In The News – UNR ski team gains momentum at NCAA Championships
March 17, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Sierra Sun, 03/17/2025, Written by Zoe Meyer
The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) ski team continues its upward trajectory under head coach Cameron Smith, who recently completed his second season leading the program. With a more experienced roster and a structured training approach, the Wolf Pack demonstrated significant progress at the 2025 NCAA Skiing Championships at Dartmouth Skiway in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Smith, who has emphasized a holistic and disciplined approach to training, believes the team’s development is beginning to show tangible results. “I think that having a more holistic approach to the whole season can usually display better results,” he said. “A lot of the athletes are now used to my coaching style.”
The team’s growing experience has also contributed to its success….
From Incline High School Principal Cahill: 3/17/2025
🥇 Ski Team Success! This past week, we celebrated our Boys and Girls Ski teams at their banquet, and we’re still in awe—our Boys team brought home THREE State titles, while our Girls team earned the runner-up spot! 🎿🏆 Congratulations, Highlanders!
🦀 A Huge Thank You to Our Boosters! The Crab Feed was a smashing success, and for the first time, Incline Bowl was transformed into an incredible event space! With the overwhelming generosity of our community, we hit the $125,000 matching donation goal from the Dave and Cheryl Duffield Foundation! Their continued support elevates our school in ways beyond words, and we couldn’t be more grateful. 💙
🤸♀️ History in the Making! Our inaugural Incline Gymnastics Team recently competed at the Grand Sierra Resort for a state title! Their strength, skill, and determination are nothing short of inspiring, and we are so proud of their first season!
⚾🥎 Spring Team Athletics Update:
Baseball & Softball teams notched key victories this week—way to go!
Boys Golf hit the course for their first tournament of the season, placing 3rd overall! Sam Lager shot an 80 and Lucas MacDonald an 82—a great start as the team gets into full swing! ⛳
Originally Published in Lake Tahoe School Email Newsletter
As members of the Lake Tahoe School community – every one of us a Bobcat – we have much to be proud of. From our outstanding academic program and recent activities like last Friday’s Pi Day celebration, to enrichment classes for all grades in music, art, Makerspace, and PE—including Spanish and Science in the Lower School—and after-school programs that seem to grow in scope and offerings each year, the opportunities abound. While each of these areas serves as a significant and positive marker of what we do best, there are at least three other areas of impressive student offerings and achievement that often fly under the radar.
The first of these is our Chess Club and Team. Composed of Lower School students with occasional Middle School invitees, the number of members for both often totals over 50 for various meetings and competitions. Coach Eric Ostertag has put together a formidable group of chess competitors. So competitive, in fact, that our girls captured the Nevada State Girls Championship last year. Recently, a large contingent of our students “invaded” Texas to enter the Texas Online State Scholastic Chess Championship. “Invaded” may be a tame word, considering we walked away with numerous individual and team champions. We are thrilled to host the upcoming Northern Nevada Scholastic Chess Championships (Open and Girls’) in Duffield Hall the last two weekends in March. We are incredibly proud of our Bobcat Chess Team!
Another low-flying program, unless you are a Middle School student or parent, is our Middle School Winterim Program. Winterim serves as a wonderful capstone to our all-school outdoor program that begins with the second-grade sleepover on our backfield, and other Lower School overnight programs in South Lake, California Gold Country, and the Bay Area coast. Middle School overnights include Mt. Rose, Project Discovery, and our annual year-ending Adventure Week. Winterim is often our students’ most memorable experience of all these opportunities. This year, with trips to a working farm for the sixth grade, Washington, D.C. for the seventh, and our eighth graders now returning from a working coffee plantation in Costa Rica, our Winterim program remains a focal point of engagement and excitement for our Middle School students.
Hardly buried under the radar, but worthy of as much recognition as we can provide, is our Drama Program under the marvelous direction of Ms. Amory and her able crew. Beyond her annual Middle School drama elective and performance, Ms. Amory engages LTS students from 2nd to 8th grade in an after-school program where their annual performances and musicals are the year’s highlight for both students and parents alike. If there is an unrecognized aspect of our productions, it is the hard work and effort Ms. Amory and her students put in with tryouts, rehearsals, and the final act of pulling it all together for the onstage performances. Overcoming their tears and fears, practicing for hours – at school and home – and memorizing innumerable lines, placements, and songs, our students shine every time they are on stage. Please join us at our Winnie the Pooh Kids production on Friday, March 28, in Duffield Hall and witness the magic and joy of our students on stage.
