KUNR Youth Media

Youth Radio: Meet Truckee Ski Prodigy Cody LaPlant

KUNR Public Radio | By Jacob Lee

Published September 15, 2017 at 2:36 PM PDT

Reno-Tahoe has given rise to a lot of snow-sport Olympians. One of the up-and-coming athletes is a local Truckee student Cody LaPlant. He is a freshman in high school and a member of the US Ski Team. Reno Youth Radio’s Jacob Lee interviewed him about the pressures of school and performing at world-class events.

At 15 years old, Cody is the youngest athlete on the US Ski Team. He realized that he wanted to compete when he was just 9.

“I didn’t really think of it as competition. I was just like, 'This is what I want to do. This is really fun.'”

While that was a dream at the time, his path forward was solidified when he competed in the U.S. Nationals.

“Luckily, I’m still pretty young, so I’m still a freshman this year, but when I travel a lot it’s really hard to accommodate school and skiing because you're always focusing on one thing. So mostly I just ski when I am away and when I come back I try to do a bunch of catch up work.”

He has traveled all over, including Austria and Italy. Being a part of the US Ski Team would seem like a lot of pressure, but Cody says it’s not.

“I tried to put the pressure away and focus on my skiing and having fun and doing the best I can”

And it has paid off. He is a record holder, even at 15 years old. At age of 11, he did a double flat spin on skis and landed it. Now he holds the record for doing the triple misty, which is three front flips while spinning around five times. Cody is looking forward to the Olympics, the X-games, and many other competitions in the future.

Learn more about the KUNR Youth Media program

Each fall and spring semester, our dedicated program coordinator partners with the WCSD educator to mentor a select group of high school interns. The internship classes are typically from 2:15 to 4:15 p.m. at the high school, providing a structured environment where students receive comprehensive instruction.

The students are taught radio journalism, broadcast journalism, and media production, gaining real-world professional experience that helps them develop career skills. Students work with media professionals to produce creative audio stories and elevate voices from our region.

As part of the program, students are offered the opportunity to tour KUNR’s facilities and the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, where they will have the chance to record their broadcasts under the guidance of the WCSD educator and the program coordinator.

This semester-long project is designed to facilitate the airing of the students' stories on KUNR and the publication of their work on KUNR.org. Through this experiential learning approach, students gain valuable insights into public media and develop practical skills using industry-standard equipment.

The KUNR Youth Media Coordinator plays a crucial role in ensuring that students receive scholarly guidance on the standards and practices associated with audio journalism production.

Our program is committed to fostering a safe and constructive learning environment for all participants. KUNR is dedicated to nurturing the creative ideas of students in the program and, prior to publication, KUNR’s Managing Editor reviews all submitted work to ensure that it aligns with KUNR’s established media standards and expectations.

This program was formerly known as Reno Youth Radio.