Tucker Friend spent his freshman year in high school going down hill.

The 15-year-old from Gorham was lucky enough, however, to be riding down hills on his snowboard.

Friend has been attending Carrabassett Valley Academy, a school that has produced world-class skiers like Bode Miller and Boyd Easley. Located at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain, the private, tuition school attracts students for its skiing and snowboarding programs.

Following his first year, Friend has returned home to Gorham. Like most high school students, he plans to find a job for the summer. He is the son of Dana and Wendy Friend of Fort Hill Road.

The opportunity for Friend to attend the school opened when his dad became the financial director at the school last August. Tucker, who attended Gorham Middle School, and his father stayed in the family condo near the school during the school year.

“He loved Gorham schools but went for the opportunity opened by his dad,” his mom said.

The academic and winter sports opportunity at the school included travel. He went to LaGrave, France, with the school’s Alpine team for the month of February. Friend paid for his own trip. One of 15 students on the trip, Friend had to do his schoolwork. Students used laptops to e-mail assignments to the school in Maine.

“They learned to manage their time,” his mom said.

The team didn’t compete in France, but there was plenty of skiing and snowboarding. To ensure safety, an avalanche guide accompanied the team.

Besides the winter sports activities, Friend said the trip afforded students a good cultural experience, too. The team and their coaches stayed in a hotel in a French village. Maids made up beds but students had to clean their own rooms. Coaches wouldn’t allow students to ski if their rooms were untidy.

The hotel served a five-course, home-cooked meal for dinner. “The food was good,” said Friend, who also ate at a McDonald’s in France.

In France, Friend enjoyed backcountry trips and rode a gondola, which ran on a cable, to a mountaintop, 7,000 feet up in the French Alps. He and his teammates also visited Italy.

Last fall, Friend went on a school trip with classmates to Nevada. They visited Hoover Dam and Las Vegas besides rock climbing and hiking in Utah.

Friend said the school didn’t have a baseball team this year but there is kayaking, golf and Frisbee. In addition to snowboarding, Friend played soccer. He enjoys the physical training offered at the school.

Classes at the school start at 7:30 a.m and run through noon and there is an hour study hall beginning at 7:30 p.m. The school has separate dorms for girls and boys.

Friend began skiing at 2 and a half years old and switched to snowboarding at 7. In the next school year, he plans to snowboard competitively.

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