Madison Lord (Kittery Point, Maine) is a senior on the women's alpine team and is a neuroscience, global health and pre-nursing track major.
 
Tell us a bit about your career aspirations and how that played into your decision to graduate on time despite not having a senior season.
I applied to graduate school programs for nursing early this fall. I am really excited about becoming a family nurse practitioner and starting my career in medicine. Once I heard about this pathway, I was completely drawn in by the caring and holistic culture of nursing. When the news came that we wouldn't have a ski season, the team was devastated. However, we rallied together to come up with adapted plans. Since I had already applied to those nursing programs, I was caught between postponing that chapter of my life and graduating at a later date in order to finish my skiing career as a Panther. As much as I love Middlebury, and the ski team that has become home to me, I knew in my heart that I was ready for a new adventure. I decided to say goodbye to ski racing and hello to skiing. I skied out west during the break and really loved the freedom of skiing for the pure joy of it. It is easy to think about losing my senior season and the opportunity to host NCAA's at the bowl, but it is also just as easy to look at all of the amazing experiences and friendships that ski racing has given me, and feel closure even when its ending was abrupt.
 
This summer you shared your experience in a Ski Racing article urging people to consider collegiate ski racing as a viable path to elite skiing for female athletes. What inspired this article?
The coaching staff and teammates I got to know through the International Ski Racing Academy (ISRA) and my Middlebury teammates inspired the article that I co-wrote with many other female collegiate skiers from around the country. There is a narrative in ski racing that if a girl isn't skiing at "X" speed by "X" age, she will never be successful at higher levels of competition. The ski team at Middlebury is magical; to be a part of such a wildly passionate and motivated group of people unified by one goal is so special. We believe in each other so much and the encouraging environment we have cultivated raises everyone's potentials both as athletes and as people. We wanted to let people know that ski racing in college isn't an automatic road to retirement. We wanted younger female athletes to understand that their potential as a ski racer is limitless. We also wanted to disrupt the narrative that is out there and begin co-creating a more encouraging message for American skiers.
 
Tell us about Uplift.
I am currently conducting undergraduate research alongside my co-investigators Maddie Lyons '22 and Professor Bright in the Anthropology department. We are examining fitness culture at Middlebury by surveying and interviewing the student body about their experiences in workout spaces on campus. This research was inspired by my friends telling me about their challenging experiences in the gym. These stories shed light on a larger problem of inclusivity on campus and we are actively investigating the barriers to accessing health and wellness resources that create these feelings of intimidation or otherness. I am hoping this research will inform the student organization I am co-founding called Uplift. Uplift is an inclusive fitness platform that strives to cultivate a sense of belonging for all identity formations and will offer basic, introductory workout classes to help students build confidence and enjoy the benefits of exercise.