The Winter Sports School, Park City, Graduating Class of 2026 at Utah Olympic Park Making a Splash Photo: TownLift//Randi Sidman-Moore

PARK CITY, Utah — The Winter Sports School’s Class of 2026 marked the midpoint of its final school year Monday by jumping into the Utah Olympic Park pool in caps and gowns.

The inaugural “Senior Splash” celebrated students ahead of their November graduation and honored the school’s longstanding connection to the Olympic Park.

Winter Sports School began with a handful of students and dedicated teachers working in portable classrooms at the base of the UOP. As the park grew in importance as a community resource and training ground for aspiring Olympians, the school expanded as well. It now enrolls nearly 100 students.

Similar Reads On TownLift

A committee of parent volunteers organized the Senior Splash as part of a series of events celebrating the graduating class.

“As our intense and condensed school year passes in something of a blur, it’s easy to miss the chance to recognize the accomplishments of these WSS seniors, who are wrapping up four years of toil, tenacity and triumph this fall,” Head of School Tess Miner-Farra told TownLift.

Miner-Farra said organizers hope the splash becomes an annual tradition and gives seniors a chance to celebrate at a place that feels like a second home to many Winter Sports School student-athletes.

The school’s original portable classrooms arrived at the UOP before the main road from Kimball Junction was built. Workers transported the buildings up a back road and beneath the bobsled track. To clear the structure, crews let air out of the flatbed trucks’ tires inch by inch.

When Winter Sports School moved to its current location near Old Ranch Road and State Route 224, the portable buildings remained at the UOP but were relocated. One is now used as an employee gathering space, while the other houses U.S. Ski Team ski jumping and Nordic combined offices.

In the school’s early years, students carried identification cards because local law enforcement officers sometimes questioned why teenagers were out in the community during traditional school hours.

Winter Sports School follows a condensed academic calendar that includes summer classes, allowing its student-athletes to concentrate on snow sports during the winter. The Senior Splash offered the Class of 2026 a brief pause to celebrate how far the students and their school have come.