A decade of remembering: Good grows from grief
October 7, 2026 | By Lee Kahrs | CorrespondentEditor’s Note: See the post, “Still We Rise” to celebrate joy, light & community resilience,” here about the Oct. 16-18 event at The Big Picture in Waitsfield.
Oct. 10, 2016: Harwood students launch paper lanterns at a candlelight vigil for their friends. File photo by Gordon Miller
You can see them at night, white stars shining on the side of barns, bridges, businesses and homes in the Mad River Valley all the way to Waterbury. Not just during the holidays, but all year round, lit up in remembrance of five lives, cut short.
On Oct. 8, five families, multiple schools, communities spanning six towns, and countless Vermonters will feel the weight of 10 years since the deadly crash that took the lives of five local teens: Eli Brookens, Janie Chase Cozzi, Liam Hale, Mary Harris, and Cyrus Zschau. In their place, there are stars and hearts, scholarships and fundraisers, season passes and beauty products, a pavilion, a gazebo, a bench, and a lot of love.
Ten years.
Ten years since Steven D. Bourgoin purposely drove the wrong way on Interstate 89 in Williston and crashed his car into a Volkswagen Jetta on French Hill, killing all five teens. Afterward, Bourgoin left his damaged Toyota Tacoma pickup and fled in a Williston Police cruiser belonging to the first responding officer, who was trying in vain to rescue the occupants of the burning car. Bourgoin briefly drove south, made a U-turn, and returned to the accident scene, crashing into the wreckage again.
It was a Saturday night. The young friends were coming home from a concert by popular hip-hop artist Mike Stud at Higher Ground in South Burlington. Four were 16 and juniors at Harwood Union High School; Cozzi, from Fayston, was 15 and a sophomore at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire.
In 2019, Bourgoin was found guilty of five counts of second-degree murder. The case went to the Vermont Supreme Court, which in 2021 upheld the conviction. Bourgoin, who was 36 at the time of the incident, is currently serving 30 years to life at Northwest Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
The 2016 crash has the grim distinction of being Vermont’s deadliest mass homicide, and the effects of the tragedy rippled through the Harwood community foremost, stretching outward to Vermont as a whole.
Flags were flown at half-staff across the state, and over 1,000 people attended a candlelight vigil at Harwood two days later, where Gov. Peter Shumlin was among the speakers. A gubernatorial debate was postponed so the candidates could attend. Lt. Gov. Phil Scott was running; his Democratic opponent, Waterbury resident Sue Minter, had a son at Harwood at the time. The news seemingly affected every Vermonter in its wake in some way.
Oct. 10, 2016: As dusk falls during a community vigil at Harwood Union High School, students launch paper lanterns in memory of their classmates and friends. Photo by Gordon Miller
Like eons … like yesterday
“There are days when it seems like eons ago, and days when it feels like yesterday,” recalls Lisa Atwood, who was one of Harwood’s co-principals at the time of the tragedy.
“It was such a horrific time back then,” she said in a recent phone interview. “It truly brought our six communities together for a common purpose, and that in itself was amazing. It was truly amazing the way communities came together to support the families and the schools, not just throughout the state but across New England and across the country.”
The task of bringing comfort to the school staff and student body stretched out across the weeks and months that followed. A year after the crash, the class of 2018 dedicated a memorial gazebo to their lost classmates. The structure sits near the school’s main entrance.
“The importance of trying to heal was enormous, and the school… was able to fund and finance all kinds of support for the families, the students, and the staff,” Atwood said. “I look back and I have no idea how we got through it. It literally took a village.”
Atwood knew all five of the students.
“These kids were outstanding athletes, good students, involved in their communities and in activities outside of school,” she recalled. “They each had an impact that went far beyond their relationships to other students and the schools. The ripple effect was enormous.”
Atwood said Janie Chase Cozzi came to see her the day before the crash, just to say hi. She was in town visiting for the weekend from Kimball Union Academy, where she had transferred the year before.
Looking back today, Atwood remarked that as much as the sentiment “Time heals all wounds” is thrown around as fact, it’s not always the case.
