Remembering Max Burkhart

High school graduation is filled with meaning and reflection. Nowhere was that more apparent than with Sugar Bowl Academy’s Class of 2019. This year’s graduating class—the school’s 20th—had the unusual opportunity to ski down to their graduation ceremony, thanks to a blockbuster winter in the Sierra Nevada. As they slalomed down to the deck of the Judah Lodge, the boys were dressed in lederhosen, to honor their classmate Max Burkhart. Burkhart died tragically while racing a Downhill in Lake Louise, Canada on December 7, 2017. Throughout the ceremony, his classmates remembered him with stories, memories and insights on Max’s legacy. 

Burkhart, a native of Oberammergau, Germany, has close family in Squaw Valley. He had come to Sugar Bowl Academy as a junior in 2017 to pursue his ski racing and education at a high level.  He immediately fell in love with the school and quickly became a force on campus, thanks to his positive spirit, outgoing personality and zest for life. Oberammergau is known for the Passion Play, the reenactment of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection which has been performed by the town’s residents once every ten years since 1633. Like most everyone in Oberammergau, Max was a natural and trained performer: confident, bold and creative. Senior Morgan Ellis spoke in touching detail about the profound impact Max had on the entire school in his short time there, and his “larger than life” spirit that remains strong throughout Sugar Bowl Academy.

Sitting unobtrusively at the back of the campus lawn is

Article source: https://www.skiracing.com/premium/remembering-max-burkhart