Caught in the Glow 4-9-18
Hi! Welcome to Caught in the Glow! This is Brianna, and I will be writing the sixth article of this school year. This is where Katelyn Schesser and I interview students on NSA who’ve recently traveled to a fun place or event, partaken in an exciting competition, or accomplished something amazing. We hope you enjoy hearing the stories of people on NSA and all the awesome things they get to do while being enrolled in here!
Icy wind blew in my face as the sled raced down the slope bouncing me up and down as it jolted over small lumps in the snow. It tipped from the side and the next thing I knew I was sprawled in the snow, the powdery, white crystals sticking to my hair and soaking into my gloves. I laughed as my best friend passed me by. I jumped back on my sled and slid the rest of the way down. My hands were numb and I had long since lost feeling in my toes, but we both climbed back up the slope ready to take another ride. There's something spectacular about snow and all the ways we can experience it- from sledding to building igloos, snowmen to skiing- there's always something to enjoy. Today, let me introduce you to Gabriella Holden, a 6th grade student on NSA who loves snowboarding! Hope you enjoy!
B. Harpel: Hi! you ready?
G. Holden: Yep!
B. Harpel: Awesome, so first question, when did you start snowboarding? What made you interested in it?
G. Holden: I started snowboarding when I was nine. I got interested in it one day when my mother was watching a video of a snowboarder on her phone.
B. Harpel: Cool, so do you just snowboard for fun or do you do competitions?
G. Holden: I compete. I'm going to head out to Colorado in two weeks for the USASA (United States of America Snowboard (and freeski) Association) National Championships.
B. Harpel: Thats so cool! How long have you competed?
G. Holden: This is my third year competing.
B. Harpel: Nice, have you won any competitions?
G. Holden: I've won about two (ish) competitions this year. I've got second and third place medals, too. I'm just lucky to be competing at all!
B. Harpel: Awesome :D does anyone else in your family snowboard?
G. Holden: Yeah. My dad does. I'm not saying he does it very well, though. He hasn't been on a board in two years! I cannot tell you HOW many times he's done unintentional backflips!
B. Harpel: lol XD gocha. so how often do you practice and where?
G. Holden: I practice mainly every day, but I'm taking a break to get caught up on schoolwork.
G. Holden: Other than that, when I don't have any competitions, I always practice on the weekends.
G. Holden: I practice at Mount Snow, in Dover, VT (about forty minutes from where I live)
B. Harpel: lol gotcha, fun! How often do you have competitions?
G. Holden: From January to early March, I have competitions mostly every weekend. I have to say, I'm more into racing.
B. Harpel: gocha, so what do you do in competitions?
G. Holden: Well, there's racing (go FAST), and then there's halfpipe. I'm not much of a tricks person, but halfpipe is REALLY fun! (Halfpipe is basically just a HUGE, neatly cut, downward-facing ditch in the snow where you try to air out of it and do cool tricks.)
B. Harpel: cool :D sounds exciting. so, do you have to travel a lot for competitions?
G. Holden: Kind of, I have to travel around 50-85 miles away from home to some mountains, and cross-country for others.
B. Harpel: Gocha, well, I can't think of any more questions. Thank you for your time! It's been great talking to you and fun learning about snowboarding. ^-^ Good luck on your next competition!
G. Holden: Thanks! It was fun talking to you, too!
Did you enjoy reading the interview? We would love to hear from other students! You can do so in two ways--submit a random question for us to ask, or supply us with the next interviewee!
For the first way (submitting a random question), it can be anything you want. We will pick one question a month and ask the interviewee. These questions will be called RF (Random and Fun) questions.
If you know any NSA students who have recently traveled to a fun place or event, or completed something you think is amazing, please do tell us! Sometimes finding a student like that can be really difficult for us. If you know someone, email us on First Class. Give us their name, where they went or what they did, and we will get in contact with them!
To submit something or give feedback to us, please email me, Brianna Harpel, or Katelyn Schesser--or you can post in the Navigator Jabber section. We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Thank you, Gabriella, for your time! And thank you, reader, for reading this article! I hope you enjoyed it! See you again next month!
- Brianna Harpel