Turning a passion for athletics into a career

The Killington Mountain School's Women's Initiative program hosted guest speaker Amy Alton on Monday evening to talk to a group of female students and staff. Alton, a professional downhill biker, leads the women's biking programs at Killington, is a life-long elite athlete, and has founded her own company. She spoke to the group about her athletic and business experiences in a talk she titled "How to be a DIVA of Dirt, or Snow, or of Life in General" over a pizza dinner.

KMS Snowboard athlete EK Robinson-Leith commented on the impact of Alton's talk. "It was amazing. She spoke about being a woman in sports and some of the challenges you face, and the importance of setting goals and not stopping in your pursuit of them." EK continued, "She also spoke a lot about "haters." She said, that you can't let the haters get to you; you have to keep pushing, and if you are passionate about something, no one can take that away from you." EK shared that she found it inspirational that Alton worked at a desk job at the Pentagon and ultimately dropped that career pursue mountain biking due to her passion for the outdoors. "It was really nice to talk to a woman in sports," EK reflected, "and to hear from her what it's actually like to be a professional female at a high level, and to hear about some of the challenges Alton has faced. I could really relate, and it was powerful insight for me."

Thanks so much to Amy Alton for her time and for sharing her passion and knowledge with our student-athletes!