This is an excerpt from an article published in the Spring 2026 Issue of 32 Degrees. To access the full issue, click here.
Liz Sheppard is a certified Level III snowboard instructor, with a Children’s Specialist 2 credential. A member of the Western Region Education Staff, she teaches at Northstar California Resort in Truckee, California. She’s passionate about the outdoors and teaching children, which led to the development of an outdoor education program for the Waldorf School in Truckee. She also teaches middle school science at Tahoe Expedition Academy and formerly served as president of the board for Friends of Tahoe Truckee Waldorf.
Q: HOW DID YOU GET INTO SNOWSPORTS INSTRUCTION, AND WHAT WAS YOUR PATH TO CERTIFICATION?
A: I started teaching snowboarding because I like working with kids and wanted to improve my skills. I passed my Level I and then my Level II in my first two seasons at Northstar. I passed my Children’s Specialist 2 the year after I obtained my Level II and began training for my Level III.
Around this time, I started dating my husband, Luke Sheppard, who was on an H-2B visa from England, and we spent three years living the endless winter dream, teaching at Cardrona in New Zealand and Northstar. It was beautiful in New Zealand, and I learned a lot from the New Zealand Snowsports Instructors Alliance (NZSIA) trainers we crossed paths with. I passed my Level III during that time of endless winter and started to train staff at both Northstar and Cardrona. I also had the unique honor of working with a truly incredible team of instructors to build the first Burton Academy at Northstar. It was fun, creative, and motivating to be on the cutting edge of snowboard education, exploring the concepts of terrain-based teaching and learning. After I got married, I took a break from full-time teaching to start a family. I was able to stay at home with my kids for a number of years and focus on being a mom, while working part time as a trainer.
It was several years before I felt like I had my feet back under me enough to return to my pursuit of the snowboard trainer certification, but I learned a lot in that time about other things babies, people, training, teaching, fear, self-doubt, mental conditioning – and wouldn’t have traded it for the world. When I finally passed my trainer assessment, I felt like I had achieved a long-standing goal, which felt really good. It’s so hard to know what the future holds and what you’re giving up when you make any choice. Passing the assessment was a great lesson in pursuing your goals and not being hung up on the path that you take to get there.
Q: YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT TEACHING CHILDREN. HOW DOES THAT CARRY OVER FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE MOUNTAIN AND VICE VERSA?
A: I think children are amazing. They’re honest, curious, freehearted, and fun-loving. No matter where you work with kids, it’s important to ask, “What do you want to impart? What will you show them, teach them, model for them – not just the hard skills you’re teaching them, but how to be a kind and meaningful human.”
One of my favorite parts about teaching (regardless of age) is the opportunity to remind students that they’re more than they believe and that they have a tremendous amount of potential. Sometimes that potential is clear and easy to find. Other times it’s not so obvious and has to be cultivated and nurtured. But it’s always there. That’s what education is – teaching another human to be curious, to love to learn new things, and that they’re capable of more than they might know.
Q: HOW LONG HAVE YOU TAUGHT AT NORTHSTAR, AND WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING AN INSTRUCTOR THERE?
A: I’ve taught snowboarding at Northstar for 23 years. The best thing (outside of meeting my husband) was being part of the team that developed the Burton Academy, which was built around the ideas of community and connection. It was fun and inspirational to be so out of the box, trying new things, exploring progressions. The welcoming environment matched many of my beliefs about community. I had space to help develop and improve the experience kids had coming into lessons and was able to design kid features and activities. I loved teaching snowboarding with a greater focus on movement, and the ability to use built terrain to do this was really special. It was a small tightknit crew the first few years. We were all passionate about the sport, passionate about teaching, and passionate about guest service. No surprise, most of this crew went on to serve on the Western Region Education Team over the past 15 years. It was just a great moment in time.
Q: TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A MEMBER OF THE WESTERN REGION EDUCATION STAFF. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO SERVE AS AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHER FEMALE INSTRUCTORS?
A: Working on the education team has been a very positive experience. Many of us have grown up together, learned together, cried together, had families together. Life is a journey, and I’m grateful for their support and belief in my capabilities. As an ed staff member, I appreciate the opportunity to share my knowledge and support others as they find their path through PSIA-AASI. Ed staff played a big part in my journey in the industry, and it’s nice to give that back to others.
The Western Education Team is a powerhouse of female examiners, and I’m lucky to work with them. They’re all pushing female presence and talent in the industry. I was lucky to have female trainers and examiners to look up to, and it made it easy to see that pathway for myself. Serving as a female examiner feels like a great way to give back and hopefully pave the way for more females to join the education team.
One of the most rewarding parts of my PSIA-AASI journey at all levels has been what I’ve learned along the way: 1. You can’t control everything, especially the weather. 2. How to talk to anyone, about anything, and find something you have in common. 3. The ability to walk into an unknown situation, make a plan, and teach based on the needs of those in front of you. 4. Using student feedback to determine the direction of your lesson. 5. The willingness to adapt your plan when it’s not going well. 6. How to differentiate a lesson and multiple levels at once.
Q: YOU HAVE EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN OUTDOOR EDUCATION. WHERE DID YOUR PASSION FOR THE OUTDOORS/NATURE COME FROM AND HOW DID IT DEVELOP INTO A CAREER?
A: I think the best way to find a passion for the outdoors is to spend time there. As a kid, I spent time in the Georgia mountains and on a large stretch of wild land on a lake in Maine. There is nothing better than growing up in the woods, building forts; being wet, cold, hot; laying in the moss; climbing trees. I always feel very connected to the earth when I’m outside. I love the freedom from the material world and the reminder that the small everyday things that surround us are extraordinary.
In high school, I participated in outdoor mountaineering programs in the summer, including a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) program and an Adventures Cross Country program. Growing up in Georgia there was something magical about large snowy mountains, and it’s hard to beat the view from the top. I started working for Adventures Cross Country in college and loved the ability to travel, explore the world, and be in nature with kids. I led trips in Costa Rica, British Columbia, and several in Alaska. I also spent time traveling and studying abroad in Costa Rica and Chile in college. All these experiences made me realize that the world was a big place and maybe I didn’t want to work in an office or a lab under fluorescent lights. Working is so much better when you can feel the wind on your face. Outdoor education seemed like a logical progression at that point, and I took a job with Naturalists at Large after college and moved out West.
My jobs at Adventures Cross Country and Naturalists at Large taught me a lot. The two programs were very different. Naturalists at Large exposes students to the outdoors through day- to weeklong trips. It was a great way to see different parts of California and work with knowledgeable outdoor educators. At the time, Adventures Cross Country ran three-week trips in various locations with 10-15 students. The trips I led focused on backpacking, paddling, climbing, and snowtravel. The number of children you impact is small, but the connection is deeper. Twenty years later there are still kids from those trips that I keep in touch with. Both programs emphasize that there is something really special and impactful about shared experiences in nature. They normally involve challenges, beauty, adventure, and cooperation. These things activate our brains, our bodies, our senses, and our souls to create lasting memories. At the time, pursuing outdoor education as a job was a bit out of the ordinary. It has been great to watch the industry grow and expand over the last 25 years. I often got asked, “When are you going to get a real job?” But now, the jobs I had are “real jobs.” We should all value spending more time outside.
Read the rest of the Q&A here.