SBA Alumni Offer Some Sage Advice

Have they already achieved "sage" status? Now enjoying their first year in college, several SBA alumni stopped by campus late last week to offer their advice to the senior class on a variety of topics, from what life is like as a college athlete to how to navigate SBA's challenging Senior Projects (click HERE to learn more). Thank you to Joanne Knox for the following report. 

SBA Class of 2012 Members (left to right) Kelly Habibi,
Joelle Romo, Joe Piercy, and Dylan Murtha

"Some of the illustrious alumni from the class of 2012 recently stopped by SBA’s Senior Project class to impart some sage advice and wisdom to this year’s senior class. Kelly Habibi, Dylan Murtha, Joe Piercy, and Joelle Romo provided our current seniors with an understanding of how the skills they learned in Senior Project have helped them succeed in their freshman year coursework. Additionally, current students probed our alumni on topics ranging from what it is like to be a college athlete to how the food on campus tastes to what it is like to be in a college classroom. Special thanks to our alumni for their support of our current seniors!"

Wild West and Business Days Caught on Film

More from Spring Spirit Week 2012 follows:

SBA Goes Big, Then Home at Pole Peddle Paddle

Congratulations, again, to Nordic Coaches Schloss and Tuscano for their fantastic finish at the Pole Peddle Paddle last weekend in Bend, Oregon! 

Coach Schloss submitted the following highlights. You will notice that each of the SBA student-athlete teams that participated in the event finished first in its division!

 

"Bend, Oregon’s Pole Pedal Paddle is a six-leg relay race that includes alpine skiing/snowboarding, xc skiing, biking, running, canoe/kayaking, and a sprint to the finish for a total distance of about 34 miles. This year, 2,922 racers competed in the 882 individual/team entries. Olympian and US Nordic Ski Team member Kris Freeman won the men’s elite division and XC Oregon’s Stephanie Howe won her third straight title in the women’s elite race. Six SBA teams represented Far West Nordic. All SBA teams came in first in their division with the exception of coaches Ambrose Tuscano and Jeff Schloss who were second in their age group but seventeenth overall. Ambrose alpine skied, biked, and paddled while Jeff nordic skied, ran and sprinted.

• Team SBA: Skyler Mullings and Casey Jobe - WINNERS of pairs age 17 and under.

• Team Gangstar Ninjas: Cassidy Cichowicz and Scott Cooper - WINNERS of coed pairs age 18-24.

• Team PB: Bria Riggs and Peter Carroll - WINNERS of coed pairs under 17.

• Team Victorious Secret (males): Joe Piercy and Austin Meng - WINNERS of male pairs 18-24.

• Team Victorious Secret (females): Savannah Blide and Erika Klenk - WINNERS of female pairs under 17."

Left to Right: Casey Jobe, Jeff Schloss, Skyler Mullings, Peter Carroll,
Austin Meng, Scott Cooper

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

Scene on Campus Photo of the Day, 4/5

Team Nordic goes alpine skiing, and gets their dinosaur on.

(note the flame coming from Jefe's pole!)

Scene on Campus Photos of the Day, 4/3

The Prestige Gallery has been many, many moons in the making but is nearing completion. During advisory today some of the finishing touches were applied. The idea of a snow-pool-like "guestimate" of the official opening day has heretofore been floated. 

J1 Women Sweep, J2 Riggs Tops Podium at Far West JO Classic Qualifier, Mammoth

Scene on Campus Photo of the Day 1/4

SBA Nordic Team Dominant in First Junior Nationals Qualifier

The following report of Marmot mastery of snow and skis comes courtesy of Nordic Coaches Schloss and Tuscano...

Bria Riggs (photo by Mark Nadell)

"The snow was only 4 inches deep on the trails of Auburn Ski Club on December 28 for the first Junior National Qualifier (JNQ) race of the 2011-2012 season, but this did not stop the SBA Nordic team from turning in some remarkable performances in the classic sprint race.

