Project Victory
Student activities for the 2009-10 school year will be posted in the near future.
Mission
Project Victory gives at-risk students from West Middle School the opportunity to travel to Vail, Colorado on Sundays to ski with Vail Resorts ski instructors. Project Victory gives at-risk kids the opportunity to learn to be ski instructors. West students from challenging environments ski with Vail instructors in an effort to open doors to new options. It is hoped that Project Victory will span the gap to help children as they face the challenge of moving from dysfunctional situations to becoming functional, productive adults.
Partnership
Project Victory is an offshoot of Project Challenge, which brought children with cancer from Children's Hospital in Denver onto the slopes. Vail Resorts donates equipment and lift tickets. West Middle School is responsible for the funding of transportation.
Gilda Kaplan, from the Vail valley, who has volunteered time and financial support is committed to keeping Project Victory alive for our students. Donations raised, with the help of COMPASS after school programs, a partnership with the City of Aurora and the Aurora Public Schools, pay for instructors and lunch on the mountain for the students.
The instructors who work with our program are paid less than for the private lessons they cold be teaching. It is Vail's intent to fund the program until the students graduate from high school.
Project Victory Progress
We began the project with 15 students in the 1996-1997 ski season. Today, we travel with 18 students to Vail, Colorado. In the summer of 1999, Project Victory expanded to include taking 11 students on a summer wilderness trip. We hiked, fished and rock climbed for five days with a company called "Meet the Wilderness."
Meet the Wilderness is committed to the growth of individuals of lesser means through adventure-based, experiential education programs that enhances the mind, body, and spirit through the development of self-esteem, trust, responsibility, commitment, and teamwork.
