NORTH BATTLEFORD — After the success of the initial program in 2023, the Battlefords Scuba Community offered two Learn-To-Dive Scholarships in 2024. The scholarships are offered to Saskatchewan residents between the ages of 16 and 25 years. The winners must complete their training within the current calendar year in Saskatchewan through the Battlefords Scuba Community. Each scholarship covers the entire cost of certification as a PADI Open Water Scuba Diver, the basic level of training for divers.
The winners for 2024 are Caybre Stynsky of North Battleford and Kali-Anne Boychuk of Saskatoon.
Caybre Stynsky is a 21-year-old who grew up in the Battlefords and is currently a student at the University of Regina where she is studying Geography and Environmental Science. She grew up around the water and has fond memories of first seeing the ocean and then later in life swimming with bull sharks. She hopes to use this training to enable her to be “hands-on” in her chosen career.
Kali-Anne Boychuk is an 18-year-old student from Saskatoon. Her immediate interest in learning to dive stems from a Discover Scuba experience she had as a student at Holy Rosary High School in Lloydminster through the Battlefords Scuba Community’s high school program. Additionally, her father is a certified diver whose tales of the Great Barrier Reef, Komodo Island and Pink Beach entertained and intrigued her as a younger child. Kali envisions using her training to explore the northern lakes in Saskatchewan and to enhance her travel experiences.
The young women completed their Knowledge Development and Confined Water Skill Development sessions in the pool in North Battleford in early June. Ms. Boychuk went on to do her four completion dives at Atton’s Lake in early July. She says she was excited and intimidated at the same time but found the experience to be thrilling and rewarding. She is looking forward to getting more dives done in the lakes of Saskatchewan this summer before heading off to further her education. Ms. Stynsky did her completion dives at Emerald Lake in mid-July. She reported that the dives turned out to be less scary than she originally thought they might be.
The Battlefords Scuba Community congratulates these two new divers and wishes them well in their diving activities.
For more information on the BSC Learn-To-Dive Scholarship Program please visit the club’s website at www.battlefordsscubacommunity.ca.
