Slice Ice: Recreational Ice Skating

Project Based Learning Electives provided by the Berrien Springs Virtual Academy

Slice Ice: Recreational Ice Skating   Spring 2026

All students must complete a project for this class

Location: The Howard Ice Arena, St. Joseph, MI
Primary Instructor: Jon Whidden
email: jon@ruskets.com
phone: 269-357-9759
Format: In-person
Grades: K-12
Start Date: 
Class days/times: To be scheduled with instructor

Slice YouTube Channel

Students of all ages and experience levels will sharpen their ice skating abilities, learn new skills, and build strength through regular, extended skating sessions at our local community ice rink.  Hockey, figure, freestyle and speed skaters are all welcome, but this class is especially for anyone who just wants to have fun and be more comfortable out on the ice. 

Regular skating sessions at the Howard Ice Arena in St. Joseph, MI will begin in November when the local outdoor season opens. 

Our first meeting of the semester will be held at a local sporting goods store for skate fittings. 

Skaters will have an opportunity to try on figure or hockey skates and learn the practical differences between these two most common styles. Students will be fitted for their own personal pair of rental skates to use during the semester. 

We meet on the ice for weekly 2 hour sessions.  Skaters will have multiple opportunities for practice, during our regular group instruction times and optional open skate sessions outside of class.  During cold weather, the rink is open daily. Join our community, make friends and have fun.

Recreational Ice Skating Syllabus

*Please note: it is important to make as informed a decision as possible when choosing your student's Community Resource classes. Most locations will allow a student to drop a class after one meeting, at no charge if it wasn't a good fit for the student, but not all. Some classes plan ahead based on the number that have signed up and have purchased materials, hired teachers, etc. and there might be a fee for class time or materials given to the student if the student drops after one or two meetings. The school cannot pay for classes that students do not complete, so choose wisely; if you do not take the class off of your student's schedule by the deadline, you may be asked to pay for the class time incurred prior to dropping the class. 

Teacher of Record: Sara Smothers