I made friends with the other instructors (it was my second year, and many of the instructors I already knew), and helped out as much as I could. How could he have won?įinally I became more comfortable with winning the award. Then I began to feel like an imposter–could this all be a bad joke? How could I have won? I wondered if the other Ignite instructors would be put off by my winning. After all, these were instructors from all over the United States, many of whom have attended the WSC for 15 years or more, and they selected me. After I recovered from the initial surprise, I felt proud and a little grandiose. Upon hearing I won, I had a wide array of feelings. I think a part of the reason I was selected is that I was the oldest instructor there, and some of the others saw me as a role model for denying aging. I was able to ski with the fastest student skiers, and I had some wonderful students. I worked hard (as all Nordic instructors do) during the clinic. So I don’t know whether I got the most votes or had the best reasons, or some combination of both. The selection was made by the staff of the Nordic program–we were each asked to pick someone and then explain why we made that choice. To say the least, I was surprised by the news. I didn’t learn of the award until Monday of this week, when Finn told me I had won it, and that he had picked it up for me. David Bye, Heidi Hatch Cross Country Instructor Awardee We at Ignite are elated that one of our own, David Bye, has won the Heidi Hatch Cross-Country Extraordiaier Instructor Award and we got a hold of him to hear more about his story.