Bill Gunesch, Director and Coach

During his 30 years of experience Bill has coached every level of skiing from Mitey Mites through the World Cup.  As a Program Director on Mt. Hood, Bill founded the Mt. Hood Ski Education Foundation in 1983 in order to establish Mt. Hood as one of this country's premier sites for competitive skiing.  From 1986-1988 Bill was a World Cup and Olympic Coach with the U.S. Ski Team.  Bill has been awarded U.S. Ski Team's "National Coach of the Year," and he is an Internationally Certified coach.  Bill is also a F.I.S. Technical Delegate (T.D.), the highest official in the Federation Internationale de Ski and has served as T.D. at the Canadian National Championships and the South American Cup in Chile.  Bill has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and has been a board member of the Pacific Northwest Ski Association and the USSA Western Region.

Mary Gunesch, Education Director, Science teacher, and Coach

Mary is a graduate of the University of Wyoming where she received an honors degree in Natural Sciences while attending school on a full-ride skiing scholarship.  Her academic honors include the Wyoming Scholar/Athlete Award as well as induction into the college honor society, Phi Beta Kappa.  As a USSA competitor, Mary won the Junior National Championships; in college she earned NCAA All-Conference honors.  After graduating, Mary returned to Oregon to develop Mt. Hood Academy’s academic program.  She has a Master’s Degree from Lewis & Clark College, and holds an Oregon Teaching License and Oregon School Administrator’s License. Mary is MHA’s Education Director, teaches Science, and coaches J3’s.

Curtis E. Shuck Jr, MHA Coach

Curtis grew up skiing competitively in Alaska and spent the 1977 season in the Northwest training and racing with Stevens Pass Alpine Club. He began his ski coaching career in 1981 with the Alyeska Ski Club. In 1984 Curtis took a position with the Alpenglow Ski Club in Anchorage as their Racing Director and in 1985 signed on with Alaska Mountain Holidays as the Operations Director and Ski Guide for Alaska’s first snow cat skiing operation. From Alaska, Curtis moved to Port Angeles, Washington in 1988 to take the position of Head Coach of the Hurricane Ridge Ski Team. In 2001 Curtis took on the role of Ski Area General Manager for the Hurricane Ridge. In 2005 Curtis accepted the position of J3 Head Coach for the Meadows Race Team. Curtis stepped into the role of Program Director of the Meadows Program in spring of 2006. Curtis joined the Mt. Hood Ski Education Foundation staff in 2010 and will be coaching for the Mount Hood Academy's Junior Program.

Curtis has held a Level 1 Professional Ski Coach License with United States Ski Coaches Association (USSCA) since 1993, a Level 1 Ski Instructor Certification with Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) and is a Certified Race Administrator and Level 3 Referee with the United States Ski Association (USSA). Curtis has served in a variety of volunteer positions with the Pacific Northwest Ski Association (PNSA) over the years. In 2006 was elected President and in 2009 he was named to the USSA Western Region Alpine Competition Committee (ACC).

Jim Stevens, MHA Coach

Judy Schreder, Administrative Assistant

Judy has over 25 years of office and bookkeeping experience.  In addition, she has two children who were very competitive within USSA as members of the Mt. Hood Academy, one of whom earned a spot with the U.S. Ski Team's Development Team.  Judy is very knowledgeable and experienced in her position of 20 years as office coordinator, bookkeeper and problem-solver for the Academy.

Robert Damberg, Social Studies Teacher

Bob received his B.A. at the University of Northern Iowa and his Masters at San Francisco State College.  He did post-Masters work at Oregon State University on an A.Y.I. Scholarship.  In his 40+ years of teaching, Bob has taught at middle school, high school and college levels; he has also coached swimming, wrestling, and softball.  Bob holds an Oregon Secondary Teaching Certificate and has been with Mt. Hood Academy for 20 years.

Shawn Cardwell, Math Teacher

Shawn graduated with honors from Pacific University in 1996, earning a double major in music and mathematics.  He went on to acquire a Master of Arts in Teaching with an Advanced Mathematics Endorsement in 1998, also from Pacific.  In addition to teaching at MHA, Shawn teaches math at Pacific Northwest College of Art.  Shawn is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys snowboarding, soccer and racquetball.  Students enjoy having Shawn’s energy and enthusiasm at MHA; they say, “He makes math fun”.

Virginia Euwer Wolfe, Creative Writing Teacher

Virginia graduated from Smith College and taught high school English in Hood River for many years.  In the late 1980’s Virginia began teaching at Mt. Hood Academy.  Since then she has become an internationally-known author.  Her novels for young adults include:  Probably Still Nick Swanson, The Mozart Season, Bat Six, Make Lemonade and True Believer (winner of the National Book Award).  Virginia developed a unique method for helping students access their creative writing “voices” while teaching at Mt. Hood Academy.  She has been invited to schools throughout the world to share this method with students in many countries.