Located in El Dorado County, California, Tahoe Prep Academy is the first boarding school dedicated to ice hockey in California. Training fourteen hours every single week, Tahoe Prep sets a high standard for their athletes, allowing coaches to pick and choose who they recruit to their highly competitive team. 

Mead’s former student, Ethan Thomas (‘24), was recruited to Tahoe Prep this past summer. Balancing the rigorous schedule and expectations that Tahoe sets for their athletes, Thomas gave insight about his new adventures fifteen hours away. 

Getting start at Tahoe Prep, the Denver CCM Showcase recruited Thomas over the summer. From there, Head Coach Chris Collins contacted the Thomas family and expressed interest in their young athlete. 

“Everything moved very quickly,” Thomas said. “I felt like one minute I was at home being a normal seventeen-year-old boy, and then I was driving to a whole new school and life fifteen hours away.” 

Tahoe has rigid schedule and set of rules for their athletes, so moving from a different climate where he could stay up at night and play video games to a life where he has to be in bed by 10 p.m. has been a drastic change for Thomas. 

Thomas said the challenging parts of moving away from home are “having to rebuild relationships, connect with a new roommate, and live with 20+ new people with 20+ new personalities.” 

The hardest part, though, is being away from his girlfriend.

Ethan plans to further his career, looking at colleges like the University of Denver, Northeastern, and the University of Michigan. He wants to continue playing hockey but look beyond the sport and possibly study Sports Medicine or Business.