Kim Seevers Honored with Educational Excellence Award
Kim Seevers, an adaptive snowsports instructor whose many achievements include acting as PSIA-AASI Education Director, Director of Education for the Eastern Division, and PSIA-AASI Adaptive Team Coach, has been honored with the Educational Excellence Award.
The award recognizes those exceptional few members who authored PSIA-AASI educational materials over the years, and who have added significantly to, and changed, the educational direction of PSIA-AASI.
Kim has exhibited dedication, devotion, and self-sacrifice contributing to the PSIA-AASI educational system. She joins a list of legendary snowsports educators who have created ski and snowboard teaching literature over the years, whose work has been instrumental in the association’s successes.
See a list of past Educational Excellence Award recipients.
Listen to this podcast that features Kim discussing the meaning of this award.
An Innovator Dedicated to Improving Training Opportunities
As one of the individuals who nominated Seevers, PSIA-AASI Board Chairman Ed Younglove said, “She has always been an educator first and foremost. She has also been a continuous innovator and one person ‘idea factory’ as well.”
Younglove noted Kim development of the renowned Master Teacher Program for Eastern, The Matrix for PSIA-AASI, and her contributions to the Adaptive Sports Foundations as some of her many standout accomplishments.
Kim, who said she cried when Younglove called to tell her she had won the award, said, “A look at the list of members who’ve received this award over the years reads like a who’s who of the people I’ve looked up to and have learned from my entire PSIA-AASI career. I wouldn’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same breathe as these amazing educators without having been lucky enough to work with many of them as well as with the best instructors and ski education visionaries in the country.”
The Creation of The Matrix
Along with her opportunity to guide visually impaired Paralympian Staci Mannella while competing in the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, she said that getting The Matrix up and running in just two years was her “most epic experience.”
Kim said, “At team training my first year as Education Director for PSIA-AASI in 2006, the team members were kicking around the question of how to create a visual model for the membership that would demonstrate our fundamental movements as they were blended for skiing in different conditions. I put a framework together and shared it with Katie Ertl, Rob Sogard, Michael Rogan, and probably a few others. I’m happy to see that it continues to evolve and to serve the association.”
In closing, Kim said of her experience as a snowsports educator, “Without a doubt, working on any project with the best snowsports teaching minds in the country and the many PSIA-AASI members who have expertise in other professional fields was my favorite part.”
Read more about PSIA-AASI’s Awards and Recognition Program, and how you can nominate fellow members.
