Flyin Ryan is proud to announce the addition of four new Adventure Scholarship recipients to their Adventure Scholar family!
Owen Lyster
Owen’s Core Values
- Persevere
- Always go on adventures
- Live life to the fullest
- Be selfless
- Be the best friend I can be
- Be the best son I can be
- Treat others the way I would like to be treated
- Never stop doing what I love
- Try as hard as I can in everything I do
- Be honest
- Be loving and caring
- Take chances and risks
- Be thoughtful
Owen is a 14 year old competitive freeride skier based out of Underhill, Vermont who went to the Norams when he was only 11 years old. He was proud to take 7th place. He is a member of the Smugglers Notch Freeski Club and his dream is to rank top 10 in North America for freesking and then to make it to the Junior World Tour and Freeride World Tour. He is using his award to help fund the trip to the next national ski competition in Snowbird, where he may qualify for the North American Championships.
Annie Citrine
Annie’s Core Values
- Respect and love nature
- Become the best version of yourself
- Adventure is crucial
- Spread kindness and love
- Be passionate and share that passion with others
- Empower yourself and others
- Try new things
Annie’s love for nature began young when she grew up living in a small cabin in the forests of Maine with no running water nor electricity. Her parents sent her to summer camp where she learned primitive and leadership skills and eventually became a camp counselor where she discovered a passion for teaching outdoors survival skills. After the death of her mother, Annie found solace in hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, paddling and generally being in nature. In this she found a healthy way to deal with her pain. She has since made it a goal to hike all 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks. Annie attended the University of Vermont until Covid sidelined her plans and then worked for Americorps at the VTCC Farm in Richmond. Her next adventure, which her award will partially fund, is driving to Montana to work for Alpengirl, a summer program that takes middle and high school girls out on trips to teach them leadership skills. She will then embark on a West coast road trip. Annie is 21 years old.
Kierce Thompson
Kierce’s Core Values
- Treat every living thing the way you would want to be treated
- Try new adventures
- Always remain positive
- Show love to nature and animals
- Work hard at the things I love
- Laugh at all the jokes
Kierce Thompson is 11 years old and resides in Maryland. Disabled developmentally and medically, he found a love for nature and the outdoors early on. He didn’t connect with people the way most do, he connected with living things or beings. Kierce enjoys fishing, hunting and basketball. He’s currently in 6th grade at a private special Ed school and his favorite subject is Science. He also enjoys music, jokes and pranks. He loves to laugh and just live life to the fullest. He believes the Atlanta Hawks are the best team to ever step on a ball court and will never back down from a debate otherwise. He is kind, giving and lively. A tiny comedian with a fishing pole. He is using his award to help fund a fishing-road trip adventure with his family.
Dianne Vitkus
Dianne’s Core Values
- Let go of the things you can’t control
- Listen to your body and take care of it
- Allow yourself to accept help
- Never stop smiling
- Be patient and kind to strangers
- Be the best friend, sister, daughter, aunt I can be
- Be spontaneous
- Never stop traveling, exploring, adventuring
- See the good in people
- Inspire others
- Try new things and put yourself in uncomfortable positions
- Never stop striving to be better
Dianne, a 29-year-old born and raised in a small town in upstate New York, sustained a life threatening fall leaving her with a C6 spinal cord injury and permanently paralyzed from her chest down in July of 2020. Ever since, she has been working tirelessly to get back to the life she once knew, full of sport, travel and adventure. Dianne grew up as a three sport athlete and then went on to play collegiate lacrosse at the D1 level. During her junior year she studied abroad in Greece and traveled throughout the Europe. After college she remained active and ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2019, just nine months before her injury. But she has not let this recent adversity keep her from having sport in her life. She has tried adaptive rock climbing, handcycling, hiking, sailing, rowing and skiing – just to name a few. By sharing these adventures she wants to show others that being in a wheelchair does not have to limit your ability and spirit to explore and be active. Dianne is using her award to attend a weeklong Empower SCI Camp at Stony Brook University. Empower SCI, Inc. is a residential program cater to individuals who have suffered a SCI. The program focus is not only on the formal physical therapy, occupational therapy, and recreational therapy; but more importantly peer mentoring, rehabilitation counseling and informal knowledge sharing between individuals were going through similar experiences and challenges.
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The Flyin Ryan Adventure Scholarship Program exists to provide monetary awards to assist adventurers of all kinds, from all around the world, in pursuing their passions. Applicants must come up with their own set of Core Values and demonstrate character, passion for their goal and financial need. To date we have given out over 120 awards. Learn more and apply at www.FlyinRyanHawks.org/Adventure-Scholarship-Program/.