To be a Bobcat means many things, but most of all, it means experiencing innumerable opportunities to try new things, find your strengths, and be supported and encouraged throughout that process. We are proud of all of our students and are proudest when we see their growth as students and young people right before our eyes. Bobcat Pride!
There are three upcoming events, two in the Duffield Theater:
The Concert Band is performing tonight, 3/12 from 6:30-8pm
It’s Freshman Parent Night tomorrow, 3/13 from 5-7pm
And, of course, the Crab Feed is this Saturday, 3/15 at Incline Bowl.
Tickets are sold out, but you can still participate by making a donation or bidding in the online auction, which will be open until 3/17/25. For more information, contact: tara.cannon347@gmail.com.
The IHS Crab Feed has a generous $125K match from the Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation.
Donations, Silent Auction bids (online), and Live and FAN proxies are available on the website link below.
You can bid on Flights over Lake Tahoe, amazing buy-in parties and an incredible Napa trip – a private flight for up to 8 people and two exclusive wineries and chef catered lunch.
Disney’s WINNIE THE POOH KIDS – Playing at Lake Tahoe School in Incline Village – Allie Sacci
Disney’s Winnie the Pooh KIDS is playing at Lake Tahoe School on Friday, March 28, 2025, at 5:30 pm. The 30-minute musical, designed for elementary school-aged performers, is based on the 2011 animated feature film. The Lake Tahoe School Drama Club cast includes 37 students ranging from 2nd to 8th grade, led by Ms. Amory Bundy.
“We are beyond proud of our multi-age production of Winnie the Pooh Kids,” Ms. Amory shares. “Students have given their all to make this short musical one not to be missed.”
Disney’s Winnie the Pooh KIDSis a timeless story about friendship and adventure based on the beloved characters of A.A. Milne and the 2011 Disney animated feature film. Welcome to the Hundred Acre Wood, where Winnie the Pooh is once again in search of honey. Along the way, he meets his pals Tigger, Piglet, Rabbit, and Owl, but soon discovers that Christopher Robin has been captured by the mysterious Backson! As they prepare for a rescue operation, the animals learn about teamwork, friendship, and of course… sharing snacks. Featuring classic songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, plus new hits by Academy Award-winning songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen), this honey-filled delight is as sweet as it is fun.
Admission is free and open to the community.
Disney’s Winnie the Pooh KIDSis presented through special arrangement with and all materials provided by Music Theatre International. For more information about licensing Winnie the Pooh KIDSor other Disney shows, please visit www.DisneyMusicals.com.
Lake Tahoe School (LTS) is an independent preschool through eighth grade in Incline Village, Nevada, founded in 1997. Our mission at Lake Tahoe School is to create a joyful and academically challenging environment that echoes the wonder of Lake Tahoe, cultivates community, and sparks personal discovery that leads to an extraordinary future for every student.
Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world’s leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting theatres from around the world the rights to perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond. Founded in 1952 by composer Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker, MTI is a driving force in advancing musical theatre as a vibrant and engaging art form.
MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists, and bookwriters of these musicals to provide official scripts, musical materials, and dynamic theatrical resources to over 70,000 professional, community, and school theatres in the US and in over 60 countries worldwide.
MTI is particularly dedicated to educational theatre and has created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performers and audiences. MTI’s Broadway Junior® shows are 30- and 60-minute musicals for performance by elementary and middle school-aged performers, while MTI’s School Editions are musicals annotated for performance by high school students.
In The News – UNR Tahoe students dive into local sustainability
March 5, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 03/04/2025, Written by Leah Carter
Sustainability students at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe kicked off the new semester last month, with the new Sustainability Certificate program in just its second cohort. Five students graduated in Fall 2024 with the first cohort, and five more are set to complete the program again in spring.
The coursework is modeled after the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, in order to answer real-world questions in the basin and region. The program is designed like a study abroad program, giving students based on the Reno campus the opportunity to spend a full semester at the Wayne L. Prim campus in Incline Village. This allows students to fully immerse themselves in their research, much of which is local and in the field.
IES hosted a very successful H’art & Harmony event right before the break. It was a celebration of the art and music programs at IES. Students held music performances, showcased their recent art projects, and made Valentine’s crafts.
Incline Middle School
The third quarter has brought a couple of new offerings to the Incline Middle Exploratory. Avalanche Safety and Drone Piloting are getting kids outside and teaching them tech skills.
Incline High School
Exciting news that most of you may have already heard… both the boys ski team and the varsity basketball team are Nevada State Champions!