“I think we all get better at managing the loss and the heartbreak,” she said. “The things that got me through were the community and the availability of resources, because it changed who we were, and we had to learn what a new normal was going to be, and I couldn’t be more proud of the faculty and the students and the families.”
For the families and close friends of the students, getting past loss and heartbreak has come to involve unique projects that honor the lives of each of the five students and keep their memories anchored to the community.
The wooden gazebo at the main entrance to Harwood Union Middle/High School is a gift from the class of 2018. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Eli Brookens Memorial Fund
The poem titled “Alive” was inscribed on the handmade wooden bench placed in 2019 in Eli’s memory overlooking Waterbury’s Dac Rowe Park, where he spent hours of his childhood playing sports.
Recently, a new granite bench has replaced the wooden one, which was not holding up in the Vermont weather and had to be brought indoors each winter. Eli’s mom, Colleen Ovelman, contacted Vermont Granite Works and had the new bench made so it could stay in place year-round.
“I wanted a physical marker of Eli to be in the community,” she said. “We decided on that spot because it overlooks the fields where he spent so much time, and Camel’s Hump and Bolton.”
In 2019, the family also started the Eli Brookens Memorial Fund, which has supported the winter sports program at Crossett Brook Middle School, where Eli was a student through 8th grade.
“He just loved to ski,” Ovelman said. “He found a lot of joy and peace being in the woods.”
Eli Brookens. Courtesy photo
The goal of the fund was to make skiing more affordable and possible for kids who might not have the resources to pursue the sport. “That’s what we wanted to do, make skiing accessible to other kids,” Ovelman said.
The fund also provides a Sugarbush season pass to a Harwood student each year.
Ovelman said the family is now sunsetting the memorial fund, but will keep funding the season pass as long as money is available.
To donate to the program in Eli’s memory, send directly to the CBMS Winter Sports Program by mail to: Crossett Brook Middle School, 5672 Vermont Rt. 100, Duxbury, VT 05676.
Liam Kenneth Hale Adventure Scholarship
Sue Hale said establishing the Liam Kenneth Hale Adventure Scholarship in 2017 helps keep her son Liam’s memory alive.
Liam Hale. Courtesy photo
An avid skier and mountain biker, Liam spent most of his time at Sugarbush, which he grew up looking at every day from the family’s home in Waitsfield, along with his younger brother, Joe.
“Since they were out of diapers, they were up there skiing,” she said, adding that Liam had just started getting into golf up when he died. He had also worked in the mountain bike shop.
“So just every year, he was there,” she said. “Every season.”
She admits that she once assumed that most kids at Harwood were taking advantage of the mountain in their backyard, but she learned otherwise. Her son Joe had the idea for the Adventure Scholarship, now given annually to a Harwood sophomore about to enter their junior year.
The recipient receives a Sugarbush Four Season Pass, good for unlimited skiing/riding, golf, mountain biking, scenic lift rides, and yearlong Sugarbush Health & Recreation Center access. Valued at more than $3,000, it also offers benefits such as half-off day tickets at affiliated resorts, lessons, lodging, tuning and rental discounts, and golf discounts. The scholarship also adds an equipment allowance for the recipient.
A registered nurse at UVM’s surgical and intensive care unit for 30 years, Hale says it is definitely a unique experience when it’s your own child.
“I’ve seen horrible things and tragic loss, and it’s interesting to be on both sides,” she said. “People at work look at you like, ‘Are you O.K.?’ Yeah, I’m O.K.”
Some of her co-workers were on their way home that fateful night and came upon the horrific scene. Hale recalls how one of those nurses, Allie Harris, held a yoga event that raised thousands of dollars in the aftermath of the crash.
Hale also stays in touch with two police officers who responded to the crash scene: former Williston Police Chief Todd Sheppard and former Williston Police Sgt. Brian Claffy, both retired. Hale said they will always carry that tragic night with them.
“I see them every year,” she said. “I want to give a shout-out to the police, and how remarkable and caring they were. They were instrumental in the healing process for the Hales. It was horrible for them too; we can’t forget that.”
Perhaps the most enduring relationship Hale and her husband have maintained is with their son’s surviving friends from Harwood, which was also key for their younger son, who was 13 at the time of the crash.
