Environmental Stewardship
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Athletes First

Olympic Heritage

  • PSC is in the heart of the Olympic region, just a few miles down the road from Lake Placid – home of world-class ski jumps and the historic Miracle on Ice USA hockey victory.
  • Students enjoy several months a year of deep snow – perfect for those who want to ski and snowshoe at our Nordic center.
  • The college’s Olympic Advisory Council is a group of five Olympic athletes who hail from this area; in many cases our campus served as their training ground. These athletes had to choose between their sports careers and a college degree – they are now working with PSC to enable a program that allows students to have both.
  • Our Management major includes a concentration in Sports and Event Management – students in the program learn from professionals who have been a part of the Olympic movement for decades.

We're here in the Olympic region. We're in the heart of the Olympics. We've hosted right just down the road on Keese Mill. The 1952 Olympic trials were here. We're in the heart of all these Olympic and winter sports. So we said, "how can we be a better part of that and help those sports grow and offer opportunities for people looking to go to college and to participate in those sports?"

Locally, with Lake Placid being just 25 miles away, we are the only private four year college in the Adirondacks. For us to have skiable snow, 5 and 1/2 months through the winter. We have the Nordic trails right here. World class ski jumps, 25 miles away. And with our academic programs, it makes sense that we be a Nordic center.

The Olympic advisory council is Olympians who grew up in this community, whether it's Saranac Lake or Lake Placid. And they went to school here and, for the most part, had to make a decision at some point whether to pursue their Olympic dreams, or get a college education. Most of them, you can't do both at the same time. It's really hard.

So they're there to advise us on ways to help ease that tension for future athletes.

So that way, world class athletes, national level junior athletes, when they're looking at colleges and looking at continuing their education, it doesn't have to be an either/or. We want it to be both.

So we're offering a sports and event management concentration in the business majors. And this makes sense, because you have world class competitions happening almost on a weekly basis, it feels like. They can get a world class education in these areas and learn from people who've been part of the Olympic movement for 30 or 40 years. We can offer education with these people teaching classes.