SBA Mobilizes for 3rd Annual Tahoe Lake Century

For the third straight year, Sugar Bowl Academy student-athletes will cycle around Lake Tahoe on May 21st to raise funds for both Sugar Bowl Academy and World Bicycle Relief. For a look back at last year's Tahoe Lake Century, click HERE.

At today's All School Meeting, the older boys' advisory group began mobilizing the campus for the big event, detailing the different legs of the peddle along with the group's fundraising goals. On behalf of Sugar Bowl Academy and World Bicycle Relief, The Fighting Marmot thanks parents and students in advance for their participation in this important, community-building event.

Argentine Makes SBA Campus Landfall

Argentine culture came alive in Spanish 5 this week.  Thank you to SBA Spanish teacher Aly Kendall for the following report of a rich cultural exchange that she initiated for the benefit of SBA student-athletes.

"Spanish 5 welcomed two guests late this week. Annika Deurlington, a freshman at Claremont McKenna College and graduate of Truckee High, spent the previous school year on a rotary scholarship in Argentina. A true ambassador for study abroad, she modeled lovely Spanish and encouraged our SBA students to take advantage of any similar opportunities that might come their way. Her friend, Martín Benavides, a native of Argentina who is visiting Annika during a break from his college studies, was eager to share with the class as well. It was wonderful to see Chris, Chuck and Conner welcome these guests and show genuine interest in their lives. Annika and Martín shared a little bit of their perspectives with us, allowed us to practice Spanish with a native speaker, and generally expanded our visions of the Spanish-speaking world. It was a special opportunity for us, and we were grateful for their visit.”

Is it Graupel? Hail? Snow? Rime?

"Graupel" has been the word of the week on campus this week. 

Since spell check on Blogger doesn't even recognize it, you might not, either (but it is in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary - click HERE). 

Donner Summit has seen it all lately: snow, graupel, rain, probably even rime. In Monday's All School Meeting, Head of School Tracy Keller had advisory groups conduct smart phone and iPad-assisted Web searches to learn about and articulate before their peers the properties of the various kinds of precipitation we see from our campus at the base of Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. The following is an iPhone photo essay from the meeting. 

Fell Festival on the Small Screen

Fall Festival and Spirit Week 2012 will probably best be remembered for Marc Talbott's triumph in the pie-eating contest, but there were a lot of memories made last week at SBA. Thank you to Student Council for planning and executing a fun and memorable Fall Festival!

Scene on Campus Pic of the Day

Trips program groups have begun meeting to organize and to allow for student-athlete input into these experiential learning opportunities. Click HERE to learn more about our Inaugural Trips Program. 

Andy Knox and Andy Giordano will be co-leading a coastal scuba-diving trip. Below, Andy and Andy confer with their group. 

Scene on Campus Pic of the Day

Student Council sponsored its first All School Meeting challenge today. Stay tuned for more scenes from the "cookie challenge," but here's a little taste...


- Marmot Man, Powered by BlogPress

On Character

SBA seniors Chris Fitzpatrick, Katrin Larusson, and Chuck Klein addressed the student body at our opening Village Hall formal dinner Tuesday. One of the main thrusts of their address: character... 

SBA Sends Delegates to Model U.N.

Alex Alvarez, Conner Evans, and Chris Fitzpatrick represented Sugar Bowl Academy on May 19-20 at the University of California-Davis Model United Nations conference. SBA students served on the Arab League Crisis Committee as delegates representing Tunisia, Iraq, and the U.A.E. The focus of this session of the Model U.N. was the Arab Spring in Egypt and Syria.

Hamlet Cast Takes Fencing Lessons from Coach Schloss

Head Nordic Coach Jeff Schloss took some time off from the skinny skis recently to show SBA student-athlete-actors some of his fencing moves. 

Enjoy the short film (with music by Truckee violinist Liz Glattly) and Joanne Knox's preview of the spring play, and get your tickets now for the big event! 

"In preparation for the spring drama performance of an adapted version of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, students have been busy analyzing characters’ motives, memorizing lines, learning Shakespearean language, and even received some fencing instruction from Nordic coach extraordinaire, Jeff Schloss. The enthusiasm and excitement around this production is palpable! Our Hamlet (junior Chuck Klein) is supported by: Riley Plant (Claudius), Camille Hartley (Gertrude), Cassidy Cichowicz (Ophelia), Augie DeRyk (Polonius), Joe Piercy (Laertes), Lauren Dunn (Horatio), Chris Fitzpatrick (Ghost of Hamlet's father), Colter Fellows (Marcellus), and Devin Gill and Matt Hourigan (Players and Gravediggers). The play is held together by the explanation of our enthusiastic storytellers Dylan Murtha, Grace Hutton, and Katrin Larusson. Please join us Friday, June 15th (the night before graduation) at Judah lodge for our performance. You can reserve tickets by contacting Joanne Knox (jknox@sbacademy.org); the cost is $5 per a ticket and this production will sell out, so get your requests in soon! Thanks in advance for supporting SBA drama!" - Joanne Knox

Class of Titans on the Table Tennis Court

A make-shift ping-pong table has seen a lot of action lately on dorm. Here, Chris Fitzpatrick takes on Brian Francis.