“One of the most healing relationships I have, still, is with a good half-dozen of Liam’s friends,” she said. “They’re like big brothers and sisters (to Joe). We love the fact that we have such an integral relationship with these young people. We’re involved in their lives. It’s been the most beneficial for Joe. You have to cultivate those relationships.”
The 2026 Liam Kenneth Hale Adventure Scholarship went to Harwood junior William Clark, an avid skier who hasn’t skied much since the middle school program ended. He said in his essay that he’s looking forward to rejoining friends on the slopes, as well as exploring golf and mountain biking, through the scholarship.
The scholarship is awarded each year on Liam’s birthday, May 9.
“For us, it’s better to think about his birthday than the day he died,” Hale said. “Sometimes it feels like yesterday, sometimes it feels like 10 years. It’s sad, but I like the idea of appreciating the time we had with him.”
Contributions to the Liam Kenneth Hale Adventure Scholarship may be made directly to Harwood Unified Union School District, P.O. Box 1059, Waitsfield, VT 05673.
Mary Harris Youth Soccer Day
Mary Harris. Courtesy photo
Mary’s mother, Liz Harris, and Janie’s mother, Erin Chase, both grew up in the Mad River Valley and have been friends since middle school. Their daughters met as babies and were forever friends before they died together in the crash.
“It comes on in different ways,” Chase said of her grief. “But I still lose my breath and I think, ‘Oh my God, she’s dead.’ When you carry someone so strongly in your life, it just happens. Her friends are getting married and buying houses.”
Chase said staying in touch with Janie’s friends over the last decade has helped her cope.
“I’m so lucky to have her friends in my life,” she said. “It’s such a gift. There are a lot of people, and you get to know your kid in a different light. You’re learning more about them, even though they’re not here anymore.”
Harris agreed, adding that the mental health of their daughters’ peers and fellow students became her focus in the years following the crash. She said she posted on Facebook every day for two years after Mary died, and quickly realized that her daughter’s friends and classmates needed support as well.
“I would look at the likes and count the number of kids that were friends with my kid, and there were 200 likes from those kids,” she said. “They would come to me and say, ‘It should’ve been me,’ and I would say, ‘No. You are valuable.’ They would comment and say, ‘I miss…’ So, many suffer from mental health issues.”
That’s why she said she became a paraeducator in the school district, and why she and Chase have always been accessible and vocal about their daughters since the crash.
“We were very concerned about the kids because we had kids that age,” she said. “We were very vocal. We talked about Mary and Janie all the time. We’re pretty much an open book talking about them. The task is to help people see the greatest in life, even when you’re handed a raw deal.”
Mary was known for her warm smile, friendly disposition and team spirit. After the crash, Harwood Girls Soccer coach Mike Vasseur and Mary’s teammates decided to dedicate the annual Youth Soccer Day in Mary’s honor to celebrate the younger girls playing soccer in the district. The Mary Harris Girls’ Youth Soccer Day has been held every year since the crash.
The event would include special T-shirts each year for all of the players with the motto “Love Like Mary,” which has become a mantra of the soccer program. Stickers handed out would carry a quote from an essay that Mary wrote about kindness: “So I ask you to be kind. Be compassionate. Be respectful. Be selfless. Because without kindness, what’s the point?”
The youth soccer day has been suspended this year as Harris and Chase prepare for a special event marking 10 years since the tragedy. Called “Still We Rise,” a special immersive art, light and multimedia exhibition is planned at The Big Picture Theater in Waitsfield for the weekend of Oct. 16-18. The event will commemorate the anniversary of losing the five teens while celebrating the community resilience, support and joy that surrounded the families through the tragedy.
The Janie Chase Cozzi Foundation
Jane Chase Cozzi. Courtesy photo
Erin Chase and Peter Cozzi formed The Janie Chase Cozzi Foundation after the crash in memory of their daughter.
The foundation offers three different scholarships for middle school and high school girls in the areas of education, leadership, global awareness, arts, and athletics. There is also a peer-to-peer mentoring program for girls in middle and high school, as well as collaborations with organizations to create woman-to-girl mentoring.
