Stephanie McKenna has been awarded the Youth Mountain Award 2023 for her work in the outdoors.
Fort William Mountain Festival organisers have announced the 22-year-old campaigner as this year’s winner.
Known as Steph, she is the ninth recipient of the Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture.
The award celebrates adventurous young people, the landscapes they explore and their outdoor pursuits.
An active member of the community, she champions her love for Lochaber’s landscape through research, sport and volunteering.
Her nomination was unexpected
Although many recognise her dedication, Steph was ‘super surprised’ to find out she had been nominated for the award.
“Several different people had nominated me for several different things,” reveals Steph.
During the summer of 2022 she was a seasonal ranger for the John Muir Trust, a Scottish conservation charity.
“It was really sweet that the John Muir Trust recognised how enthusiastic I was about learning.”
She worked additional days and hours to increase her understanding of the challenges facing the local environment.
For six months, she also assisted in delivering a junior ranger programme with Lochaber High School.
Her role was to educate students in environmental conservation, including path maintenance and wildlife identification.
She wasn’t always outdoorsy
Today, Stephanie is an award-winning champion of the landscape. However, it didn’t start out that way.
Although she was raised in Fort William, it would be in her late-teens that she came to know the outdoor capital of the UK.
“Outside of my family, I wasn’t really exposed to hill-walking or the stuff that Fort William was famous for,” she shares.
Later in life, her friends would play a strong part in growing her relationship with the outdoors.
“Through making friends at Uni, I got exposed to more of the things they loved. They went kayaking, snowboarding, skiing and stuff – and I just sort of joined in!”
Stephanie is also a recent graduate from UHI Inverness holding a first-class honours degree in psychology.
She drew her inspiration from her native Fort William for her studies, such as the rugby club for her anthropology class.
Being surrounded by activity in her day-to-day life, whether socialising or studying, would be what inevitably pulled her in.
UHI West Highland are ‘proud’ to present the award to a graduate
Her dissertation won the Jonathan Sime Award from the University of Surrey, making Steph the first winner from a Scottish university.
‘An Interpretation of wild swimming in the Scottish Highlands. The relationship between flow, the therapeutic landscape and wellbeing’ explores the psychological impact of wild swimming.
“I would like to do some more research to really highlight that everyone has their own resources within themselves,” she shares.
“What I loved about doing my dissertation is that people got to share their experiences with me.”
“Some of it was really personal, and I felt so honoured they were sharing that with me to contribute to this research.”
UHI West Highland are ‘delighted’ to once again sponsor the The Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture.
Lydia Rohmer, principal and chief executive of UHI West Highland, share they are especially proud to present it to a UHI graduate.
“Stephanie McKenna’s academic achievements are outstanding,” says Rohmer.
“We send our congratulations to her for all she has contributed so far and hope that she will continue to be a source of inspiration to others in the future.”
Conversation