A new breed of Ski Academy is coming.
A new breed of Ski Academy is coming.
We are creating a new Ski academy that is unlike any other ski academy.
The pieces are being put together right now. Today. From scratch. An empty slate. Which means we are not beholden to old ideas. And we do not cater to the statement “because we’ve always done it that way:” New thinking built on proven ideas, driven by cutting-edge science and state-of- the-art technology, with a champions heart and a rebel spirit is the stuff of which we are made. We’re decidedly cut from a different cloth. Both in the classroom and on the mountain, this one-of-a-kind academy will prepare our students for success as an athlete and a person. The ski academy of the future is being created now.
This has been my dream since before I began my career as a ski racer: Integrate an innovative ski training and racing program with world-class academics. Now, join me as a first-of-its-kind school takes shape.
Welcome to the Bode Miller Ski Academy, a blended learning private high school offering personalized programming for students who are aspiring athletes and whose training regime requires a more flexible academic schedule.
Youth Performance Academy runs our elite academics, a rigorous program built on a foundation of 143 years of academic excellence. As part of YPA all students participate in the award-winning youth leadership and character-building program created by The Institute for Civic Leadership. It will be a truly transformative experience for these young people.
And, as I was able to advance through the early years of my ski racing with the extensive support of my community, the Academy will, in turn, actively engage the local and regional community with the ultimate benefit going to young athletes by way of an extensive scholarship program.
Against the backdrop of towering ski slopes and high-alpine meadows, the Bode Miller Ski Academy will stand as a beacon of excellence and international leadership in ski academy training and academics.
Designed to blend Alpine, Nordic, Freestyle and Adaptive ski training into a single academy, the Bode Miller Ski Academy is a unique facility that addresses all four of these disciplines with a barrier-free architectural design. Drawing upon historic Rocky Mountain, Tyrolean and Scandinavian designs, the Academy reflects traditional forms and solutions applied in a new and refreshing combination that will represent the forward-thinking vision of the Academy team. Additionally, utilizing new research in neuroscience, the Academy design will embody an academic environment certain to improve the learning and rehabilitation of all that attend.
It’s a new vision, supported by strong human values, that equals exceptional results.
Donald H. Ruggles, AIA, NCARB, ICAA, ANFA
Architect
OUR MISSION: INSPIRE, DEVELOP AND EDUCATE THE STARS OF TOMORROW TO BECOME CHAMPIONS IN LIFE AS WELL AS SPORTS.
The Bode Miller Ski Academy will provide young people with world class academics, advanced leadership training and personalized, comprehensive and unparalleled athletic training. The Academy will be accessible to young people from the region by way of a broad scholarship program and will imbue the grit, independence and spirit of the outdoors into each participant.
We will be the preeminent ski academy in the United States that emphasizes excellence in academics, sport, and community.
The academics and athletic development will be elite yet the ethos of the Academy will be focused on three pillars: Inspire, Educate, Take Action. This encompasses all aspects of academics, leadership and character development as well as athletic competition and growth. The Academy’s foundation lies in its teaching of grit, resilience, character, hard work, support of and contribution to fellow classmates, the Academy and the community.
The addition of an adaptive sports component to the Academy will be first of its kind. The inclusion of adaptive athletes will promote inclusion and establish the standard of universal access for all.
FACILITIES FOR OLYMPIANS
Designed by Bode Miller for the next generation of athletes. This elite fitness facility for student-athletes and the local community will enable students to excel in their sport and become well rounded individuals physically and mentally.
The academy will feature world-class facilities and equipment, cutting-edge therapy, on-site physical therapists and sports psychologists, with ski-in ski-out convenience.
WORLD-CLASS ACADEMICS & CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Extremely tailored education for student athletes to become their best self and have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and become valuable members of their community through philanthropy and volunteerism.
The Youth Performance Academy seeks to Inspire and Educate the next generation of scholar athletes, dancers, musicians, performers and entrepreneurs.
YPA is a school without walls and boundaries and utilizes a vast array of global partnerships to deliver a truly innovative and personalized program for each individual student. The benefit of having YPA as the education partner is to utilize the accreditation and IP of YPA and Dwight Global supplemented with a support teaching staff with minimal number of master teachers but a larger number of support / oxford style mentors. The Academics offered will be an innovative curriculum, built from a partnership between the Dwight Global Program, Youth Performance Academy and The Institute for Civic Leadership. Dwight Global will provide honors and accelerated courses, YPA will incorporate character and effort systems and will be focused around project based learning, providing a fast track to achieve state requirements. The Institute for Civic Leadership will be the ed-tech curriculum partner for supplemental project-based learning modules tailored around ski racing.
LEADERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Bode Miller
Bode Miller is well known for his athletic accomplishments as the winningest Alpine skier in US history. Since retiring in 2015, he’s put a great deal of energy and effort towards the development of products and companies relating to his interests and background, sometimes directly and in other cases, indirectly relating to his experience.
Importantly, the same intensity, curiosity, quality of thought and intellect that led to his success as ski racer drives Bode’s unique ability to innovate. Bode remains passionate about skiing and is a golfer, tennis player, mountain biker and resides in Big Sky, Montana.
