In the year since students at Oregon State University-Cascades were given a live business to run, they have designed their own snowboard, selected a manufacturer and promoted their business.

And next year they plan to design, test and market a snowboard just for women.

“What they are doing is actually so challenging on so many levels,” said Todd Laurence, OSU-Cascades instructor of business administration. “They’re making an incredible run of building this business.

“There’s no roadmap for this. I don’t think this model exists. If you look at other universities, there are examples of student businesses, but none that take student ownership or leadership to the level we do here.”

Bend snowboard company donates business to OSU-Cascades

Bend snowboard company donates business to OSU-Cascades

Last December, SnoPlanks founders Ryan Holmes and James Nicol decided not to sell their business but hand over the established business to the college for students to obtain hands-on experience as startup entrepreneurs.

The move is similar to what Patagonia did in 2022 when it transferred ownership of the company to a specially designed trust and nonprofit organization created to preserve the company’s culture.

This past year, 27 students majoring in business, engineering, outdoor products, art, media and technology were employed by SnoPlanks.

Students have been at the drawing board, literally designing modifications to existing products. Their new line of products was on display at Snowvana winter sports show in Portland last month, Laurence said.

SnoPlanks’ 2025 line of snowboards, the “Asym Twin” and “Asym Fish,” incorporate students’ analysis of the existing design as well as market research, and feature the asymmetrical design that SnoPlanks is known for, according to Laurence. The redesign was drafted over the summer and created in a factory in Colorado. Students, such as Louis Yonan, got a chance to try out the boards this summer on Mount Hood, Laurence said.

The snowboards are available for sale on the company’s website and at Between Evergreens in Bend.

Going forward, students will be doing research and design on new products, including the women-friendly snowboards designed for a female snowboarder’s body.

”Starting in January, they’ll be field testing their new designs on Mt. Bachelor,” Laurence said. “This venture is taking experiential learning to an 11. That applies for every student involved. I’ve been involved in almost every part of an early stage companies, but none of that fully prepared me for helping with this.”

Marek Leavenworth, an OSU-Cascades senior studying arts, media and technology and the chief marketing officer for SnoPlanks, said he’s never experienced anything like this in the classroom.

”It’s been a great year,” Leavenworth said. “This is an incredible opportunity to create a business like this and to see what we believe the next lineup of boards should look like. We’ve talked to customers and incorporated their comments into our designs.”

Leavenworth said the students are taking the decade-old business and giving it a fresh start. The students are keeping the old and incorporating a youthful approach to the designs.

”There’s nothing like this in the country,” Leavenworth said. “ We’re the only snowboard company running out of a university and being run by students as a for-profit biz. There’s nothing like this.”