Lakewood, CO (Sunday, November 20, 2005) - In an ongoing effort to combat the rising rate of obesity among U.S. youth, the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) is promoting a new WinterKids program designed to bring fifth through eighth grade students to ski slopes for a one-day learning experience. The WinterKids SnowSchool program invites students and teachers to their local ski areas for a half-day on-hill math or science lesson and an afternoon of skiing, snowboarding or other healthy outdoor activity.

“Students learn best when they are actively involved in their own learning with activities that are hands-on and minds-on,” says WinterKids Executive Director Carla Marcus. “Studies prove that kids learn more when physically active, and combining an academic lesson with a recreational afternoon will push the classroom into the community.”

For several years, NSAA has been partnering with WinterKids -- a Maine-based non-profit dedicated to helping kids develop healthy habits through participation in outdoor winter activities -- to distribute the WinterKids Outdoor Learning Curriculum, winter-related lessons that are integrated into local schools’ existing classroom lesson plans. WinterKids SnowSchool will now provide the missing link between the classroom and ski hills by actually taking kids to the slopes.

The SnowSchool program consists of math- and science-related lessons that meet National Education Standards and focus on ski area operations. In the lessons, students study outdoor-specific items, including how to measure the percentage, degree and slope of a ski trail, or how to analyze snow profile and density. The lessons are available free of charge and led by ski area personnel or local educators. At their conclusion, students are asked to write a letter to ski area managers detailing the results of their studies. Teachers and students then have the option of staying for the afternoon to partake in skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, or another healthy outdoor activity.

WinterKids SnowSchool is a basic model amended per resort. The program was successfully piloted at several ski areas last season in cooperation with NSAA, Ski Areas of New York, the Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association and Maine ski areas. SnowSchool will be introduced on a national level for the 2005/06 ski season.