Proudly Presenting: The 2022 Summit Scholarship Cohort

Written By Sunny Stroeer

The 2022 Summit Scholarship Program is our largest women’s mountaineering scholarship program yet. If you’ve been following the Summit Scholarship for a while, you know that we’re all about breaking down barriers of entry to the big mountain realm for women from all walks of life. You may also know that the Summit Scholarship officially became a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation this year. And, if we’ve done our job, you hopefully know that we couldn’t be doing what we’re doing without the support of our amazing sponsors and supporters Nite Ize, The Cairn Project, McGill’s Mountains, LOWA Boots, LEKI, and of course AWExpeditions. Seriously — without the vision and hard cash of these brands and organizations, none of this would be possible. THANK YOU for helping make big mountains more accessible to women from all walks of life!

Before we introduce to you the amazing women who are this year’s Summit Scholarship recipients, a quick word about the applications & selection process.

We know that there are far more highly deserving applicants than scholarships to award - we know that, because we have thoroughly read every single one of the almost 650 applications that were submitted. And while we attempt to follow a process that is as equitable and bias-free as possible (read more about our selection criteria & method here), we realize that choosing only seven scholarship recipients among hundreds of deserving women is not a science: many factors come together.

So: if you applied this year, and did not receive the nod… please don’t let this extinguish your fire. This doesn’t mean that you are not cut out for this type of adventure; it just mean that we here at the Summit Scholarship Foundation need to work even harder on fundraising for future scholarship programs. So: keep dreaming, keep adventuring and climbing, apply again; or maybe even start your own adventure fundraiser, either on your own or with an organization like The Cairn Project.

PS: If you look at the geographic distribution of our scholarship recipients you’ll see that the 2022 cohort is heavy on US representation; this does not reflect deliberate exclusion of other nationalities, but merely a heavy skew in this year’s applicant pool towards the US. We’ll share another post digging into some of the statistics in due time!

Now, without further ado: meet our 2022 Summit Scholarship recipients!

Introducing: The 2022 Summit Scholarship Recipients

You’ll have a chance to get to know our Summit Scholarship recipients on a much more personal level over the coming weeks and months, but for now - may this be your introduction to our AWEsome class of 2022. Congratulations, all!

Emily Brockman, USA (25)

“The Summit Scholarship would allow to me begin to dismantle the ever present feelings of imposter syndrome when engaging in outdoor activities and expand my skill and outdoor leadership beyond the confines of my current heart and home. As an Indigenous Educator in the non-profit world, I want to use the technical and soft skills gained from this experience with the hope to replicate it for Alaskan Native youth in outdoor experiential programs.”

Sarah Ortiz, USA (23)

“I am a woman of color beginning her career in conservation science and outdoor recreation and have found many outdoor spaces to not be particularly welcoming for women like myself. The Summit Scholarship would help me gain the skills and confidence necessary to speak up for underrepresented communities in the outdoors and hopefully create a safer, more welcoming environment for everyone.”

Clara Soh, USA (44)

“I understand that I'm considered brown enough to be discriminated against but too white adjacent to benefit from BIPOC focused programs. One of the reasons I am interested in this opportunity is because I never see disabled BIPOC women in the backcountry, let alone on rescues. I want to show others who might be in my position that living a life filled with adventure is possible. ”

Joy Njau, Kenya (42)

“Being Kenyan and female, we never believed that these opportunities are available to us, my experience so far has been such a great source of inspiration and encouragement to my generation and the younger generations as well. Spending time in the mountains is reinforcing the message that women are strong, capable, and equipped to scale the highest mountains – both of the mind and of the universe, overcome unsurmountable Bias and WIN!”

Nazanin Ali Marandi Ghoddousi, USA (32)

“My experience in rock climbing as an immigrant women from west Asia has taught me the importance of finding community to share these experiences with. I find that when I am in a space with all women, or others that experience gender oppression, something as vulnerable as learning something new like mountaineering is a much different experience than walking into other spaces. ”

Alice Held, USA (25)

“I lived a reality that many young women are sucked into, but none should have to face: as his addiction progressed, my identity as anything but his caregiver was slowly chipped away, until I felt lost, purposeless, unsure of who I was and what I stood for. Through mountaineering, I have been able to make the meaning I want from the trauma I have endured.”

  • Alice is headed to Northern California to learn glacier skills on Mount Shasta on The Cairn Project x Shasta I Scholarship

  • Alice applied for the Summit Scholarship every year for the last three years, and was a finalist, but not a recipient, in 2021

  • Follow her journey at @mtn.alice

Rachel Fagiano, USA (35)

“I was often told as a kid that certain activities that my siblings were participating in, were not for me, particularly outdoor adventures. I grew up thinking I was not athletic and its wasn't until well into my 20s that I started to question that narrative. I would be so incredibly thrilled to be in a femme identified outdoor space, where these unspoken narratives are understood and folks are invested in building a supportive environment and attempting a big outdoor objective together.”

  • Rachel is headed to Argentina to attempt Aconcagua on the AWE x Aconcagua Scholarship

  • Rachel applied for the Summit Scholarship every year for the last three years

  • Follow her journey at @opalis121

Congratulations to all of this year’s Summit Scholarship Recipients! Stay tuned for more insight about this year’s applicant pool, and for more personal introductions to each of our recipients. Meanwhile — the work at the AWE Summit Scholarship Foundation never stops. If you love what we do, and would possibly like to join our motley crew of volunteers who make this program possible: get in touch. Thanks for being along for the journey.

Sunny Stroeer
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Meet the 2021 Summit Scholarship recipients