Mel Johnston awarded Snowsports Official Award for 2025

Mel Johnston is one of the three Snowsports Official Award winners in the 2025 Snow Australia Community Sport Awards. 

A long-time leader within Australian snowsports, Johnston has spent more than two decades shaping the Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) Sydney Winter School and supporting generations of young athletes through one of the country’s most unique sporting and academic programs.

Alongside her role as the long-term school coordinator for PLC Sydney, Johnston oversees the highly successful PLC Sydney Winter School, which has been running for over 20 years. Each winter she leads a camp for younger students before managing the main program for up to 15 teenage girls, who live under her care for an entire term. Combining daily skiing, academic study, fitness training, life skills, outdoor education and wellbeing support, the program has produced Olympians and empowered more than 150 students to grow as athletes, learners, and young adults.

“Firstly, I am extremely grateful to be honoured with this recognition,” Johnston said. 

“For many of us, when we do what we love, the honour is in the process, and when you work with teenagers, the thanks is in the personal growth you see in them, however, it is nice to have received this formal acknowledgement. 

“I have had a long association with Snow Australia, from serving on the NSW Snowsports Board of Directors in the early days to daily interactions on the mountain. I am proud to work with an Australian governing body that invests in grassroots programs all the way through to the Olympic pathway athletes. 

“To be recognised in this manner from an official’s perspective simply means that Snow Australia is continuing to value grassroots people and programs.”

When reflecting on why the Winter School program means so much to her, Johnston recalled a moment early in its history that solidified its purpose.

“Around 2007, PLC Sydney had a particularly strong core group of students who trained in the Perisher Winter Sports Club and/or NSW Cross Country programs,” she said. 

“They would be undertaking an excessive amount of travel back and forth to Sydney, and the impact on their grades and overall well-being was recognised. I decided that it really would not be that hard to bring school to them so that their training and academic needs were fulfilled. 

“Living full-time for 3½ months of the year with a group of teenage girls, of course, has its challenges, and there are moments where I am left wondering why I do it, but often I will be on the ski tube or around the slopes, and I bump into ex-students who have gone on to study law or medicine or even those working in ski resorts around the world, and they all say the same thing - winter school provided them with some of the best memories of their school life. 

“It is also a very nice, proud feeling to actually see some of those athletes go on to represent Australia at Olympic or World Cup events, like Lucy Glanville, Emma Bosco, Charlotte Wilson, just to name a few.”

Her approach to mentoring young athletes is shaped by a career in outdoor education and a personal belief in resilience and experiential learning. 

“Working in the outdoor education industry for over 10 years prior to becoming a teacher has grounded me in areas of resilience and personal challenge,” she said. 

“I love the concept of experiential learning, whether it's cooking meals at home or performing on the snow, they are not always going to get it right the first time, and learning from their mistakes is an essential part of growing and living with disappointment. 

“In my own life, I struggled through the HSC and missed the mark, but it opened up other opportunities that helped shape me into who I am today. I now have three degrees, so all is well, and it has made me stronger. This is what I can transfer to the athletes and students I mentor. 

“Winning may not come immediately, but it is through effort and dedication that success is achieved. It takes a village to raise a child and another team to produce an Olympian.”

Across more than two decades, Johnston has watched hundreds of girls grow through the program and hopes they carry several key lessons into their lives beyond school. 

“One thing is for certain: no matter where you are in the world, skiing unites people and creates opportunities,” she said. 

“I know they will leave the PLC Sydney Winter School program with a lifelong love and passion for skiing or snowboarding. It is one of the only sports that unites families, and long after your children leave home, they will always return for a family ski trip. 

“I hope they pass this passion on to the next generation. Snow sports is also one of those great areas that can really develop a child’s independence. Even from the early ages of four and five, teaching a child to carry their own skis builds independence and resilience, which to me is one of the greatest life lessons. 

“And there is something special when your teenager decides to cook dinner for the family or takes the initiative to wash their own clothes, apart from what they achieve on the snow, this is something they can take away for the rest of their lives.”

For Johnston, one of the defining strengths of the Winter School is the culture the girls build together, one of support and shared responsibility.

“One aspect I really like about the PLC Winter School program is that, regardless of the girls' day, they enter the house knowing they will be supported by their housemates,” she said. 

“They learn to celebrate each other's successes and support each other when things are challenging. 

“They may be competitors on the race course, yet at the end of the day, they still need to go home and cook dinner for each other and be supportive of their housemates.”