Homeschooling Hero: Jamie Anderson

by Christina Yeager

​Who Is Jamie Anderson? Jamie Louise Anderson is an American professional snowboarder born on  September 13th, 1990 in California. She is the winner of Olympic gold medals in the 2014 and 2018 winter slopestyle events held in Russia and South Korea respectively. This accomplishment made her the first ever female snowboarder to have won more than one Olympic gold medal. She has a total of 11 medals to her credit, 4 of them being gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze.​

Jamie Anderson: From homeschooling to slopestyle gold.

Jamie Anderson: Homeschooling
Although, many homeschoolers usually don’t get a chance to follow their dreams at a young age, in Jamie’s case, it's what led to her massive success. It was because of her homeschooling that she had the time to learn snowboarding and the opportunity to practice it hard without worrying about any academic restraints. Her mother had the unusual approach of not stressing on academics. Instead she believed that character building was more important. She was later also quoted “I didn't push my kids to read and write.”

All her children including Jamie were homeschooled. Jamie and her siblings simply loved the outdoors. The older two sisters introduced Jamie to snowboarding at the tender age of 9. Soon enough she was hanging out with older boys in order to learn their snowboarding tricks and techniques. She quickly became better than all of them.​

“My mom and dad decided to homeschool us. I’m one of eight -- because they really wanted us to be outside and learn some other fundamentals instead of it being school all day in a classroom”
-- Jamie Anderson

Accomplishments
Jamie enlisted in the snowboard team at the local Sierra-at-Tahoe resort. Owing to her persistence and hard work she quickly rose to the stop. Some highlights of her successful career have been listed here.

Snowboarding:

• Jamie has the reputation of being one of the best female snowboarders ever. 
• X games medalist at the age of 15 (winner of total 11 X games medals)
• TTR World Tour Champion in the years 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2014
• Two time Winter Dew Cup Champion
• Winner of ESPY Award for “Best Female Action Sports Athlete”
• Snowboarder magazine's “Woman rider of the Year” award in 2015 and 2016
• Winner of 2016 Silver in Slopestyle
• Winner of gold medals in the 2014 and 2018 winter slopestyle events in the Olympics

​So, it comes as no surprise that she has won countless medals. She has also been quite popular in the media.

Media:

• Appearance on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice in 2014
• Cover model for ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue and Sports Illustrated’s Winter Olympic Preview issue

What is Jamie up to now?
Snowboarding has given Jamie immeasurable fame. Now Jamie believes it is her turn to give something back to this community. She is the creator of the documentary film titled, “Full Moon” that showcases the beginning and future of snowboarding for women. She has developed a sponsorship program for gifted young snowboarders. In the year 2013 she established a foundation in her own name that supports the dreams of young athletes.
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