Kirby Kelly is only 17, but her passport already resembles that of a veteran world-class traveler.

She spent part of last fall in New Zealand a year after she trekked to Valmalenco, Italy, when she was only 15 as part of the U.S. Junior World Championship half pipe snowboarding team.
Next month, her journey could take her to Erzurum, Turkey for another junior worlds competition, but there are times – given the political unrest currently going on there – when Kelly’s father, Joe, has to draw the line and make a decision for his teenage daughter.

Kelly isn’t slated to graduate from Dundee-Crown until this spring, completing what’s already been a nontraditional high school education. But for Kelly, who will compete in this week’s Burton U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships in Vail, Colo., living life a little differently than everyone else has always been part of who she is.