B-school students earn PE credit on ski trip

Students from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School attended a four-day ski trip in Bowling Rock, N.C. from Jan. 18-21. The trip was an opportunity for current Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and pre-BBA students to obtain their required one-credit physical education (PE) course for graduation.

BBA Council President Dani Nakash (23B) missed out on last year’s scheduled trip, which was canceled at the last minute due to increased COVID-19 cases. The Business School had previously offered this trip for over 10 years, and the last trip took place in 2020. However, the annual trip resumed this year.

“All of the administrators were super excited that the trip had come back to fruition since being canceled,” Nakash said.

Students gathered at the Meadowbrook Inn, situated just four miles away from the Appalachian Mountains and Sugar Mountain, where they skied most of the weekend. Even students without prior experience had the chance to ski on both mountains during the trip, spending time taking guided lessons and skiing on their own.

Nakash noted administrators take attendance “really seriously” because the trip supplements the required PE credit all Emory students have to complete.

Like Nakash, Eve Abraham (23B) also had a chance to attend the trip and enjoyed skiing while also earning PE credit.

“[It’s] what a lot of kids do instead of taking a gym class,” Abraham said. “A lot of people found this to be the easier option. I know that some people that still participated in the ski trip who had already fulfilled their credit requirement just because it seemed like a fun thing to do… they wanted to participate just for fun.”

Not everyone has the chance to go skiing frequently or at all, considering not everyone has access to the sport. Areas with ski slopes are not often close to living areas and the general cost of equipment and passes makes it an opportunity not many students want to pass up.

Abraham moved to Boulder, Colo. when she was younger and has skied in the Rocky Mountains in the past, but she said it had been a while since she’d hit the slopes. She said there were big differences in terms of snow quality at Blowing Rock compared to Colorado, but she still enjoyed skiing again regardless. Most of the snow produced on Sugar Mountain comes from a snow blower, which distributes man-made snow onto the runs. This type of snow tends to freeze faster than real snow, which can create tricky conditions — especially for new skiers.

“We had to ski with all this fake snow and a lot of ice,” Abraham said. “Even though I live in Colorado, I actually haven’t skied in five years, so it was definitely fun to get back in the swing of things.”

Nakash explained that it’s difficult to find time between school, internships and other extracurriculars to travel to a mountain where she can ski.

“I don’t think I could see myself having another time in the near future when I would [be able to] go skiing,” Nakash said. “I think giving students the chance to go and have a great out-of-the-ordinary experience was my favorite part of it.”