Kizaki-Wolf AIARE Scholarship Recipients
Every year, the Kizaki-Wolf AIARE Scholarship supports outstanding outdoor professionals in furthering their avalanche education and teaching skills. This scholarship provides full or partial tuition for an Instructor Training Course, Course Leader Training Course or PRO 1 or PRO 2 course.
2022-23 Recipient
Josue De Luna Navarro
I was born in Torreon, Coahuila Mexico and migrated to New Mexico at the age of 10.The struggles my family & community faced motivated me to get involved in community organizing for immigrant, racial and climate justice. Growing up in the US as an immigrant - the mountains became my refuge. They became a sacred place where I could reclaim my humanity regardless of my immigration status. I enjoy splitboarding and going on adventures in the alpine. My journey in the mountains has motivated me to work towards an IFMGA Mountain Guide certification and to continue bringing my community together in the mountains. I serve as the Land Base & Outdoor Director for The Semilla Project. I am an AMGA Certified Single Pitch Instructor and an Apprentice Alpine Guide.
Josue's Wrap-Up Video:
2021-22 Recipients
Aiden Goldie
Born in Chile, I have spent much of my childhood living in South America before immigrating to the United States where I live today. In the latter half of my childhood, I called the mountains of Colorado home and grew exploring our rugged backyard peaks. I am teaching, climbing, and backcountry skiing on the traditional lands of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) tribe in the Rocky Mountains. When not teaching, I feel most at home in cold winter environments with something sharp strapped to my feet. Whether it is a pair of skis or crampons, I am on a continual search for aesthetic climbs and descents in our Rocky Mountains, continually shaping my mountain ethic to instill pedagogical values of environmental justice, equity, and cultural relevance.
Aidan's Wrap-Up Video:
Taylor Hartman
Taylor partly owes her budding career to the Kizaki-Wolf scholarship, and is honored to receive it again for the 20-21 season. She used the scholarship to take an Instructor Training Course in December 2021. This scholarship also supported her through a PRO1 in 2018-19. She is appreciative of the work of this scholarship's benefactors and AIARE, in recognizing and fighting barriers for aspiring professionals and recreationalists in the outdoors.
2020-21 Recipients
Renee Shapiro
Renee grew up competitively skiing moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho and her love for backcountry experiences flourished while completing a BA in Geography, International Affairs and Spanish at CU Boulder. She has worked in natural resource management, outdoor education and now as the Outreach Coordinator for the Northwest Avalanche Center.
Renee's Application Video:
Amber Smith
As a young girl, Amber explored the ancient settlements of N. and S. America with her father, an archeologist and outdoorsman, and as a teenager she made home in Turkey and Tajikistan. In 2011, her love for adventure took her to another venue: the mountains! Since then, Amber has passionately pursued climbing and skiing all over the Western United States. In college, Amber focused on outdoor leadership and wrote her Honor’s College Thesis on ‘Feminist Outdoor Leadership,’ a facilitation guide for more inclusive and empowering outdoor experiences. In 2016, after graduating, Amber began apprentice guiding for a private mountaineering company and in 2018 she began full-time mountain guiding. She is proud to have now completed three full-time seasons in the N. Cascades. During this time, Amber also applied the skills she learned in the private guiding sector as an instructor for the YMCA Boys and Girl’s Outdoor Leadership Development Program and Girls on Ice Alaska. It is important to Amber that she participate in programs like Girls on Ice because she wants outdoor adventure to be accessible to any person who feels inspired to explore. Amber’s current career goal is to become a Course Leader for AIARE and participate in developing curriculum for avalanche education that is inclusive and effective.
Amber's Application Video:
2019-20 Recipients
Aidan Goldie
Sporting a rare triple-citizenship, Aidan is a traveler and seeker of adventure. In the latter half of his life, Aidan called the mountains of Colorado home and grew to explore these backyard rugged peaks. Aidan feels most at home in cold winter environments with something sharp strapped to his feet. Whether it is a pair of skis or crampons, Aidan is in a continual search for aesthetic climbs and descents in our Rocky Mountain. Working as an educator, he has learned the necessity of equitable education as a tool for creating compassionate, and knowledgeable leaders with a capacity for critical thinking. As a recipient of the Kizaki-Wolf scholarship, Aidan wants to continue his work in equitable education and work towards bringing avalanche education to traditionally underserved populations.
