Seven years later, Brian continues to
vigorously raise funds and to organize a
program that has expanded to 650
students from pre-kindergarteners to
fourth-graders from schools in Richmond,
Jericho, Underhill, Bolton, and
Huntington. In other words, his program
serves every school in the Mount
Mansfield Unified Union school district.
The program takes place during school
hours, and all transportation, equipment,
instruction, and lift access is free of charge.
Oh—and these days, Brian has not only
learned to ski, he snowboards, too.
He calls the program Snow Motion.
The Path that Led Back Home
Brian—known to his legions of students
and parents as “Mr. G.”—is respected
and revered at his school. Maybe it’s his
soft-spoken manner or his respectful
attitude toward everyone with whom he
interacts. “He is a role model for all of us,”
says parent Tam Smith, whose children
attended Richmond Elementary and
participated in Snow Motion.
Brian was not a stranger to Richmond
when he took the teaching job; he actually
grew up in Richmond where his mom,
Velma Plouffe, was town clerk. “It was
never in my master plan to return,” he
says. “It just sort of happened.” Also, to be
clear: that first day of Snow Motion was
not his very first time on snow; his mom
brought him to Cochran’s twice as a kid. “I
remember riding the T-bar,” he says. “And
being scared.”
in the Lincoln, Montpelier, and Stowe
school districts. Along the way, he earned
a master’s degree in educational leadership
from the University of Vermont.
By the time he returned to Richmond,
he came with experience and a belief
that every place has unique strengths
and resources. So, what were Richmond’s
strengths? What features make this place
unique?
He knew that Cochran’s Ski Area lay right
outside of the Richmond village and he
had a sense of the people who live in
Richmond. From his years teaching at
Stowe, he was also armed with the
knowledge that Stowe has a “Friday
program” in which schoolchildren set
their books aside and instead ski, ride, or
skate on Friday afternoons in the winter.
(Ironically, Brian was relegated to “lodge
duty” during his years at Stowe because he
neither skied nor snowboarded.)
A vision took shape. Still, there were
logistics; he knew a 45-minute time block
for gym class was not enough to bus stu-
dents across town, get geared up, and have
anything resembling a meaningful outdoor
experience. “I knew I needed buy-in from
the teachers,” Brian says.
He therefore approached longtime fourth-
grade teacher Maribeth Berliner—that is,
his fourth-grade teacher—about taking
two hours for alpine skiing in gym. “I
knew she’d be up for anything,” Brian says.
Her class became the first pilot group.
Brian credits his mom as having given him
every opportunity he needed in order to
be successful. Now, his mission is to make
sure students in his hometown and sur-
rounding communities have the same op-
portunities. Skiing and bicycling are units
in his core curriculum (yes, he teaches kin-
dergartners to ride two-wheelers). He has
afterschool clubs for swimming, running,
biking, and skiing. “Earlier in my career I
was probably more into team sports,” he
says. “Now I’m into lifetime fitness.” Maribeth isn’t the only teacher who
supports Snow Motion. “Without
support from our classroom teachers, the
program wouldn’t exist,” says Brian. The
teachers sacrifice classroom time, make
sure students are properly dressed, and get
them on the bus. And make no mistake:
Richmond’s classroom teachers don’t get
a two-hour break; rather, they are on the
snow supporting Brian, Barbara Ann, and
parent volunteers. “The teachers are 100
percent in,” says Brian.
Richmond Elementary was not the first
stop on Brian’s career path; after graduat-
ing with a degree in education from John-
son State College (now known as Northern
Vermont University – Johnson), he taught You may ask: is taking two hours off from
a school day prudent? Shouldn’t kids be
studying and learning reading, writing,
and arithmetic?
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