{"id":3822,"date":"2020-11-06T10:00:35","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T17:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voile.com\/blog\/?p=3822"},"modified":"2021-06-15T12:52:13","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T18:52:13","slug":"bipoc-backcountry-scholarship-recipients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voile.com\/blog\/bipoc-backcountry-scholarship-recipients\/","title":{"rendered":"BIPOC Backcountry Scholarship Recipients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Share this Post<\/p>

<\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We want to applaud all who shared their dreams and passionate essays with us. Thank you for allowing us the space to work towards helping promote diversity in our niche industry. Reading your applications further illuminated just how much work needs to be done, both systemically and within local communities. We know this scholarship is not a solution, but rather a step towards providing access and representation on a small scale. Furthermore, we did not want this scholarship opportunity to be a one-time gesture. As such, we plan to offer this scholarship annually to continue these efforts.

We received so many incredible entries and are excited to announce the Voile BIPOC Backcountry Scholarship<\/a> recipients,<\/strong> Jade Begay (Grand Prize) and Layla Anane (Runner-Up Prize). We are thrilled to help you pursue your backcountry goals in the mountains and in your communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue to read the BIPOC Backcountry Scholarship Recipients essays… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Grand Prize: Jade Begay (She\/her\/hers)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Tesuque, NM \u2022 Native American \/ Din\u00e9 \/ Tesuque \u2022 Skier<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began skiing when I was five years old. My mother had a love and passion for downhill skiing and as a single mother, of course, she wanted to be able to bring me with her on as many adventures as possible, so she started me young. In the early days, my ski adventures were made possible by a ski program that existed within my tribe\u2019s day school. Interestingly enough, my mother now helps run that same program within my tribe so that youth have access to skiing and snowboarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I was a child, skiing has been an activity and passion that brings me joy and a sense of strength and confidence. It has also been an activity that has helped me embrace problem-solving, strategy, and face self-doubt and fear. I consider myself a strong spirited person; someone who rises when things get complex or chaotic, and while I believe many life circumstances have shaped me to be that type of person, I do believe that skiing has contributed to my sense of determination, patience, and excitement to navigate challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 25 years of mostly downhill skiing, I feel like it is the natural and most exciting next step to take my love for skiing into the backcountry. On some level I feel as though I have reached a sense of completion with downhill skiing and now I want to venture into new terrain both literally and figuratively, of knowledge, adventure, challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What excites me about diving into the world of backcountry skiing is being able to access mountains and places on my own terms without feeling the conflict of buying into the resort setting. Here in Santa Fe, the local ski resort is located on my ancestral lands and for decades it has felt very conflicting to have to pay a fee to access this Mountain that is sacred to my people and my ancestors. With the support of Voile, I’ll be more equipped to ski through these lands without this conflicting feeling and with more liberty and integrity. What’s more, is that I think about being able to hike and ski other sacred places and mountains, which have been climbed by my ancestors and by my family for generations. For example, I look to Blanca Peak in Southern Colorado where my grandfather would climb throughout the year to make offerings to our holy people. I think of being able to continue this tradition and being able to bring ritual and ceremony to my skiing practice. Ultimately what feels exciting about building my knowledge and practice of backcountry skiing, is the opportunity to make it my own, to bring my story and my culture to this activity and reclaim spaces as I climb, traverse, and ski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should also mention that my career and life is oriented around the protection of land, water, and the climate. I also work professionally to advocate and advance Indigenous rights, therefore those themes and issues, will organically emerge as I backcountry ski and find myself in places throughout the West like New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, California, and Alaska, all of which are so greatly impacted by the shifts in climate and that could benefit from more Indigenous stewardship and land management. I have yet to do much storytelling as a skier around the intersections of protecting winter seasons, climate justice and Indigenous sovereignty, so that is something I look forward to doing more with this opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n