Andy Wirth
Andy Wirth has served as a senior executive within the mountain resort and recreation industry for over thirty years. Wirth’s global experience includes serving as the Chief Executive Officer – Mountain for NEOM, the $33.5B giga project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and CEO & President at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, the parent company of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows resorts. Andy has been directly involved with competitive skiing over the past thirty years including being selected by Governors Brown (CA) and Sandoval (NV) to lead the Lake Tahoe Winter Olympic Committee, having served on the US Ski & Snowboard Team Board of Directors, was Board Chair of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club for nearly a decade, board member of the High Fives Foundation and responsible for oversight or serving as chairman of nine FIS World Cup events, including Nordic Combined, Freestyle and Alpine World Cup events. Wirth also chaired/hosted multiple US Alpine Nationals and NCAA Championships. Andy raised his three children on the family horse ranch north of Steamboat, Colorado and all three children were alpine ski racers in the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. Bode Miller and Wirth have been close friends for many years and have multiple mutual business interests, including M Bar W Enterprises, LLC, based out of Montana. Wirth is a driven, innovative and collaborative executive leader with experience in operations, mergers and acquisitions. transition management, brand development and marketing and, importantly, the development of high-performance teams. Andy is an active skier, alpinist, Nordic skier, trail runner, triathlete, hunter, mountain biker, skydiver and scuba diver. Andy resides near Bozeman, Montana.
Sam Fairchild
Sam Fairchild is an experienced innovator in the alpine and adaptive ski sector, with stints as director of operations and marketing at a global ski manufacturer, and as a leader in adaptive sports non-profit foundations. He has built vibrant, high-loyalty brand communities, and has considerable experience in developing and implementing successful alpine sports training and education programs. Sam’s 360° perspective of the skiing community is fueled by his passion for skiing and his considerable experience in enabling a diverse community of students to enjoy snow sports. He led a successful procurement company and enjoys a proven track record in bringing complex projects across the finish line. Sam is an active skier, golfer, occasional marathoner, and cyclist and resides in Hanover, New Hampshire.
STRATEGIC ADVISORS
Roy Tuscany
Originally from Waterbury, VT and after graduating from the University of Vermont with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Roy headed out west to pursue the dream of being a professional freeskier. In 2006, Roy suffered a life-altering injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down and was the catalyst to the creation of High Fives Foundation, whose mission is to prevent life-changing injuries while providing resources and hope if they happen. Roy turned the financial and community support of his own recovery into a ‘pay-it-forward’ adventure with the creation of the national NPO. He was named the “Spirit inspires” award from Disabled Sports USA in 2011 and once held the world record for the most high fives in a 24 hour period. He lives in Reno, Nevada with his fiance, Alana Nichols and son Gunnar and enjoys finding fun in everything he does.
Donald H. Ruggles
Donald H. Ruggles, AIA, is CEO of Ruggles Mabe Studio, a boutique residential architecture and interior design firm based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1970, the firm is dedicated to the idea that beauty can improve the lives of its clients. Their award winning projects have been featured in publications world-wide. Don is the author of the book Beauty, Neuroscience & Architecture (2017) and Executive Producer of the full-length documentary movie Built Beautiful (2020). Don serves on the Board of Directors of The Human Architecture & Planning Institute, the Building Beautiful Institute and the Board of Advisors of the College of Architecture & Planning at the University of Colorado Denver. He is also a Board Emeritus of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Rocky Mountain Chapter and a member of the Design Leadership Network. Don is married and is the proud father of two adult children
Alana Nichols
Alana Nichols grew up in Farmington, New Mexico living an active lifestyle by participating in multiple athletics and having a passion for skiing and snowboarding. In 2000 during a ski trip in Colorado, she suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury while snowboarding, paralyzing her from the waist down. She later received her master’s degree in Kinesiology from the University of Alabama.
She has competed in several Paralympic games and is the first woman Paralympian to win gold medals at both Summer and Winter games. She has competed in wheelchair basketball, Paralympic alpine monoskiing, and at her final Paralympic games in Rio, paracanoeing.
Alana may have retired from her Paralympic career, but while in the mix of training for her multiple events, she developed a new passion for surfing that which, like most of the things she does, she excels. With her beautiful newly born baby boy Gunnar and her husband Roy Tuscany, she will continue surfing, working to implement adaptive surfing into the 2024 games, being an amazing athlete, and even better mother and person.
Justin Bell
Justin Bell brings 15 years of experience in high-end residential and commercial architecture and is licensed in Colorado, Georgia, and Florida. His passion for the profession began at an early age, influenced by his grandfather, a trained architect. After completing his studies, he immersed himself in traditional and historical architecture at residential firms in Atlanta. In making the move to Denver and joining Ruggles Mabe Studio, Justin intends to make a positive impact on the architectural fabric of Colorado through traditional architecture and thoughtful design. “Justin’s traditional sensibility combined with his aptitude for leadership and collaboration will deliver the level of design and service our clients have come to know us for,” said Donald H. Ruggles, AIA, NCARB, ICAA, CEO of Ruggles Mabe Studio. “There is no doubt he will make a notable contribution to Colorado’s architectural beauty.”