Uko Akpanuko
Daily Herald
It is not everyday that people get to see such a unique father-daughter partnership, but one such duo was in Prince Albert this past week promoting parent/mentor and teen collaboration.
Under the Tidbits of Change Foundation, skiers Greg Scott and his daughter, Hali ScottSmith, hitting ski hills across Saskatchewan to promote collaboration, and offer scholarships to Canadian teenagers with inspiring ideas.
“We are trying to encourage Canadian youths to do projects and enter into collaborations with a parent or mentor,” Greg explained. “We believe that if more these were to happen, the stronger the communities will be be because of it.
“This also affords an amazing opportunity to share an adventure as dad and daughter.”
“Its definitely really amazing to be able to spend so much quality time with a parent as a teen,” Hali added. “It’s like as you grow older you spend less time with the people that you want to spend alot of time with. Its really important, getting to spend this time with my dad over the last two years.”
While the pair are focused on Saskatchewan ski slopes this year to promote collaboration, this isn’t the first time they’ve run the campaign. The duo were previously in B.C. and Alberta, where they visited 44 ski areas and 39 ski areas respectively, over the past two year.
This winter, the pair will be spending a total of 11 days in Saskatchewan, including one day in Prince Albert at Little Red and another in Wapiti.
“The highlight for me has been finding out that there is different energy at every point that we went to,” Hali said. “You can kind of tell what is special and unique about that hill or crest, going on a few runs and talking to some local people. It’s really interesting learning about the diversity in Canada.”
“It’s amazing to do an initiative like this with my daughter and spend time together, and meet incredible people behind the scenes of the ski areas that makes skiing happen in Saskatchewan,” Greg added. “There is an incredible passion in the ski areas in Saskatchewan.”
As part of the tour, the duo is encouraging Canadian teenagers to apply for three youth bursaries, valued at $5,000, $1,000, and $1,000. The scholarships are open to all Canadian teenagers who tell their story about inspiring projects they’re undertaking with a parent or mentor.
Applications can be submitted until April 30. Teenagers are advised to visit the Tidbits of Change website and apply from there.
Greg said that he looks forward to hearing unique applications from Saskatchewan teens.
“We would love to hear a fantastic story from someone in this community that are doing whatever project they are passionate about,” he said.
The foundation had been capturing the unique mentorship stories of the beneficiaries of the scholarships as they along.
“We started with about 5 or 6 people following us on our Instagram page but now we cumulatively have over 3.5 million views of our stories on Instagram,” Greg said.
Hali and Greg began the ski tour in 2023, but she has been skiing since she was 10 years old. Initially, Hali joined because she thought it would be fun to ski with her dad. Now, she’s equally passionate about promoting the scholarships.
She’s hopefully their tour can convince teenagers to “take of the challenge” of collaborating with a parent or mento on a project. She said Canadian teenagers are very capable, but need some encouragement.
“Don’t assume your limitations,” she said. “There is so much more that you are capable of than you know. Just try something and don’t be embarrassed if you fail because there is so much you can learn from that.”
