ALAMOSA — Sargent senior Gracie Burkhart will stick with home cooking this coming fall as she has signed on to play golf for Adams State University.

In a couple weeks Burkhart will be competing for individual state title at the Girls Golf Championship in Eagle, Colo. and next spring she will be providing a much-needed boost to the Grizzlies Women’s golf team. This Spring the Grizzlies placed 13th of 16 teams at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championship.

Burkhart has come on in the past few years and has qualified for the state championship in three of her four years golfing for Monte Vista. She is  currently on a trend of improvement. Burkhart’s sophomore year she placed 54th and shot a combined 220 on her two runs on a par 72 course. Last year she improved to 47th place shooting 200 on her two runs through a par 71 course.

Speaking on golf it’s evident how much of an impact the sport has had in her life, “I have been playing golf since I was six years old. My grandpa taught me how to play and since then, when golf season comes around you don’t see me without a club in my hand.” It’s one thing to enjoy a sport it’s another to discover you have a knack for it Burkhart continued, “I never thought that I would be where I am years ago when I thought about golf.”

A multisport athlete, Burkhart also took part in Volleyball and Cheerleading at her home school, Sargent.

As a student Burkhart  competed in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) her freshman and sophomore years as well as FFA (Future Farmers of America). Her sophomore year she was asked to be in NHS (National Honors Society).  Speaking on NHS she said “It was a huge honor to be picked for this great club and I was so glad that I got to be a part of it.”

The Sargent senior will be looking to further her education, in education. Burkhart plans to study Elementary Education at Adams State, speaking on her aspirations Burkhart said “Becoming a teacher is something that I have seen myself doing since I was a young girl. I’ve been around kids for many years and for many different reasons and they always seem to make my day better.” Which seems to be an ideal fit since Adams State University formerly Normal School finds its roots in training teachers and figures to still have a strong Education program. 

The San Luis Valley has endeared itself to Burkhart, “I have always been the type of person that hates to leave the valley. When my family would go on vacations more than just a few days I hated it because I hated being away from home. So when I started looking into colleges I thought maybe I could leave and go somewhere else, but the more I thought about it the more I knew that this is where I wanted to be, which made my decision pretty easy to choose Adams (State). When I got offered the golf scholarship that just finalized my decision.” Go Grizz Go.