When Thomas Woodley’s mom told him to give the slopes a try during a family vacation to Winter Park, Colorado, he never imagined in eight years he would be a nationally ranked skier. Born in the temperate, rolling hills of America’s heartland, Woodley grew up playing youth baseball and soccer and mostly attending small private schools. Ski trips were common in the Woodley family, but Thomas never saw the sport as anything more than a pastime.

Joanne Woodley, Thomas’ mom had always recognized Thomas’s ability, so it was no surprise when Thomas won the first competition she entered him in. Thomas was instantly hooked on the challenge and adrenaline competition gave him.

Skiing satisfied a long unmet desire for action in Thomas like no other sport could. For years to come he would experiment with other sports like motocross and skateboarding, but skiing always came first.

“My favorite part about skiing is the creativity you have with the mountain,” Woodley said. “Everyone skis differently. It’s the kind of thing you can put your own style on.”

After three years at KHS, balancing academics and the constant search for new methods of training in a hardly ski-able environment, Joanne enrolled Thomas in the Carrabassett Valley Ski Academy this year.

“It was a bit of a culture-shock, going from a place where no one talks about skiing to a facility where skiing was the main focus of my classmates,” Woodley said.

The school has coached 11 Olympic athletes and is currently home to 90 high school and middle school students. The day begins with six college-preparatory classes, followed by five hours of intense training and skiing and finally a mandatory study block.

“I know that Thomas has a lot on his plate with the combination of skiing and school,” Joanne Woodley, Thomas’ mother, said. “But I’m not worried because I know he’s a capable person.”

The question of which graduation ceremony Thomas should attend poses an issue. After several conversations with KHS administrators about the ski school and his graduation, KHS agreed to let Thomas walk with the class of 2015. However graduation faded to the back of Thomas’ mind as he is now training for nationals, which will start the week of April 6.

“The goal is to podium,” Thomas said. “I’m seriously thinking about this as a profession, and that would be a great way to start.”