SBA-TV Reports from Schweitzer

Diet Coke Kai

In this "Get to Know Your Coach" special, Devin Gill and Chris Fitzpatrick learn about Coach "Jefe" Kai's beverage of choice. You'll notice that Devin has been working on a new sign off (Marmot Man tells me he thinks that Devin should add a 360-degree spin between "SBA" and "TV")... Enjoy, and keep an eye out for the controlled chaos in the background!

Role Play Today at SBA

Joanne Knox submitted the following photo of a Humanities class production. Said Joanne: "Students are reading Mark Twain's Puddn'head Wilson, a story that deals with the bucolic town of Dawson's Landing, Missouri around the time of the Civil War. Students today presented skits incorporating plot elements, characterization, and textual support in costume."

Scene on Campus: Clean and Other Advisory Action

Prestige Gallery in the making

Chris Fitzpatrick on the palm sander,
Ambrose on supervision

Austin Peña and Spencer Crist on Clean

SBA TV Reports from Alyeska, Alaska

Scene on Campus Photo of the Day

Chris Fitzpatrick in the Science Lab; Photo by Andy Giordano

Mind, Body,... Steak!

Have you tried "The Man Special" at the Tamarack Grill? 


Student/athletes in Devin Gill's Nutrition elective were recently given the following marching orders (thanks to Riley Plant for the copy that follows...): 

Gill assigned two groups in the class, one consisting of 3 boys and the other of 4 girls. Chris (Fitzpatrick), Chuck (Klein), and I were assigned to make an entertaining commercial explaining the nutritional value and taste of a meal. We talk about a 20 ounce steak, one baked potato, a glass of milk, garden salad, and apple crisp. We had a lot of fun making the meal, especially the steak. None of us is an expert chef, so we ended up tasting and re-cooking the steak three times. It slowly turned from a raw piece of meat to a slightly-more-cooked piece of raw meat. In addition to talking about the nutritional value of the foods, we showed how a healthy meal, like ours, can lead to enhanced performance in the Performance Training Center. Despite taking about four hours, the project was very fun and we have a lot to remember and laugh about from it. 

Star Power in the Performance Training Center

Rahlves (far right), runs with
Dylan Murtha, Chris Fitzpatrick, and Luke Rodarte.
(Photo by Andy Giordano)

U.S. Olympic speed skier Daron Rahlves brought his star power to the Sugar Bowl Academy Performance Training Center Wednesday afternoon.

“This is like being home more and more,” said Rahlves, who led the student/athletes from the academy’s Alpine and Freestyle skiing disciplines through a grueling “plyometric” workout.

“I have four year-old twins, and they’re in the Sugar Bowl program this season.

High Fives! Photo by Andy Giordano

“The Sugar Bowl Academy, it’s something that, if I had this when I was growing up, this is where I would be. 

“I’m hoping to add a few things with my experiences through…training, racing in the World Cup and having some success there and passing it on.

“There are a lot of hard workers here, and if I can give a little help to make it run a little easier, that’s what it’s all about.”

Rahlves spun a few tales from the professional skiing circuit for the SBA student/athletes, and also gave MVP awards to the hardest working male and female.

Female MVP went to SBA freshman Lauren Dunn, while male MVP went to SBA 2011 graduate Scott Cooper.

Celebrando el cinco de mayo

Maya Crosby made this piñata rana

Is it crass commercialization or a true cultural celebration? 


Is el cinco de mayo Mexican Independence Day? (Hint: NOT!!!)


Bria Riggs addressed the SBA student body on the subject of el cinco de mayo at All School Meeting on Friday, and the celebration of the unlikely defeat of French forces by a small Mexican fighting contingent in Puebla on May 5, 1862, was in full swing on campus today. 

papel picado

The eighth-grade advisory contributed papel picado while Student Council planned a piñata bashing that ended with one mighty swing from Steven el Trueno Tetrault. Chef Molly chipped in her Mexican culinary expertise with a tasty burrito bar. 


And, on the related subject of the Spanish language, an SBA Spanish 3 class, with considerable iMovie expertise from Chuck Klein, produced the embedded movie below. 


The scenario: a fortune-teller (Chris Fitzpatrick) gives various clients (Maya Crosby, Joe Piercy, Chuck Klein, and Conner Evans) some good and bad news about what he sees in their respective futures.