Winter 2021 Team,

We are so grateful for you! With the first 2 weeks of workshops and adventures under our belt, we are feeling confident and excited for the rest of our Winter season. This is in large part due to you! We are continually impressed with your dedication to the BYEP participants on and off the hill. From spending a few more minutes helping a participant out with a tricky boot buckle, to building connections at workshop, to making killer sandwiches during lunch- we feel so lucky you’re on our team!

As we fine-tune our new, Covid-safe Big Sky setup we are learning more and more each weekend. With that, we are discovering ways in which our Mentor team can be especially crucial for a smooth day at the mountain:

• Do the Covid screens for your bus in the morning.

• Ensure safety and Covid-protocol on the buses by spacing yourselves out throughout the length of the bus.

• Keep participants within eyesight, there are some “blind-spots” at the base area behind the buses and snow banks that we can always use extra eyes on.

• Make sure participants are never alone: on a bus, on the hill, chairlift, or during lunch. If you see a participant that is not in your group, feel free to check-in and help them find their mentor if needed.

• As often as possible (we know lessons make it tricky), stay in your workshop group in the morning, despite varying levels of skiing/riding in your participants you should all be together, riding to the lowest ability in your group.

• Radios are not a placeholder for making a good plan. You and your co-mentors should have discussed the plan before heading out, so you know where to meet. Radios should be turned on, tuned to Channel 16, and turned up as soon as you get them!

• Not sure how to help? Just ask! There are always jobs to do at the base area like walking participants to the bathroom, helping participants sift through the extra gear bins, setting up or tearing down the lunch area, or gathering armbands and radios at the end of the day.

THANK YOU!

Tutoring Announcement:

Can’t get enough of BYEP? Wanting to get more facetime with our awesome participants? Or, just looking to flush out your schedule with more volunteer hours for your MSU internship? We’d love for you to be a tutor this season! We are planning to offer tutoring from 4-7 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 12:30-3:30 on Wednesday afternoons when our high school participants don’t have in-person learning. We are excited to offer a safe, quiet, space with reliable computers and internet for our participants to get some work done. We ask ~3 tutors to be available for any homework questions the participants might have during that time. It is usually a really quiet atmosphere and tutors are welcome to bring any work or schoolwork they have to work on too! If you are interested, you do not have to commit to all three days, we would love to have you for only one or as many as your schedule allows. We’d also love for you to share this opportunity with any friends or colleagues who are interested in getting involved in BYEP but can’t commit to Sundays. Please get in touch with McKenzie, operations@byep.org, to sign up! Our hope is to offer tutoring starting February 9th!