You Did It! The UAA Ski Team Is Strong!
Join the 314 Campaign
On September 10, 2020, UA Regents voted to eliminate more than half the funding for the UAA ski team, and discontinue Alpine skiing events. On January 15th, the UA Regents REINSTATED Alpine Skiing. You did it!! Thank you!!
To save our sport, preserve our Alpine events, and field a complete team, the UA Regents and UAA Chancellor asked us to raise two years of operating costs. A total of $628,000 dollars. Exactly half, $314,000 in cash, and the second $314K in pledges.
We did this! Thank you to everyone, and especially our 314ers who stepped up to support a Whole UAA Ski Team. Our funds are confirmed, but we are still actively raising additional funds to ensure we don’t find ourselves in this place again! We are permanently reinstated, and this major accomplishment is an incredibly positive moment in our path to strengthen our foundation at UAA. THANK YOU!
This is now the official website for the Friends of UAA Skiing. You will find news, results, and stories from our coaches and student athletes on this site. We have also migrated our donation page from PayPal directly to Excellence In Skiing!
To Mail a Check:
- Checks can be made out to UA Foundation. BE SURE TO WRITE -314er Pledge- or -UAA Excellence in Skiing- in the check memo.
- Checks can be mailed to the UAA Ski Team, c/o UA Foundation, 1815 Bragaw Street, Suite 206, Anchorage, AK 99508.
What is The 314 Initiative?
We asked 314 individuals, groups, businesses, or interested parties, to invest $1000 or more in 2020 for the 21-22 season, and pledge $1000 for the following season. We are so grateful to this collection of distinguished philanthropists. As a group of highly motivated ski racing backers, they not only saved NCAA skiing at UAA, but saved NCAA skiing across the country. We are demonstrating to college administrators across the country that an Olympic sport like Skiing has a place in collegiate athletics
Moving forward, we are calling all of our friends with support of any shape or size, 314ers! Be a part of this movement. Be a part of our future. Every sport at UAA is now tasked with fundraising, and the ski team – as One Team, both alpine and nordic – strive to be leaders in sport, academics, and community. You are an important part of our team. All donations of any size or shape help us keep our rich history and tradition alive and thriving.
We need donations of all sizes and shapes. We need everyone’s help.
Everybody’s a Seawolf.
One Team. One Goal.
Pledge Deadline: December 31, 2021
UAA Skiing raised $314,000 in cash to fund FY 2022, and another $314,000 in pledges for FY 2023.
Time is running out!
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Currently Funded:
Pledged for FY 2023
- Percentage of Cash Reached 100.00%
- Percentage of Pledge Reached 100.00%
NCAA college skiing needs your help. Lost programs at New Mexico, Nevada, Whitman, Western State College, Brown, and others are the sad reality of institutions successfully amputating Olympic sports. The former UAA Chancellor gutted the UAA ski team’s budget and offered to keep a Nordic-only grouping that would never be competitive in its quest for a National Championship.
We were a canary in the coal mine. One domino left teetering, and our toppling could have taken down the entire Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association. If the RMISA had disbanded, the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association would be sure to follow. If you care about collegiate Olympic sports, Skiing in particular, the story of how the UAA ski team survived is worth noting. There is hope. There is a pathway forward, and we will thrive today because of your support.
To save our sport, and add Alpine back to our team, the UA Regents and UAA Chancellor asked us to raise two years of operating costs. A total of $628,000 dollars by Feb 1st, 2021. Exactly half, $314,000 of the total, needed to be delivered in cash. The second $314K could be in pledges. It was a very steep hill to climb, but together we did this!
Our ski racing community is strong, resolved, and stands together in solidarity for all of our programs. We are a sport like no other, and we have an opportunity to be better. By saving the UAA Ski Team, you turned the tide. We showed that institutions cannot cut or gut programs.
Why are we fighting so hard to keep UAA Skiing?
CONSIDER THESE FACTS.
The UAA Ski Team serves the university’s mission.
We boost enrollment.
Many of our athletes pay their own tuition.
The ski teams recruit top minds who graduate and remain in Alaska, helping to grow and diversify the local economy. Our graduates create jobs and improve our community.
This value is immeasurable, but not seen directly by our Athletic Department or UAA Administration as direct revenue.
Our program’s impacts are far reaching long after the Student Athletes’ time at UAA.
Vital member of Anchorage.
The UAA Ski Team is a vital member of the Anchorage and larger Alaska community. The ski team is already doing the educational mission that UAA Chancellor Sandeen and the Board of Regents are seeking to do.
Skiing is an Alaskan sport.
Skiing is an outdoor Alaskan winter sport and is emblematic of Anchorage, a winter sports mecca. We are helping to promote healthier lifestyles throughout Alaska and fight our state’s growing problems of childhood obesity and drug use.
Top GPA of any UAA program.
The UAA Ski Team has perennially had the top GPA and Graduation Rate of any UAA program, athletic or academic. Each year we raise the overall GPA and Graduation Rate of the entire University.
First athletic team at UAA.
The Ski Team was the first athletic team at UAA and has been providing opportunities and healthy examples for Alaska’s junior and high school athletes since 1978.
Over 250 hours of community service each year.
The ski team serves over 250 hours of direct community service each year, and work tirelessly as ambassadors while competing against Pac 12 and Ivy League colleges and universities.
Year in and year out we bring the Seawolf brand to a wide variety of potential students and expanding markets.
We are some of your best advertising dollars well spent.
