KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | Former Mead student prepares for Olympics

Former Mead student prepares for Olympics

(Will sent a former teacher a text message saying he was
headed to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics after he found out he
was selected for the US Ski Team)

MEAD, Wash. - Teachers at Mead High School are gearing-up for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver with recent news that a former student will be competing in the games.

Will Brandenburg graduated from Mead in 2005. His high school yearbook says he started skiing when he was 11-months-old and his teachers say he hasn't stopped since.

Brandenburg worked with tutors during summers and sometimes missed classes to attend ski meets across the world.

He found out he was selected for the US Ski Team last week and sent a text message to one of his former teachers.

Brandenburg told his teachers he will compete in the Super Combined event, a combination of slalom and downhill skiing.

"We've always seen this as a possibility, but until we see him going down the hill or whatever, in that USA uniform, then it'll probably hit us," said Brandenburg's former math teacher, Joel Shawen.

"We love this kid, we really do we truly love this kid, and it's not because he's a famous skier," said Rhonda Schalock, science teacher at Mead High School. "It's because he's Will and he is a great human being. I mean, seriously, I would hope my own kids are as nice as Will is."

Schalock keeps a photo of Will and a German flag in her classroom as they are souvenirs from a competition Brandenburg attended.

Teachers and friends of the Mead graduate are now working to get tickets to the games so they can watch Brandenburg ski.  

Teachers said if they can't get tickets to the Olympic games, they will watch the competition on televisions in their classrooms during Brandenburg's event.