Aidan's Application Video:
Matt Schebaum
Matt is a backcountry snowmobiler and co-founder of The Mountain Riding Lab – a motorized-specific avalanche education provider. Originally from New York, he grew up skiing and snowboarding the Northeast and eventually found motorsports and started riding and racing snowmobiles. Matt worked as a snowmobile guide in Colorado and Wyoming over the last 10+ years and now lives in Jackson, WY. He teaches AIARE Motorized Rec courses throughout the Mountain West and is looking forward to becoming one of the first professional snowmobilers to complete a PRO 2.
Matt's Application Video:
Matt's Wrap-Up Video:
Anna Hicks
Anna grew up in Tumwater, WA and received a BA from the Evergreen State College in 2005. In 2014, she earned her MBA in Sustainable Systems from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Anna worked for over a decade on trail construction and maintenance crews for primarily in Mount Rainier National Park. After finishing her MBA, she changed careers and began guiding Washington’s volcanoes in the summer and ski patrolling in the winter. Last year, Anna started working full time for Pro Guiding Service splitting her time between managing operations and guiding. When she isn’t typing or guiding you will find her trail running, rock climbing, ski touring, or on some other adventures in the mountains.
Anna's Wrap-Up Video:
2018-19 Recipients
Taylor Hartman
Taylor is honored to receive the Kizaki-Wolf scholarship again for the 20-21 season. This scholarship supported her through her AIARE PRO1 in 2018-19, and continues to help her this season with an Instructor Training Course.
Born and raised in the Sonoran Desert, Taylor has spent the last several years in search of snowier places. From the San Francisco Peaks of northern Arizona, to the rugged terrain of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, you can find her working and adventuring on skis. She spent the last three winters working as a winter ranger at Olympic National Park, where she promoted backcountry safety and education, and worked closely with the Northwest Avalanche Center to improve forecasts in her area. Taylor is excited to receive this scholarship so that she can help break the trail for others impassioned by the mountains. She is committed to being part of a more inclusive outdoor community, where any aspiring recreationalist is welcomed and encouraged to get after it. Taylor looks forward to skiing in Rocky Mountain National Park this spring.
Taylor's Wrap-Up Video:
Abby King
Abby is passionate about creating rewarding, positive experiences for people in the wilderness, and in so doing, inspiring them to become good stewards of the environment. She moved to northern New England to explore and work as an environmental advocate after her thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2011. She returned to the White Mountains after thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in 2017. When she's not working as a land conservation consultant she is a backcountry ski guide in New Hampshire and Lake Tahoe, a sea kayak guide in Casco Bay, and a hiking guide in northern Maine. She volunteers as a member of the Maine Pine Tree Search and Rescue Team and is a registered Maine Guide and Wilderness First Responder.
2017-18 Recipient
Madeline Dunn
Hi, I'm Madeline. Ski-mountaineering and I are going steady. I grew up ski racing on ice in theMid-West with glimpses of westward powder here and there. Earning my turns opened up new aspects to the sport of skiing I never knew could be so appealing. The meditation I experience while in the mountains is hard to match elsewhere. I am a professional ski patroller at Sunlight Resort in Glenwood Springs, CO as well as an avalanche educator. I love teaching backcountry 101 courses because, for some students, it's the first time they have ever felt comfortable enough to speak up in their group, break trail for the first time, or lead a beacon check at the beginning of the day. I get to watch people who were followers become leaders in a matter of a few hours. Avalanche courses are both priceless and empowering. As a She Jumps volunteer, I am able to organize events in my local area that helps to educate women on backcountry decision making and travel. I am AIARE 2 and OEC (Outdoor Emergency Care) certified. I am excited that AIARE has helped sponsor my career path by affording me the opportunity to take an ITC (Instructor Training Course). I am currently pursuing an independent study while volunteering with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center focusing on the development of ground-level crystal structures, "depth hoar", and how they impact avalanche propagation and recreational travel. I would eventually like to go back to school to pursue a PhD in snow science and this is a potential research topic for me to explore.
Madeline's Application Video:
Madeline's Wrap Up Video: