It’s winter and one of the activities that many people participate in for fun is skiing. At Homestead, there are multiple opportunities to go skiing and have fun with friends. One of those opportunities is through the new Ski Club. Ski Club was started by freshmen Sam Leszczynski and Jude Barbiere.

Looking for a way to get more time on the slopes, Leszczynski said,”I’ve always been super into snowboarding, and my buddy Jude wanted to get into skiing a little bit, but we didn’t have a consistent method for transportation every week to the hill. We thought that if we could get a snowboard/ski club here at Homestead, we’d be able to bus ourselves to the hill weekly and that was the initial goal.”

Figuring out all the details was time consuming for the pair but worth it in the end. “We started talking more and more about the details, and we realized that it would be  easy to incorporate a charity giveback program into the club, and if we did, we might get a lot more people to join if they know they are helping out a great cause. The organization we choose to fundraise for is Camp Hope. Camp Hope is a free weekend camp in Stevens Point, Wisc.  that works through the grieving process of people young and old who have lost a parent, loved one or someone close to them through outdoor adventures or experiences. The big message they try to send campers is “you are not alone.” My cousins from my mom’s side went to Camp Hope a few years ago after they lost their mom to breast cancer. Camp Hope was a tremendous help in Sarah’s and Jake’s attitude and lifestyle after they went to camp. We wanted to give back to such a caring and worthy cause. We then included a donation in every Slopes for Hope members’ fundraising goal,” Leszczynski revealed.

Although the club is brand new to Homestead, it has a lot of members, Lezczynski said,”As of right now we have roughly 25 members with Mr. Savage as our adviser.”

And if you are wondering when the club meets to go skiing,”We take our trips to Sunburst on Friday nights this year on the 20 and 27 of January as well as the 10 and 17 of February,” Lezczynski said. Therefore, no need to worry about staying up late to study or do homework.

If you want to know a little bit more about Ski Club,”The main thing we want people to know is that Homesteads Ski/Snowboarding club, Slopes For Hope is a way for you to non-competitively enjoy snowboarding/skiing while giving back to a very noble cause,” Lezczynski said.