Angie Merrill, second from left, and Melinda Chadbourne, second from right, help Fairview Elementary students get their ski gear on during the Merrick Learn to Ski & Ride program at Lost Valley in Auburn on Wednesday. Fifty-five Auburn students come to ski and snowboard on Wednesdays when they are in school for only half a day. Chadbourne and her husband, Miles Smith, started the program five years ago in memory of their 14-year-old son, Merrick, who died in 2012. Merrick was on the Auburn Middle School ski team and the Chadbournes have raised money through the Auburn Ski Association’s Merrick Chadbourne Memorial Fund to teach children how to ski. From left are Raegan Mulliner, Merrill, Cameron Daigle, McKinley Mulliner, Chadbourne and Alyssa Daigle. FMI, or to donate: crowdrise.com/merrick-chadbourne-learn-to-ski-program-2017. 

Caiden Strout, 8, gets off the school bus with his skis at Lost Valley on Wednesday. The third-grader at Fairview Elementary School is one of 55 students who participate in the Merrick Learn to Ski & Ride program on half-day Wednesdays. 

Miles Smith helps Sherwood Heights Elementary School second-grader Landon LaPierre get his snowboard boots on during the Merrick Learn to Ski & Ride program at Lost Valley in Auburn on Wednesday. Fifty-five Auburn students come to ski and snowboard on Wednesdays when they are in school for only half a day. Smith and his wife, Melinda Chadbourne, started the program five years ago in memory of their 14-year-old son, Merrick, who died in 2012. Merrick was on the Auburn Middle School ski team and the Chadbournes have raised money through the Auburn Ski Association’s Merrick Chadbourne Memorial Fund to teach children how to ski. FMI, or to donate: crowdrise.com/merrick-chadbourne-learn-to-ski-program-2017. 

Melinda Chadbourne encourages Sherwood Heights Elementary sixth-grader Parker Butler after Butler arrived by school bus to participate in the Merrick Learn to Ski & Ride program at Lost Valley in Auburn on Wednesday. Butler’s nerves were preventing him from riding the chairlift to the top of the ski area. He said he has been having “lots of fun” skiing in the lower beginner area. 

Fairview Elementary first-grader McKinley Mulliner, 6, listens to her ski instructor during the Merrick Learn to Ski & Ride program at Lost Valley in Auburn on Wednesday.

Melinda Chadbourne said she would love to see every Auburn elementary student participate in the Merrick Learn to Ski & Ride program on half-day Wednesdays. The Auburn Ski Association’s Merrick Chadbourne Memorial Fund created in memory of Chadbourne’s son helps offset the cost for children to participate in the program. Fairview Elementary first-grader, Cameron Daigle, 6, is at left. 

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