Since its inception, the foundation has given out scholarship money to eight girls and there are plans to expand the foundation to focus on funding for group projects.
“We’re really hoping to do smaller projects that reach more girls,” Chase said. “We love the individual aspect of the scholarships, but we think the goal is to bring more girls into the program.”
In addition to the foundation, Chase also started No. 19, a beauty products company named for Janie’s soccer jersey number.
The products range from lip balm to moisturizer to deodorant, all gender-neutral and all made with phytonutrients, biologically active compounds derived from plants. All proceeds go to the foundation, and Chase said the company also donates No. 19 products to fundraisers and other worthy causes. (Learn more and donate at playforjanie.com.)
LIFT Scholarship & the Cyrus Zschau Memorial Fund
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
—Mark Twain
Cyrus Zschau. Courtesy photo
That famous quote by Mark Twain graces the home page for the LIFT (Launch Into Foreign Travel) Scholarship and the Cyrus Zschau Memorial Fund. Sarah and Chris Zschau started the scholarship fund in 2019 to honor their son’s love of travel.
“The community was incredibly generous when we lost our kids, and we wanted to give something back,” said Sarah Zschau.
Cyrus loved to travel, Zschau said, and was looking forward to a spring school trip to Greece and Italy when the crash happened. His parents decided to pass on the trip to one of their son’s friends.
“Instead of giving money back, we wanted to send someone in Cyrus’s place, so we took some money from what the community gave us and that’s what we did,” she said.
They started fundraising in 2018 and started the LIFT nonprofit. To date, the Zschaus have given LIFT scholarships to 34 Harwood students, for a total of $37,125. The family’s annual fundraiser was just held on Aug. 29 at Lawson’s Finest and featured live music from local bands. It raised $16,216. (Learn more and donate at czlift.org.)
The LIFT Scholarship goes to two Harwood students in 10th grade and older to be used toward educational travel for school-sponsored trips. The Zschaus work with Harwood’s already well-established travel abroad program, and students have gone to Rwanda, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and India with help from LIFT.
“Harwood has an amazing program with travel connections that they’ve cultivated over the last 20 years,” she said. “Travel takes students out of their comfort zone, and gives them a broader view of the world.”
Closer to home, the family beach shack on Martha’s Vineyard was Cyrus’s favorite place in the world, the Zschaus said, and he looked forward to the family’s annual summer trip. This year, the Zschaus postponed their usual visit in July and are headed to the island this week instead. “We’ll be there for the anniversary,” she said. “That seems like the right place to be.”
Epilogue: Taking time for kindness
Thursday, Oct. 8, is Harwood’s fall Harvest Fest when students leave campus to do community service projects for part of the day, and the school gathers for a friendly student-staff soccer game and an assembly.
Principal Megan McDonough and Assistant Principal Jess Dean wrote to staff last week ahead of the special day, which falls on the anniversary of the 2016 tragedy. It also comes as the school community is still mourning the recent loss of another student Vinny Viola, a junior who died in a car crash in Warren on Sept. 19.
McDonough and Dean said they have reflected on Mary Harris’ 2016 essay about kindness and how recent events have shown kindness in action as students and staff have supported each other through another difficult time. They have invited former Harwood teacher Kathy Cadwell to speak on Thursday – it was for her class that Mary Harris wrote the kindness essay.
“Each day you model and live the call Mary made in her essay 10 years ago,” they reminded staff. They closed by quoting Mary’s piece:
“Think, really think, about the last time you experienced kindness, whether you gave or received it. Think about the feeling it gave you or how you made someone else feel...
“You have the ability to be kind, you have the ability to help others be kind, you have the ability to help others be happy, to be proud and confident, you have the ability to change someone's day, to change someone's life through something as simple as a kind smile, a good laugh, 5 extra seconds to hold a door open or give a quick compliment.
“Kindness is positive, positivity leads to good decisions, good decisions lead to happiness, and happiness is the best feeling in the world.
So I ask you to be kind. Be compassionate. Be respectful. Be selfless. Because without kindness, what's the point?”
Mad River Park memorial
