As graduation looms less than two months down the road, many seniors daydream about lives free of homework, all-nighters and rigid schedules. Some entertain thoughts of a year of European travel, or other equally indulgent post-grad plans. Few, however, take the opportunity to realize these fantasies.
One senior, though, is an exception to this rule: Ethan Wishnick's plans for next year begin and end in Vail, Colorado - his "Mecca." Wishnick plans to take an extended road trip over the months of September and October to this skiing capitol, where he hopes to find a seasonal job as a ski instructor or work in a ski shop.
Fortunately for Wishnick, his girlfriend - fellow senior Sarah Grey - is similarly in need of a break andopen to a year as a ski bum, so he will have company throughout his journey.
Wishnick grew up on skis, the product of a mother with a passion for the sport and a father who learned alongside him. "I started as soon as I could walk," he said. He credits an elite ski school he attended in Canada for two weeks every winter with providing him with basic skiing skills, and "it just kind of evolved from there," he said.
Wishnick started skiing more with friends over the years, but it was not until he entered Tufts that he discovered his joy for back-country skiing. Those who have tried skiing in the New England area - particularly those with a basis for comparison - know that the pickings are often slim. Therefore, Wishnick long ago elected not to confine himself to the Northeast.
"I try to make two to three trips out West per season," Wishnick said. He has already made two trips this year, shacking up with his best friend from home, who attends the University of Denver.
"He basically skips school for a week when I come out there," Wishnick said. "We ski resorts and a lot of back country passes on weekends, to get away from crowds."
Besides the pleasure of fresh powder and the absence of other skiers, back-country skiing provides Wishnick with the opportunity to explore another passion of his: photography.
"Part of the reason I want to do back-country is to capture the essence of it; of what the original, pure skiing would have been," he said. "What it's like to be out in nature and the environment and capture its beauty."
Wishnick defines himself as a landscape photographer, though he enjoys sports photography as well - both passions he can easily pursue in Vail. Besides trying to find a job that will enable him to ski all the time, he will "definitely try to display photos out there."
"I've made it to a few competitions," he said. "But living in Vail, I'll try to make it to every competition out there to make sure I can shoot them all."
For Wishnick, the choice to spend next year skiing in Colorado came to him easily over time. "I have always loved skiing and I'm just not ready to get a job in the so-called 'real world' because I've just been doing school and s-- that I don't want to be doing, so this will be a nice break," he said.
"I kind of always knew I was going to move out West for some time," he added. "Had it just been me, I would have probably just moved to Denver with a friend, gotten crap jobs, and skied five days a week. I just always wanted to do it. I'm pretty fortunate that my girlfriend wants to do something like this also."
So what exactly does their plan entail? Upon graduation, Wishnick is moving to Bethany beach, Delaware (which is near Rehoboth, the site of Grey's beach house). "We're going to go right after school ends to get jobs down there - surf during the day and work at night," he said.
After Labor Day, they plan to road-trip across the country and sightsee for two months with Vail as their end-point. "We're going to get a map this summer and go over places we want to see, people we want to visit, if we want to see national parks or anything," Wishnick said. "I think we're going to try to have most of it planned beforehand, so it's a pretty outlined detail of where we want to be."
The two plan to start in either Washington, D.C. or New Jersey (Grey and Wishnick's homestates, respectively). "Maybe we'll deviate a little if there's something we decide we want to stay and see," he said. They will aim to arrive in Vail by the last week of October, near the beginning of the ski season.
The couple hopes that Grey can get a job ahead of time so that they can get free housing from the mountain. Wishnick, however, is not worried about his job prospects. "I'll probably already have a job," he said. "If they think you're an outgoing person, they'll hire you. They don't need to see you ski. If you suck, they'll just put you with kids."
Wishnick actually prefers his back-up plan of finding work at a ski shop. "I would rather not have to teach people all the time," he said. "It's a personal motivation. I'm actually very selfish, to tell the truth."
Wishnick's plan extends beyond the next year. "I do want to go back to grad school to get a combined business and law degree eventually, but there's no way I could go to school next year," he said.
And his parents' thoughts on this decision? "They support me," Wishnick said. "They know I've wanted to take time off throughout school. They think it's a good idea for me to take this time off and get it out of my system at least - or realize that it is my system."
