Ringsven Junior Grant Fund

Chris Ringsven Memorial Junior Grant Fund

In memory of our friend and former Hopkins High School coach Chris Ringsven, Minnesota Valley has established a junior grant fund. From this fund Ringsven scholarships will be awarded to skiers from the Twin Cities who qualify for the Junior Olympics.

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Christopher Michael Ringsven was born January 29, 1973, in Sydney, Australia, to the parents of Arthur and Renata. He moved with his family to Minnesota in 1974, where he graduated from the Hopkins school district in 1991. He then graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, MA with a B.A. in music. Christopher returned to Minnesota and received his teaching certificate in music from the University of Minnesota.

Christopher quickly found that he had two loves above all the rest — one was sports and the other was music. His love in music began with the piano, and under the guidance of his mother, he discovered that composition and the mechanics of playing came very easy for him, leading to local and national awards. The piano continued to be his first love, but he also found himself enthused about voice and choir, helping to point the way to receiving his B.A. in music, and subsequently his teaching certificate. He then spent ½ year in Cambridge, MN, teaching band and choir, before accepting a similar music position with the Cle-Elum-Roslyn school district of Washington state.

His other love was sports, where he found that he enjoyed the endurance sports of cross country running, cross country skiing, and track. Throughout his high school years he achieved a high level of success, leading to his being named Hopkins Male Athlete of the year in 1991. He continued his cross country skiing at Williams College where he was captain of his team his senior year. For two years while getting his teaching certificate, he was the Hopkins cross country ski coach.

Along the way, Christopher discovered he was fascinated by whitewater kayaking, but had little time to get involved. That changed after college when he found the time. For the next six years he found himself going with his fellow kayakers to tackle the north and north shore rivers. His dream became the mountains and rivers of Washington state and he was able to fulfill that dream when he accepted the music teaching position at Cle- Elum-Roslyn in Washington. He started this position in September of 2000 and repeatedly remarked how well the people of his school district and fellow kayakers had accepted him. He had found his dream.

by Reid Lutter

Head coach, Minnesota Valley Ski Team