For many, winter break means a trip somewhere warm, a Christmas celebration with family, or a week full of sleep. However, for Annie Cooperstone ’13 and Adam Mirkine ’13 winter break is a getaway to the slopes.

Both Cooperstone and Mirkine have taken a love for snowboarding and applied their talents to teaching younger children.

“Snowboarding is one of my favorite things to do. By teaching, I get paid for doing what I love,” Mirkine said.

“I love kids and I love snowboarding, so it’s a win win situation,” Cooperstone said.

Mirkine took on the challenge of teaching at Stratton last year. He teaches as often as he can from December to early April. Cooperstone recently became an instructor this winter break at Mount Snow in Vermont.

Mirkine loves his job because of the thrill he sees the kids get from snowboarding. “Kids really want to learn snowboarding over skiing, so when they finally get it, they are ecstatic,” Mirkine said.

Cooperstone agreed with Mirkine about the kids because she is teaching them to love the sport she loves so much herself.

The job is not only fun for Mirkine but also financially rewarding, as he gets $10 per hour, bonuses for working overtime and during lunch, running the chairlift, and teaching private lessons. He said that parents are also especially generous with tips. From December to April last year, Mirkine estimated that he made between $800–$1,000.

“I needed money for Builders Beyond Borders and this was a great opportunity to earn it myself,” Cooperstone said of her $9 per hour job.

The job is not only easy and rewarding, however, because the students Mirkine teaches are often frustrated for the first week, before they get the hang of snowboarding.

“It’s a matter of knowing what makes kids happy and what makes them want to keep going,” Mirkine said.

Mirkine’s teaching job couldn’t get much better. He gets lunches and certain days off to ride around in the snow by himself. “Working made my time off much more valuable. I use my time off as much as I can,” he said.

Both Mirkine and Cooperstone are now able to share their love for snowboarding with younger kids at their respective mountains, and get paid for doing it. As Cooperstone said, “It’s so elating knowing that you’re capable of teaching something that can potentially be really complicated.”