The Jackson Hole Ski Patrol Memorial Scholarship Fund provides college scholarships to “students whose spirit and love of mountain adventure honors the memory of ski patrollers no longer with us,” according to its mission statement.

Melissa Malm, who was the first female ski patroller hired at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in 1978, and Chris Peck, who has worked with the resort’s ski patrol ski patrol since 1993, came up with the idea for the scholarship in 2011. Two years later, Morgan McGlashon became the first recipient. The number of scholarships awarded, and the monetary amount of each, varies from year-to-year and is dependent on funding.

Applicants must either be Teton County high school students or have a parent employed by Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. They must also ski or snowboard.

Malm, who is executive director of the nonprofit, says the scholarship fund receives around 20 applications each March, and selecting the winners is a difficult task.

“Our board is always challenged when choosing recipients—each applicant is deserving in some way,” Malm says. “I never realized how much the students’ essays would reveal about their generation and our community. It’s truly a privilege to read their words of self-reflection about their passions and hopes for the future. I look forward to it every spring.”

Carson Meyer received the award when he graduated from Jackson Hole High School in 2014. Sawyer Thomas, Meyer’s friend and classmate, received the other 2014 scholarship.

Meyer used his scholarship to attend Montana State University in Bozeman, where he majored in film and photography. He graduated from college in 2018, and now lives in Jackson working as a freelance photographer. Meyer has held a pass to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort every year of his life, and he still teaches ski school at the resort over the holidays.

Son of long-time ski patroller and Teton County Search and Rescue co-founder Doug Meyer, Carson found his field of study a way to combine his passions for filmmaking, photography, and mountains.

“I studied photography because mountains have been such a big part of my life,” Meyer says. “I grew up skiing with my parents and climbing, and the mountains have definitely always been a huge part of my life.”

By helping students like Meyer pursue their passions, the Jackson Hole Ski Patrol Memorial Scholarship continues to honor the patrollers who made these mountains their life.

Learn more: JHSPMemorialFund.org