Winter X Games Aspen 2017 is in Colorado Mountain College’s backyard, so students are ideally located to get involved in what ESPN calls one of the world’s biggest extreme sports events. Held Jan. 26-29 at Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain, the games are expected to draw more than 100,000 people to attend sports competitions and concerts.
Because Colorado Mountain College has campuses not only in Aspen, but in 10 other mountain resort locations including the Vail Valley, Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge, students are able to work or otherwise participate behind the scenes in the X Games.
As in past years, students from several Colorado Mountain College’s campuses have been selected for the X Games student worker program to assist with guest services and event development.
New this year, GarCo Sewing Works, a design and training center partnership between Colorado Mountain College and Garfield County, is providing 350 athlete bags made from recycled X Games banners.
Also this year, seven students from the college’s Isaacson School for New Media are working with ESPN and Echo Entertainment’s crews as paid interns handling inventory, utilities, LED screens, production, post-production and cameras.
“Internship experiences are how you prove yourself,” said Corby Anderson, a camera operator and technical director at the X Games and an instructor at the Isaacson School, who coordinated the interns’ involvement. “You learn hard lessons, gain skills and begin to build the network that will lead to a wildly fun and challenging career.”