Daniel Mukombozi was born and raised in a refugee camp in Uganda. Now the 14-year-old is learning to ski.
On a recent Saturday, he was shuffling toward the starting line of his second-ever race at Anchorage’s Kincaid Park. It was a lot at once — a new country, a new school, a new climate and a new sport — but he wasn’t nervous.
“I'm feeling so happy,” he said. “That's what I'm thinking. I'm happy today.”
Daniel is one of more than a dozen teenagers who recently arrived in the United States and joined the ski team this winter at Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School. It’s an unusually high number for a sport that often draws students familiar with skiing, or at least with snow. Coach Geoff Wright said he’s stunned by the resilience they show each day at practice.
“I don't think I've ever seen this much concentrated can-do attitude,” he said. “These kids are like 120% in every day, every lesson. And also they just bring an impressive amount of joy to the equation.”
The new skiers are all part of East High’s English Language Learners program and they’re from all over the world — Honduras, Afghanistan, Ukraine, South Sudan. They’re tackling the complexities of learning a new language and adjusting to a new culture far from family and friends. On top of that, Wright said, they’re taking on a sport that’s not easy to learn, especially for image-conscious teenagers.
But these kids’ lives have forced them to get good at new things, Wright said. They’re determined.
At Kincaid Park, Wright bounced with excitement as the skiers took their places on the starting line. He was watching Daniel, who he said is already a fast skier.
“He's a freshman this year,” Wright said. “We were talking about state by senior year. He’s gonna do it.”
Wright is not new to coaching, he’s been doing it for well over a decade. But this year is different, he said. He’s never had so much fun.
A hard sell
It can be tough to convince kids to join the ski team, especially if they’re not used to snow.
Katie Bisson is with the English Language Learners program at East High, helping newly-arrived students and their families adjust to school and connect with resources.
She’s also a skier. And for years, she’s been pushing English Language Learners toward the ski program without much success.
“It is cold, it's dark, you have to wear a lot of gear and be outside for an hour and a half or two hours every day,” she said.
And there are other barriers, Bisson said. Some of the students have a lot of responsibilities at home, like watching siblings or helping cook meals while their parents are working.
But this year, a couple super athletic kids were excited about skiing, and their enthusiasm spread. One of them was Elisha Maenda. He moved from Burundi two years ago.
“In Burundi, there is no snow,” he said. “So when I talk to my friends from Burundi, they just keep saying, like, ‘What?! How do you know, like, how to ski on the snow stuff?’”
At first skiing was hard, he said, but it didn’t occur to him to give up.
“I was keep falling anytime when I'm trying to ski, I keep falling, falling, falling any time,” he said. “But right now, yeah, I started being better.”
Bisson said that grit is common with her language learners. Some of them went through a lot just to get to the United States.
“It might be because they're fleeing their country because of persecution or for safety reasons,” she said. “It might be for other difficult reasons.”
Seventeen-year-old Sofia Cantillo Garces came to Alaska from Venezuela in 2023. She said the political situation in her home country made life difficult, but also shaped who she has become.
“Mi situación de país y todo” she said, “eso es la razón que me ha hecho siempre estar muy, muy de pie. Y siempre sintiendo muy confiada y saber si lo intento, lo voy a lograr.”
(“The situation in my country and everything,” she said, “is the reason I’ve always been really resilient. It keeps me feeling very confident, knowing that if I try, I’m going to succeed.)
Fall. Get up. Keep going.
Back at Kincaid, the first skiers crested the hill, hustling toward the finish line. A couple minutes later, there was the red of Daniel’s East High jacket. He climbed the last stretch, rhythm good, closing in on the finish line and then...
down he went, face first, skis crossed.
A brief struggle and he was right back up. Onlookers, including Wright and Bisson, cheered as he zipped across the finish line.
Afterward, he said he was afraid someone was going to pass him.
“I was thinking I’m a lost this race,” he said. “That's what I'm thinking.”
Breathing hard and grinning, he said he was proud of his time. And he’s not embarrassed about the tumble. He’s used to falling and getting back up.
“Every day I do that,” he said. “Every day.”
