By Christian Green

This is the first story in recognition of this year’s PSIA-AASI award recipients. Members are being honored this week at National Academy, in Big Sky, Montana, for their achievements as instructors, leaders, role models, and collaborators in the snowsports industry.

Having a background in teaching can be helpful for any instructor, but when you also have a degree in psychology, you may have more insight into how children learn. Such is the case for 3 C’s Award winner Grace Center do Ouro, a Level I alpine instructor, with a Children’s Specialist 1 credential, who was recently promoted to director of Hoodoo Ski Area’s Ski & Ride School in Central Oregon.

According to Center do Ouro, teaching children is “basically developmental psychology in action.” A big part of this is understanding the structural differences between a child’s brain and an adult’s brain. “Skills adults take for granted, like perspective or logic, simply don’t exist for young children,” she noted. “Understanding that makes me curious with each student and helps me be open-minded and flexible to meet their needs based on where they are.”

She’s also had many different roles, such as robotics teacher, after-school teacher, and summer camp counselor. And in those roles, she’s had the chance to work with kids outside the traditional classroom setting, which has helped her get to know them as individuals.

These roles also provided her with the opportunity to help kids complete difficult tasks. Case in point, in another role, Center do Ouro was in charge of a woodshop at a children’s museum. “I taught lots of kids how to use power tools,” she said of one of her notable responsibilities. “I think a lot of people would find that as crazy as 4-year-olds out on advanced terrain . . . but kids can do hard things!”

She’s of the opinion that everyone can reach beyond their comfort zone when trying something new. “To me, there’s a real camaraderie, a real connection, that comes with doing hard things together,” Center do Ouro said. “It’s empowering and can really change your sense of what you think you’re capable of.”

Validating Everyone’s Experience

Before accepting the director position at Hoodoo, Center do Ouro worked for A Family for Every Child, a nonprofit that supports unhoused and at-risk youth in Lane County, Oregon. In her role as NEXT (NextGen Empowerment eXperience & Training) program manager, she supported youth by helping them explore and pursue continuing education, skills training and certification, and paid work experiences.

A Family for Every Child emphasizes person-centered care, which ensures that everyone is treated with respect and dignity. Hoodoo also prioritizes a people-centered approach in its instructing, which makes teaching rewarding for Center do Ouro.

But it’s only one aspect of the ski area’s culture that she’s fully embraced. Hoodoo “feels like a big backyard; it’s just so accessible and comfortable,” she said. “We’re like a hodgepodge, ragtag team; I call us an island of misfit toys.” In the end, she enjoys the fact that the instructors don’t take themselves too seriously and that everyone feels welcome.

Despite the relaxed atmosphere at Hoodoo, Center do Ouro has had to overcome challenges on and off snow. She expressed that she’s experienced anxiety throughout her life, so she approaches teaching through that lens.

“That’s part of existing in our experience, and I love being able to guide kids through that,” she said of students who have an anxious or fearful moment. “Then, by moving through it together, they’re able to unlock something new, like a new skill or a new trail” and they’re excited about showing their parents.

She added that the experience becomes a core memory or deep feeling, and she’s grateful to help facilitate that. “Everybody’s got their thing, and I like being able to buddy up and work through it together,” she said.

Adapting Her Teaching Approach

One of Center do Ouro’s strengths is being able to adjust her approach to what a student needs in the moment. “I’ve been with kids who are terrified by my ‘super jazzy’ style, so the ability to adapt and be flexible is important,” she said, while also noting that being able to read a situation and react appropriately is important so that an instructor can provide an equal amount of support to each student.  

The same holds true when teaching groups. Center do Ouro says there’s an extra layer when attempting to figure out a group’s vibe. For example, are they gung ho, chill, or playful? “How are we going to discover that together?,” she asked. “It’s another part of that bond and experience of being outdoors together.”

Once she gained more experience as an instructor, Center do Ouro was better able to determine which persona was appropriate for each individual and group. Much of this boils down to empathy, which carries over to every aspect of a student’s experience.

For instance, Center do Ouro pointed to how uncomfortable it can be for children to try on ski boots for the first time. “My first time in ski boots, I cried in the rental shop for half an hour,” she recalled. “Validating that feeling lets the student know that it’s not just them.”

Next, she teaches them why ski boots may be uncomfortable by pointing out that the shell is plastic and doesn’t flex, which restricts movement and often necessitates an extra pair or two of socks, which could bunch up, cause hot spots, or restrict circulation.

The discomfort may continue when a student heads to the slopes. Center do Ouro observed that they may be on the side of a mountain in freezing temperatures for the first time, and the only way down is to slide on a couple slippery sticks with no brakes. “Once we’ve validated the student’s experience, instead of denying it, we can start to move through it,” she said, adding that it takes the pressure and the internal blame off the student.

To help a student feel more comfortable, Center do Ouro uses breathing exercises, particularly square breathing and bubble breathing, as well as other mindfulness techniques, such as counting down from 5, which can help reset the environment for a student and ground them.

Having taught children in a variety of classroom settings, Center do Ouro feels as though that experience translates well when pursuing certification. “When I went through CS1 certification, it was a really awesome opportunity for me to mix these two parts of my life,” she said. “I loved how aligned PSIA was with my formal education in psychology, but also my experience as a teacher.”

Beyond bringing the lesson to their level with skill-focused instruction, she noted that student-centered teaching leverages imagination, exploration, and play, all of which help to deliver a positive on-snow experience.

Supporting Fellow Instructors

The year after Center do Ouro earned her CS1 certificate, she took it upon herself to help Hoodoo’s next cohort of instructors prepare for their assessments. She shared movement analysis videos and worked with them in small clinics in the evening. “I even went online and found a selection of teaching scenarios from the Rocky Mountain Region that were very similar to the teaching tasks I saw in my exam,” she conveyed.

She also got creative in helping the group prepare for their assessments by making spinners that pointed to different teaching scenarios, which considered various age groups, levels, tasks, group dynamics, and parent involvement. For example, one randomly generated scenario was of a group of Level 3 7-year-olds who are working on hockey stops. The children are very adventurous, but their parents are anxious.

“For our instructors who are really intimidated about the teach[ing part of the exam], it got them to exercise different progressions and hypotheticals,” Center do Ouro said. “We know they can do it because they do it a million times on snow; it’s just the intimidation of putting it into an exam scenario.”

Center do Ouro added that she doesn’t necessarily see herself as a mentor; rather, she’s simply sharing her knowledge and bonding with her co-workers while they’re having fun on snow.  

“The opportunity to support my fellow instructors is something I hold dear,” she said, articulating that she always reinforces that her fellow instructors are already doing a fantastic job. However, they just need to become familiar with making a lesson deliverable to children, whether that entails using different language to make something clearer for a particular type of learner or practicing playing games together.

As Center do Ouro moves into her new role leading Hoodoo’s Ski & Ride School, she’s excited about the opportunity to continue to work with the resort’s talented group of instructors. “Our team is so special, and I want to preserve that and keep that Hoodoo magic, while helping us grow and providing new experiences,” she said. “I just want everybody to be able to enjoy and take part in the fun there.”

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The 3 C’s Award recognizes members who demonstrated positive leadership within their snowsport school or region through consistent collaboration, communication, and cooperation with peers and guests – they serve as role models for others. Learn more about the awards and how you can honor members who have made an impact on our industry.