Olympic silver medalist Devin Logan moved to Park City in 2011 as a young freeskier stepping onto the world stage. But for Logan, the life she built here is equally shaped by who she became after competition — a transition she credits to building multiple futures at once while simultaneously purs uing her ski career and education through Westminster University. Logan learned about the university’s academic partnership with U.S. Ski and Snowboard in 2012 after a knee injury forced her off the snow for the season. The relationship was first launched in 2005 and renewed this year through 2034, and offers athletes tuition discounts and individualized advising so they can continue their careers while completing an undergraduate degree. More than 30 athletes have earned degrees through the partnership program. “I’m really grateful for the program, because it let me structure college in a way that I could do both. Having that support of Westminster and what they’re doing for athletes, it just made it super easy for me,” said Logan.  Logan worked with Westminster University to build a schedule around her sport, taking online classes and accelerated spring courses that let students earn full credit in a few weeks to stay on track. She retired from professional skiing in 2023 and completed her communications degree soon after, starting a new chapter and turning her athletic experience in nutrition into work as a private chef in Park City. Devin Logan earned a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi while taking classes at Westminster University, where a long-standing partnership with U.S. Ski and Snowboard helped her pursue higher education without stepping away from elite competition. Credit: Photo courtesy of Devin Logan Building a sustainable life beyond competition is a model that Westminster University aims to provide current athletes. Head coach Sara Beaudry oversees the Westminster freeski and snowboard teams — programs shaped by Park City’s Olympic legacy and the access it gives to world-class training within a student’s daily routine. “We train every Tuesday night in the weight room on campus, and then Friday mornings into early afternoons. In the off-season, we have three sessions of airbag training up here at Utah Olympic Park weekly,” she said. Woodward Park City serves as the main winter training base, with the university’s teams riding and trampolining there three days a week during the season. Beaudry said the approach reflects what Westminster calls its “Power of Place,” the belief that its location shapes how students learn and train. For mountain-sport athletes, that means access to resort and, Olympic venues, plus a community built around a snow-sport culture that becomes part of their education as much as the classroom. Westminster sits within reach of nine ski resorts, major competition venues and a year-round training ecosystem that makes high-level skiing and snowboarding feel like a normal part of daily life, said Beaudry. With that density of talent, she said, Utah should be a natural hub for collegiate freeski and snowboard. However, Westminster is the only school in the state with a collegiate team competing in these disciplines.  “We already have such a strong youth free skiing, snowboard presence in Utah,” Beaudry said. “I feel like we should have five teams in Utah alone.” Westminster University’s freeski and snowboard teams train in Park City each week as they balance coursework with travel and competition. The university is the sole Utah college fielding teams in these disciplines, using the Park City’s facilities to make high-level skiing and riding possible alongside academics. Credit: Michael Ritucci/Park Record Westminster competes in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association, the only collegiate league for freeskiing and snowboarding. Snowboarding has been part of the university’s program since 2008, with freeski added last year. Both teams have found national success quickly, with snowboard winning multiple championships and freeski sweeping the podium in its first season.  However, Utah athletes rarely join them. Westminster has recruited heavily from Minnesota, the East Coast and the Pacific Northwest. But only one Utah-born athlete has ever competed for the program. Part of that gap, Beaudry said, comes from misconceptions about cost. While Westminster is a private university, the school reported that 94% of students receive substantial financial aid, lowering the average out-of-pocket tuition to around $8000 per year.  The university is now working to broaden its in-state recruitment. This February, Westminster will host its first-ever collegiate competition at Brighton Resort, inviting all college students in the region, including those not on official teams,  to introduce more Utah athletes to the collegiate freeski and snowboard pathway. Westminster University senior Max Duffy, who competes on the snowboard team, said he wouldn’t have considered higher education at all without a program designed around snow sports.  The ability to compete in collegiate competitions, ride more than 100 days a season and earn a degree convinced him to enroll. The program’s structure allows athletes to build a manageable fall schedule and shift focus to competition in the spring. Duffy graduates in May, completing a custom major that blends art, communications and outdoor education — a combination he hopes will make him a more capable cameraman in the outdoor industry once he retires from his sport. For many Westminster athletes, the program offers more than elite competition, it provides community. Teammates support one another through classes, practices and long travel weeks, making higher education feel possible alongside high-risk snow sports. Credit: Michael Ritucci/Park Record What surprised Duffy most was how fully Westminster treats freeski and snowboard athletes as part of its varsity environment, even though the sports fall outside NCAA structures. Access to athletic trainers, physical therapy and support staff made it easier to manage a sport he described as “definitely more dangerous than any other NCAA sport.” “You get treated like all the other NCAA athletes, which is super awesome,” he said. “You can just walk into the athletic trainer’s room and tell them what you need.” For Duffy, what shaped his college experience most was finding a built-in community. Coming from New Jersey, where he was often the only one seeking out snow at every opportunity, he said the Westminster team gave him immediate access to a like-minded group of friends.  “I really enjoyed my time here,” he said. “It’s really nice just to be in a community that supports all of your goals without going out of your way to get those goals supported.” After finishing her Westminster degree in 2023, Devin Logan now blends her background in sport, nutrition and communications into a diverse professional life that extends well beyond her Olympic career. Credit: Photo courtesy of Devin Logan After more than a decade in town, Logan said what stands out most isn’t the training venues or the lifestyle, but the people who surrounded her through every stage of her career. “The community has always been there to support me and uplift me,” she said. For Logan, that support carried her through the highs and lows of elite competition. She said it was one of the biggest reasons she stayed in Park City after retirement, pointing to how people treat athletes who move here with the same enthusiasm as those who grew up locally. “This community goes all out for their athletes, not only the ones that are born here, but who also have relocated like me,” she said. Years of fueling herself through training and travel gave Logan a natural foundation in nutrition, and she combined that with her communications studies to start a private-chef business. She launched it during her final semester in 2023 and now cooks weekly for families in Park City. “I don’t think I’d be able to have the careers, the multiple careers, that I do if I didn’t live here in Park City,” she said. Drawing on years of fueling her body through elite training, Devin Logan used her Westminster education to build a private-chef business after retiring from competition, cooking for local families in Park City each week. Credit: Photo courtesy of Devin Logan Alongside her cooking work, she serves as an athlete gift officer for U.S. Ski and Snowboard, a role she said lets her support current athletes with the same understanding she once needed herself. With the renewed 10-year partnership between Westminster and U.S. Ski and Snowboard, and with the college increasing its recruitment of Utah athletes, Beaudry sees an opening for more Park City skiers and riders to follow a similar path that doesn’t force them to choose between school and sport, or between competition and the life that comes after. “I think we got a pretty good thing going here,” Beaudry said. The post Westminster’s pipeline helps student-athletes build futures on and off the snow appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less