The Incline High boys varsity basketball defeated the Needles Mustangs 55-50 to become the 2025 AA Nevada State Champions. Playing in Las Vegas at UNLV, the boys beat a Needles team that defeated them in last years state title game. Led by 8 phenomenal seniors, the boys finished as regional champs and state champs with a record of 23 wins and 6 losses. Senior Tommy Williams was named State Player of the Year while Junior Halen Hanson and Senior Colin Combs were named 1st Team All State. Seniors Jaden Abbate and Colton Barraza were named Honorable Mention All State along with Junior Lucas MacDonald. Head Coach Tim Kelly was named Nevada Coach of the Year.
In The News – Highlander boys prevail as state basketball champions
February 25, 2025 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 02/25/2025, Written by Katelyn Welsh
The Incline boys basketball team is celebrating their season end as state champions after beating Needles High School on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas during the NIAA 2A state tournament.
“We had been waiting and preparing for this game for 365 days,” coach Tim Kelly said. Incline had played Needles in the state title game last year and fell short. They’ve been counting down the days since, waiting for their opportunity to redeem and prove themselves the better team.
“After we lost last year in Reno, we said in the locker room that Tommy’s missed free throw would be the beginning of the movie, not the end of the movie,” Kelly said.
From Incline Village to Nepal: Helping a Remote Himalayan Village Thrive
January 29, 2025 | Member Submitted
Submitted and Written by local residents Helen & Eric Durfee, 1/25/2025
Longtime Incline Village residents Helen and Eric Durfee are dedicated board members of the Basa Village Foundation USA, regularly traveling to Nepal to support the remote village of Basa. From donating ski jackets to funding education, supplies and keeping power on through hydroelectic projects, the Basa Village foundation helps improve the lives of the people of Basa.
Basa is a remote village in Nepal, off the beaten path, in the foothills of the Himalayas, south of Mt Everest. It consists of 63 households primarily engaged in subsistence farming. Jeff Rasley, after many trips to Nepal, founded the Basa Village Foundation USA (https://bvfusa.org) in 2008, to improve the way of life for the people of Basa. I’ve been on the board since 2001. Some of the projects that BVFUSA has completed include providing safe drinking water in the village, building a school and funding three of the five teachers, providing school supplies and computers, a small hydroelectric project for lights in the homes, rebuilding the school after the 2015 earthquake, clean burning stoves in the homes, among other projects.
Last year we funded an animal husbandry project to build up a local co-op herd of goats and pigs. Having a staff to care for, and protect, the animals will provide jobs and the selling of goat milk, yogurt, cheese, and young animals themselves will provide income for the village. This project entailed building sheds, pens, and fences, leasing land, and the purchase of twenty five pigs and twenty five goats.
We work closely with our sister foundation, Basa Foundation-Nepal, which is headed up by Niru Rai. Niru is from Basa and now lives in Kathmandu. Niru started and owns Adventure Geo Treks (https://www.adventuregeotreks.com) and hires his guides, porters, drivers, cooks and staff from Basa. Together, we define a need, determine a solution, create a budget; then BVFUSA funds the project, monitors the progress, and evaluates the success of the project after completion. Basa Foundation-Nepal oversees the project, provides the volunteer labor, and gets the materials to Basa, mostly by oxen, donkey, and on men’s backs.
Education is crucial for the 85 students in the K-5 school. The Nepali government pays for the Nepali language and math teachers; BVFUSA pays for the English, science, and the social studies & computer science teachers. The five year funding that BVFUSA previously established ran out in 2024. The teachers are now working without pay and will move on if new funding is not forthcoming. Many, or most, of the young people of Basa will have to leave for places where they can find employment so having some education is essential. Knowing some English is important if they end up working in a tourist based business. One of the projects we are funding immediately is for the teacher’s salaries to keep the students learning.
The second project is to expand the animal husbandry project that we started last year. Unfortunately, nineteen of the pigs died of swine flu and need to be replaced, along with adding to the number of goats and pigs. We will continue to pay the salaries of the staff working the farm and have also increased the budget to provide for veterinarian visits as needed and medicine. We expect the farm to be self sustaining in two to three years.
This is a brief explanation of what the Basa Foundation is and what we do. You can get more information by going to our website (https://www.bvfusa.org). Helen and I have been to Basa and met many of the families there. We found the people to be very kind, supportive, and hard working. They are most appreciative of everything the foundation has done.
If you managed to read all the way here, thank you, and thank you for your consideration. All donations make a difference, no matter the size, and are appreciated. Don’t hesitate to call, text, or email me if you have any questions.
