The Adventure Scholarships return in 2024. Pilot Dorine Bourneton is the godmother of this 53e edition since the first collection in 1971. That year, the legendary couple of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft were among the winners. Since then, the list of recipients has grown considerably.
Let us cite Cléo Poussier-Cottel (Australia by bike, 1990), Eric Brossier (Silk Road, 1992), Isabelle Vayron (around the world meeting cowboys, 1997), Dorine Bourneton (trip to the United States, see below. 1999), Matthieu Bourgeois (Mongolia and juggling by bike, 2000), Louis Meunier (the Afghans at the summit, 2009), Sophie de Courtivron (descent of the Upper Zambezi by canoe, 2012), Sébastien Roubinet (crossing the Arctic Ocean by sail, 2018), Baptistou Loiselet (tour de France in a solar glider, 2019) or even Sophie Planque (winter tour of the Baltic by bike 2022): so many personalities whose paths have continued to intersect with those of La Guilde until they become Companions.
In 2023, nine projects were selected out of more than 80 files received. They renovate sailboats in Guatemala, cross oceans on a 4-meter skiff, travel across West Africa or Central America by bike; they explore the Congo River or deep Guyana, climb in Patagonia, fly in the Himalayas. They listen to their dreams, make a plan of them, don't lose track of them, until they translate them into reality.
So, in 2024, take the plunge! Submit your project until March 21 to try to obtain a grant of 1 to 000 euros which will help you realize it. Volunteers, surveyors, scientists or athletes, the door is open: apply for the La Guilde Adventure Grants and join a community of more than 5 winners over half a century. The road is beautiful.
Dorine Bourneton, godmother of the La Guilde 2024 Adventure Scholarships
“I was awarded an Adventure Grant in 1999 which allowed me to finance a study trip to California and a meeting with Mike Miller-Smith. This man is a true hero: a pilot during the Vietnam War, he returned in a wheelchair. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) then authorized him to continue his career as a civilian pilot. At that time, I wanted to become a professional pilot and I was fighting to change the law in our country. I relied on this model of courage with, upon returning from my trip, a strategy and arguments. For more than a month I flew alongside him, I was able to ask him questions, observe, feel and see how he resolved all the difficulties. This study was very important to our file and I ended up succeeding!
Without this trip and these discussions, I would have remained with my questions and I would never have been able to become an aerobatic pilot since the law prohibited it. A team of journalists followed me to make a documentary. I started being invited on television sets, wrote a book. I had things to tell, I went to see! And I owe that to La Guilde.
I still remember the offices near the Luxembourg gardens (the headquarters of La Guilde at the time, editor's note) and the smiles that greeted me. This image remains anchored in my memory. When you grew up in a small village far from Paris, when you are no one here, without a diploma, without baggage other than a wheelchair, the path is difficult... The Guild has been a real helping hand for me, the first. She helped to realize a project that mattered in my life and in the lives of many other people. The Stock Exchange has allowed a first step, a first victory. She made things possible! When a door opens, history can be written.
My passion is to fly, my heroes are called Mermoz, Saint-Exupéry, Guillaumet. However, whatever the terrain, whatever the destination, I admire all those who commit, who realize a dream, who go to the end of the journey. This is why I am very happy to be the godmother of the 2024 Adventure Scholarships and can't wait to discover the projects! »
