BRUNSWICK — Myles Silverman’s school work takes up most of his time these days and he doesn’t get to tear up the terrain as much as he’d like to, but that hasn’t slowed him down.

The Brunswick native spent his spring break in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he repeated as a slalom and giant slalom champion at the 2019 United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association snowboarding nationals. 

“I surprised myself with this most recent competition,” Silverman said.

Silverman is in his junior year at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, where he is a double major in media studies and history. He took three weeks off from school to concentrate on the Wyoming event, and said Hobart is supportive and lets him catch up on school work when he needs to.

“My professors are awesome and they’ve let me make up a lot of homework because of the competitions I have been in,” said Silverman, whose eye is set on the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

Even though he doesn’t get to compete as much as he’d like to, Silverman believes he can achieve his goal of reaching the Olympics.

“My education is the most important thing right now, but the Olympics still remain a goal for me,” he said, “and I believe if I set my mind to this I can achieve it.”

After his first semester at Hobart, Silverman decided to take 18 months off to concentrate on his snowboarding career. He competed in two more junior world championships, as well as the 2017 World University Games in Kazakhstan.

Silverman said he plans to take classes this summer so he can graduate in 2020. He will also compete next winter on the World Cup circuit, where he hopes to do well enough to land a spot on the U.S. National Team.

When Silverman isn’t taking classes or competing, he comes back home to Brunswick to visit family and friends, and to train at Sugarloaf.

“I love Brunswick; it’s nice to be able to get back to my home hill,” he said.

The 21-year-old’s snowboarding career started in the back country of Carrabassett Valley, where he watched Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott shred his way to the top of the sport.

“Watching Seth was awesome and it made me feel like this dream I had of being in the Olympics could be a reality if I put the work in,” he said.

That dream has taken Silverman all over the globe, to places such as the world university games in Russia, where he made the finals in both parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom.

“Getting to travel the world doing what I love is awesome,” Silverman said. “It’s tough when I have to make up all of the school work. I have had to miss some competitions because of school, but that is OK.”

Patti McDonald can be reached at 780-9123 or pmcdonald@theforecaster.net. Follow Patti on Twitter: @pmcdonaldme.

Brunswick native Myles Silverman won the men’s parallel slalom in the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association national championships this spring at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.