Kelly came on as a first year instructor and took control of her own educational foundation. She immediately started attending voluntary clinics and absorbed everything she could to improve her knowledge and understanding of ski teaching, mechanics/technical knowledge, and presentation of material. During one of her first trainings, the group was informed about PSIA and the organizations educational value. The very next day, Kelly told me see signed up, became a member and began inquiring about a path towards certification. She completely embraced the learning process, not to wear a pin on her coat, but to learn as much as she could in order to enhance the experience of our customers. She dived right into all resources available on-line and continued to take clinics whenever she was able. When not assigned to work, she explored other mountains, always in search of challenging her ability so that she could improve. I truly admire her approach to ski teaching and commitment to bettering her knowledge base.

I do not know of any instances where Kelly was in a position to handle conflict. That may be a result of her upbeat and caring attitude.

As stated above, Kelly always looked for ways to create a foundation of knowledge as a new instructor and continually learned through on-line learning resources and through voluntary clinic attendance...all while working on her post-grad degree.

Also looked to improve her knowledge base and skiing skills.

Strength-is most certainly her people skills and ability to share her passion with not only our customers, but everyone around her.
Growing up in Florida did not give her a lot of exposure to skiing, but since she has lived closer to skiing, she has taken every opportunity to increase her ability and get better. I ran into Kelly once at Killington, VT, early in the season. I was surprised to see her there and asked her who she was with? She said she was by herself. I asked where she was staying and she said she slept in her car. This is a casual example of her commitment to skiing. This was at lunchtime and I invited Kelly to join our group for lunch. Kelly was very humble, but immediately joined right in with the conversation and left a great impression on the group. At the end of lunch, the group invited her to join us for the remainder of the day, including our clinic leader, Ben Potts. Her personality was a perfect fit for the group and she was so incredibly grateful to have the unexpected opportunity to ski with a national team member. Kelly brought this experience up several times during the season, showing she had a great understanding of the opportunity she got that day and her continued appreciation for the experience.

One other example of Kelly's commitment to skiing...she took a summer internship in Golden Colorado the summer of '24. She took her skis with her, knowing the ski areas would be closed. She ended up hiking to find snow so that she could keep skiing. I know this is common among skiers out west, but for a young woman from Florida, it made quite an impression on me.
Kelly was a breath of fresh air at our snowsports school. I wish every new and returning instructor had her energy, passion and commitment to our profession. I am truly sorry to see her go, but excited for the opportunities that lay ahead of her. I am really happy to hear she will be able to continue to ski and teach in her new location and highly recommend her for a position in your snowsports school at Mount Hood Meadows.