From classrooms to ski slopes: USU students take advantage of unique physical education credit
Students can trade classrooms and laptops for slopes and ski poles in Utah State University’s off-site skiing and snowboarding courses, known as PE 1605 and PE 1615.
These classes are held at Beaver Mountain Ski Resort for seven weeks during the spring semester. Students are taught proper skiing and snowboarding techniques and safety.
Historical photographs recorded in the USU Digital History Collections show the ski class has been available at USU since the 1940s, initially taking place on Old Main Hill.
The classes are run under the Beaver Mountain Snowsports School, consisting of several other skiing and snowboarding lesson series offered at Beaver, such as adult, private and children’s lessons.
According to Debbie Tarboton, director of the school, the classes are held on Beaver Mountain once a week for seven weeks. The first day is all about gauging where the students’ skills are.
“We keep the beginners at the bottom and start teaching them from the beginning, and the rest we take up the mountain and watch them ski and ride,” Tarboton said.
Class sizes range from 75 to 100 students, and they’re divided into groups of roughly 10 and assigned an instructor.
The courses count for one credit and are graded on the basis of pass or fail. Students must attend six out of seven class lessons to get the credit, but what students wish to do in class is largely up to them.
“We try to find out what they would like to learn,” Tarboton said. “Lessons are not just student-centered but student-driven.”
According to Tarboton, students are encouraged to request what they want to learn, what runs they want to go on and what group they’d like to be in.
The skills, techniques and safety fundamentals taught in the course are modeled under the Professional Ski Instructors of America and American Association of Snowboard Instructors guidelines.
“Through the years, skiing has changed, but there are certain fundamentals that remain, and we follow a set of five fundamentals,” Tarboton said. “We talk about rotary skills, edge control skills and pressure control skills.”
The classes cost roughly $294 per semester, but students with Beaver season passes pay slightly less. Equipment is not included in the course cost but can be rented at Beaver with a class discount.
Class instruction is held for an hour and a half, but class tickets allow students to continue to free-ski or free-snowboard at the resort for another two hours.
Tarboton said she has seen the significant development of skills from students on all levels since her time as the program director.
“Not a lot of people take seven lessons in a row when they begin,” Tarboton said. “We try to provide them with skills that are going to help them be more comfortable and use less effort when skiing variable terrain and conditions.”
Jacie Roberts, USU student, applied for the spring 2025 semester of the PE 1615 course as an intermediate snowboarder.
“I had a couple of friends take it last spring, and they had great things to say about it,” Roberts said. “I’ve also been wanting to get back into snowboarding, so I thought it would be a great opportunity.”
Roberts meets up with her class group at Beaver every week. During class, instructors take their groups to the lift or trail they will be practicing on for the day with specific goals in mind as to what technique the students need to be taught and what the students want to learn.
“It’s been really great to ski with a group of people because I haven’t snowboarded in a few years because I got injured,” Roberts said. “I feel a lot better being around people and having an instructor to act as a safety net.”
According to Roberts, the class facilitates foundational learning through one-on-one interaction with instructors, and lessons focus on what students are interested in doing.
“I was honestly kind of nervous going into it,” Roberts said. “But as soon as you get there, they’re really great about informing you of what’s going on, how it’s going to get going, and they are super kind.”
The classes are widely popular among students, and Roberts said they often fill up quickly and usually require time spent on the registration waitlist.
“I like having a more active class that breaks up your day, your school and your homework a little bit,” Roberts said. “I love just being able to get outside and not having to sit in a classroom.”