JBER Express Shift Manager Steps Up to Support the Slopes at Hillberg Ski Area
When a vital Quality-of-Life facility at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson ran into problems providing food service to its patrons, command turned to the Exchange for help.
JBER’s 733d Force Support Squadron (FSS) operates Hillberg Ski Area, located about 20 minutes north of Main Express. The facility offers service members, families and Department of Defense civilians affordable skiing, snowboarding and tubing, along with a rental shop, wax/tuning shop, dog sled rides and a ski school for beginners.
Hillberg was forced to close in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reopening for the 2022-23 winter ski season. When the 773d FSS was unable to secure a contractor to operate the food operation at the facility, command looked to the Exchange to support.
At the heart of the operation was Kryzia Ceja, now a shift manager at the JBER Main Express, who just completed her second season leading the food operation at Hillberg. An Army Veteran with six years of service as a medic, Ceja relocated to JBER in 2020 with her husband, an Army sergeant. She joined the Exchange in October 2022.
After just three months on the job, Ceja volunteered to staff the new snack bar at the ski area that would be supplied by the Express, bringing hot food, drinks and snacks to those who had been without them at Hillberg.
“They were asking for volunteers at first to see who would want to do it,” Ceja said. “I like taking on new roles like that, so I was interested.
“I didn’t know if she (Store Manager Shelly Deano) would let me since I was so brand new, but she said if I really wanted to, I could do it.”
Ceja quickly found her footing—learning her shoppers, discovering what products they wanted and letting the Exchange team know what needed ordering.
“The biggest challenge was getting all of the food and equipment up there,” Ceja said. “We had to bring up a roller grill, a refrigerator, microwave and figure out where everything was going to go—we basically had to create our own kitchen.”
Kryzia Ceja, an Express shift manager at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, has operated the Hillberg Ski Area snack bar for two seasons. When the 773d FSS was unable to secure a contractor to operate the food operation at the facility after the COVID-19 pandemic, command looked to the Exchange to support. Ceja, who had been with the Exchange for three months at the time, volunteered to help.
The Exchange was asked to assist for the second time the following year for the 2023-24 ski season, which Ceja led again nearly single-handedly—from ordering to prepping, assortment planning and more.
Those at Hillberg welcomed the easy and affordable access to food and drinks without the sticker shock of off-base ski resorts.
“They were really glad that there this warm space inside and could get food and drinks,” Ceja said. “A lot of them went to outside ski resorts when Hillberg was closed and the food is so expensive there, while the prices here are just what they would pay at any of our Expresses.”
In appreciation for her service, Ceja was coined last month by 673rd Air Base Wing Commander Col. David Wilson, a regular on the Hillberg slopes. With only a year and a half under her belt with the Exchange, she has received three coins from JBER leaders, her first two coming from 673d Contracting Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Alfred Fryman in February 2023 and March 2024.
“We’re extremely thrilled to have an associate like Kryzia who’s willing to step up and go where the community needs us most,” Deano said. “Hillberg is one of our most popular facilities and she went above and beyond to make sure our service members and their families were taken care of there.”
Kryzia Ceja with 673rd Air Base Wing Commander Col. David Wilson. Ceja received a challenge coin from Wilson, a regular on the Hillberg Ski Area slopes, for her support at the ski area’s snack bar.
