Immediately I’m happy to announce the winners of the 2011 Bicycle Touring Professional journey scholarship.
The BTP journey scholarship was created as a way of giving out small quantities of cash to assist younger, first time bicycle vacationers flip their cycle touring goals right into a actuality.
As somebody who began bike touring on the age of 17, I understand how only a small quantity of funding put in the correct arms can go a really great distance. And that’s what the Bicycle Touring Professional journey scholarship is all about! It’s about serving to a couple of wonderful younger individuals finance their bicycle touring adventures, in order that they’ll go on and do unbelievable issues in their very own lives… and within the lives of others.
2011 was the second yr for the BTP journey scholarship and although I did little or no to promote the scholarship itself, a very good variety of individuals in the end utilized for the funding.
Because of Bicycle Touring Professional readers similar to you, $580 USD was donated to this yr’s scholarship fund within the final two weeks alone. And on prime of the cash donated by readers, one other $220 was added to the scholarship fund due to these of you who bought one of many bicycle touring assets on this web page over the previous two weeks.
In the event you made a donation to this yr’s BTP journey scholarship otherwise you bought one among Bicycle Touring Professional’s journey assets over the previous two weeks, THANK YOU. A complete of $800 USD was raised for this yr’s journey scholarship… and it’s this quantity that I’ll be giving out in only a few brief moments.
Facet Word: If you need to make a donation to subsequent yr’s journey scholarship fund, simply click on right here and enter the quantity you want to donate on the next web page.
As for the candidates themselves, and the method of selecting a winner, this was a particularly tough job.
There have been few pointers for the scholarship itself. The one guidelines for the scholarship this yr have been that you simply be below the age of 35 and that, if you happen to have been in the end chosen because the winner of the scholarship, the cash be used that will help you finance your first bicycle touring journey. Aside from that, the choice for as to who can be topped the winner of this yr’s scholarship cash was fully on my shoulders.
That stated, I didn’t need to make the choice all on my own. So I contacted among the individuals I belief most (my family and friends), requested them to look via all of the scholarship purposes, after which requested them to inform me which of the candidates they believed I ought to give the cash to.
In the long run, my trusted pals and I agreed that everybody who utilized for the journey scholarship this yr was deserving. However there was one particular person (or group of individuals, truly) who actually stood out.
And so, with out additional ado, the recipients of the 2011 BTP journey scholarship are:
Kerstin Martin, Katie & Lauren – The Localmotive Bike Tour ($800 USD)
Congratulations Kerstin, Katie and Lauren!
These three younger ladies are pals who all attended Dickinson Faculty in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and majored in Environmental Research.
The plan for his or her bicycle touring journey is to depart dwelling in Could of this yr and journey throughout the US on their bicycles by way of the well-known TransAmerica bicycle path. Alongside the way in which, the ladies shall be working to encourage younger women to get exterior… get lively… and eat wholesome, native meals.
With a view to obtain this objective, the ladies have teamed up with the Woman Scouts of America and have plans to cease and work together with a number of Woman Scout troupes throughout the nation as they slowly make their method throughout the nation on their bikes.
To study extra concerning the Localmotive Bike Tour and uncover the explanations behind the womens’ cross-country bicycle touring journey, you should definitely go to the official Localmotive Bike Tour web site at: http://localmotive2011.wordpress.com/
The explanation I chosen Kerstin, Katie and Lauren because the recipients of this yr’s Bicycle Touring Professional journey scholarship is various and sophisticated, however listed below are a couple of causes these three younger ladies actually stood out.
1) They’ve been planning this journey for the previous yr… and it exhibits. They’ve obtained a web site up and working… they’ve obtained a price range and a packing checklist… and so they’ve obtained a plan!
2) Their determination to crew up with the Woman Scouts is pure genius. With a objective of serving to younger women turn into extra acutely aware of the meals they eat and the out of doors actions they take part in, the Woman Scout format is a superb one to faucet into as a marketplace for contacting, interacting with, and educating younger women about these essential points.
3) And at last, the problems that Kerstin, Katie and Lauren try to sort out with this journey are extraordinarily related to what’s presently going down on this planet proper now. There’s a main meals motion happening, and an increasing number of persons are changing into conscious of simply how unhealthy the meals we eat actually are.
With tv exhibits like Jamie Oliver’s Meals Revolution presently discussing the poor meals that our kids partake in whereas in school… and Michelle Obama’s wholesome meals marketing campaign presently raging on, the meals challenge is a crucial one… and one which deserves a complete lot extra consideration.
There are a variety of different causes the Localmotive Bike Tour stood out to me and my trusted panel of judges, however that’s not what’s essential.
What’s essential is that the Localmotive bike tour is rapidly approaching, that these three younger ladies nonetheless have a complete lot of labor forward of them, and their message is one which must be mentioned!
Hopefully, the $800 USD that we have been capable of elevate shall be of some help to the ladies on their travels. Whether or not the cash is used for meals, gear, academic provides, or one thing else utterly, I consider that these three younger ladies have an opportunity to do one thing nice right here… and I’m positive that they may.
So once more, congratulations Kerstin, Katie and Lauren!
In the event you want to observe the ladies on their bicycle touring journey throughout the US, you should definitely go to their web site at: http://localmotive2011.wordpress.com/ and/or observe their travels by way of Fb.
Thanks once more to everybody who donated to this yr’s scholarship fund… congrats once more to Kerstin, Katie and Lauren… and because of everybody who utilized for this yr’s BTP journey scholarship!
As soon as Once more: If you need to make a donation to subsequent yr’s Bicycle Touring Professional journey scholarship, please click on right here. A donation of any measurement (irrespective of how small) will make an enormous distinction after we give out our third BTP journey scholarship at the moment subsequent yr.
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