 
"Every SBA J1 and J2 had a qualifying time in the 1.2K preliminary round. There are three more JN qualifiers and these athletes who qualified in this first race only need to qualify in one more of the qualifiers to make the Far West Team for the 2012 Junior National Championships which will be held in Soldier Hollow Utah, March 5-12th. 

"The format for the JNQ race included a 1.2-kilometer preliminary loop with each athlete racing against the clock. Next, athletes were ranked by their preliminary race times and the top 20 women and the top 20 men raced in 4-person head to head heats. The top 2 from each heat advanced to a semifinal heat of six racers and then the top two from each semifinal advanced to the final. 

"Junior National qualifying was based on the preliminary round only and the Fighting Marmots came out fast. Bria Riggs had the fastest time of all the women followed closely by Katrin Larusson, Cassidy Cichowicz, Laurel Fiddler, Joelle Romo, Savannah Blide, Danielle Nivinski, and Camille Hartley for an SBA sweep of the top 8 places! SBA senior Kelly Habibi qualified in 11th place and J3 racer Olivia Jeffrey was outside the qualifying cut off but skied strong in 19th place.

"In the men’s qualifying round, Joe Piercy had a breakout race with the 8th fastest overall and second fastest junior time. Joe was followed by Sam Zabell in 13th with the fastest J2 time and by Peter Carroll in 20th; all three of these guys easily made the JN qualifying standard. J3s Skyler Mullings and Trent Hommeyer raced strong against the field of older racers placing 28th and 37th respectively.

"In the women’s heats it was again SBA dominating the field again, with the overall win going to Katrin Larusson, with Laurel Fiddler in second, and Cassidy Cichowicz in third. Bria Riggs finished 4th and was the top J2 while Joelle Romo, Danielle Nivinski, and Camille Hartley swept the top spots of the “B” final for places 7-9.

"The men’s heats were highly competitive with several strong college racers and a member of the US ski team and the Canadian Development team on hand to mix it up with the Far West juniors. SBA graduate Austin Meng had one of the best sprint races of his life, taking 3rd while Sam Zabell placed 9th and Joe Piercy 11th.

"All in all it was an extremely strong day for SBA and sets the stage for what looks to be an awesome year for the Nordic squad. Now if it would just start snowing…

Scene on Campus, 1/2

Congratulations to Joe Piercy on his scholarship!

Orientation 2011, Day 1

Fighting Marmot family,


Weary but exhilarated from today's adventures - and still burning fuel from the campire smorefest that concluded the day's athletic and advisory activities - the faculty and student/athletes of SBA are settling into our cabins for the night at the Community of the Great Comission.


Hope you enjoy some highlights from Day 1 of SBA Orientation 2011...


• The majority of the SBA student/athletes elected a 10-mile mountain bike ride through manzanita and live oak stands on the hard-packed Forest Hill Divide Trail, which divides the North Fork of the American River from the Middle Fork.


• Nordic Coaches Jeff Schloss and Martin Benes along with faculty member Steve Ascher and Head of School Tracy Keller led a small group of road bikers on a 28-mile ride. The most ambitious of the bunch, including Joe Piercy, Alec Wiltz, Bria Riggs, and Schloss rode 49 miles, down to the middle fork of the American River to Ralston Reservoir, where they enjoyed some swim time.


From what I understand of the area (thanks to Coach Schloss),
these giant forks of the American River are where gold was discovered, starting the California gold rush, making our 2011 orientation site the epicenter of the first big environmental fight in the U.S.


Gold miners came into conflict with the farmers in the area by damming the creeks and using the dammed water to conduct hydraulic blasting of the surrounding hillside.


• Steve Ascher pointed out a spectacular iridium flare from a satellite passing overhead, but most of the student/athlete population was too deep into smores to take notice.


Day 2 features field day events!


-Marmot Man, powered by Blogpress and iPhone

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.