Andrew Scott Bjork, who died in a car crash on Jan. 19. Credit : O'Connell Funeral Home
Credit : O’Connell Funeral Home
The drive back from a long ski weekend is supposed to be sleepy and uneventful, a car full of sore legs and shared stories. For 24-year-old doctoral student Andrew Bjork and two of his classmates, that ride home from Michigan turned into a multi-car crash that ended his life and left a campus reeling. Friends and family now find themselves trying to reconcile the ordinary details of a winter road trip with the sudden loss of someone they describe as steady, kind, and always up for the next adventure.
In the days since the crash, a portrait has emerged of a young researcher who packed a lot of living into his mid‑twenties. The trip that began as a simple break from coursework has become a painful marker in time for his classmates, his college, and his hometown community.
The crash that shattered a routine ski weekend
Andrew Bjork was riding with two fellow students from the College of St. Scholastica when their car was hit while they were returning from a ski trip in Michigan, according to multiple reports that describe the outing as a casual getaway between classmates. Authorities say their vehicle was involved in a multi-car collision, with one driver allegedly striking them head-on and another vehicle then hitting them from behind, leaving their car totaled. The crash unfolded on the way back from the slopes, at a point in the trip when most people are thinking about hot showers and laundry, not trauma surgeons and police reports.
Local coverage notes that the doctoral students were traveling together as part of a tight-knit group from St. Scholastica, with the college later confirming that one student had died and two others were injured while returning from the ski trip in Michigan. Video shared by regional outlets shows the aftermath framed through the lens of a campus community trying to process how a normal winter break turned into a fatal wreck involving a St. Scholastica student. The two surviving classmates were taken to hospitals in Duluth, including St. Luke’s, underscoring how quickly a fun weekend can pivot into a medical emergency that stretches across state lines.
Who Andrew Bjork was to the people who loved him
Those who knew Andrew Bjork are adamant that his story cannot be reduced to the final minutes on that highway. In his obituary, he is remembered as a “friend to many,” an “avid sports fan,” and an “outdoor enthusiast,” a description that fits neatly with the idea of a doctoral student spending a winter weekend on the slopes with friends. Loved ones describe him as someone who poured energy into both his studies and his hobbies, the kind of person who could talk research one minute and then pivot to breaking down last night’s game the next, a balance reflected in tributes that highlight his Andrew Bjork fandom and love of the outdoors.
Friends and faculty at St. Scholastica have described him as an engaged doctoral student whose death leaves a gap in classrooms and social circles alike, with one campus leader quoted as saying he was “an amazing” presence who was “loved by all.” The college has acknowledged that the 24-year-old student was part of a small cohort, which makes the loss feel especially personal in seminar rooms and labs where everyone tends to know each other by name. Services for Bjork are set to be held on Saturday, Jan. 31, at Bethel Lutheran Church Highlands in Hudson, Wisc., with his obituary inviting mourners to wear their favorite sports jersey or team attire to the Services for Bjork, a small but telling detail about how his family wants him to be remembered.
A campus in mourning, and a reminder of how fragile travel can be
For the College of St. Scholastica, the crash has become a defining moment in a winter already marked by difficult headlines about young people lost on the road. Administrators have confirmed that a doctoral student returning from a ski trip died in a multi-car collision and that two classmates were injured, a pattern that echoes other recent tragedies, including a separate case in which Siblings Die in a “Devastating” car crash on a family vacation while both of their parents survive. In both stories, the throughline is painfully familiar: a routine trip, a sudden impact, and families left to navigate grief that feels wildly out of step with the everyday plans that preceded it.
Officials have emphasized that the doctoral students were simply returning from a ski trip when the crash unfolded, a point repeated in multiple accounts that describe a Doctoral student whose life ended not in some far‑flung expedition but on a familiar Midwestern route. Coverage of the crash has been framed as something people “NEED TO KNOW,” with one summary bluntly noting that a college student died after he was involved in a car crash in NEED to KNOW while returning from a ski trip with two classmates. Another report on the same incident underscores that a Doctoral student died in a multi-car crash and two classmates were injured, while a separate clip highlights how a Blauch family in another case described their loved one as “amazing” and “loved by all,” language that could just as easily apply to Andrew.
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