’t know how to ski, you can take a lesson there, and do it with your friends.” 

 The schoolwide ski trip has been a tradition at Hopkins for decades. Byron said that he and Isaacs have “been doing it for eight years […] But the trip’s been running since the 50s.”  The trip was previously held in Stowe, Vermont, before switching to Jay Peak. Students and teachers have many memories from prior trips. Gomez said, “last year, I wanted to go on it because I love skiing, and it’s a great opportunity.” He added, “I’m going this year again because last year was so much fun.” Camacho-Lopez said, “there’s just so much, so much that happens in those three days that you can make so many memories in that short amount of time.”
 

The opportunity for socializing, skiing, snowboarding, and having fun, makes the weekend getaway a highlight for many students. Isaacs says that his “favorite parts of the trip are getting to see kids interact with one another and have a good time.” He added, “it’s the fun trip.” As Xia said, “It’s a great way to have fun, get closer to people, and enjoy an amazing ski mountain.”