June 10, 2025
Pursuing a pilot’s license can be particularly challenging for individuals with limited resources, due to the high costs associated with aviation education, training, and equipment.
Through scholarships, grants, and various programs, they can receive assistance to achieve their goals.
When Lloyd Skeen, a commercial pilot licensee with an instrument rating, died suddenly in 2003 soon after his 32nd birthday, family and friends pledged his death would not be in vain.
Jean Skeen has worked tirelessly to keep her son’s memory alive (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Two years later, they established the Dream Never Dies Foundation (DNDF) that collaborates with donors and partners to provide financial support and guidance for young people pursuing aviation careers.
Partnering with the Urban Pilots Network (UPN), the foundation awarded Aviation Excellence scholarships to Kimani Hayden, Stephon Lamy, Dimetri DaCosta, Timothy Okwii, Chidozie Ogodo, Malik Shwehdi and Luzina DaCunha at the 22nd annual awards ceremony on June 1 in Mississauga.
“Overcoming financial hurdles is one the biggest obstacles facing young people, especially those from challenged communities, who want to get into aviation,” said UPN President Warren Holt who is an Air Canada pilot. “Our mission is to bridge the gap between the urban and aviation communities by putting more Black and racialized faces in flight decks, air traffic control towers, hangars and right across the board. Three years ago, we went a step further by collaborating with the DNDF to offer a two-week aviation summer camp.”
UPN President Warren Holt (l), Arianna Woodley who is the director of scholarships, director Karl Lokan and Damar Walker who is the programs & outreach director (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
This year’s camp is from July 7-18 at Sheridan College.
A young person’s initial exposure to aviation can spark a lifelong passion for flying.
Born in Canada on April 26 which is World Aviation Day, Hayden spent his first nine years in St. Lucia with his grandparents.
“During childhood, I did a lot of travelling in the Caribbean and to Toronto,” he said. “My father took me to Wendy’s on Airport Rd. to see planes take off and land. On one occasion, a friend of his, who works at WestJet, took me on a tour of the hangar and I went inside a 737. Whenever I was flying from St. Lucia to Toronto, I asked the pilot if I could have a peek inside the cockpit. I have always had that love for planes.”
Kimani Hayden (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Hayden is enrolled in Sault College Aviation Technology program.
“After graduation, I will build time and experience to secure my Air Transport Pilot License,” the 20-year-old pointed out. “That process could take up to five years.”
Watching ‘Top Gun’, a military action-drama movie released in 1986, motivated Stephon Lamy to take up flying.
While in Piarco Airport’s waving gallery, saying goodbye to his grandfather returning to England after vacation, the young man had his first close-up of a large aircraft.
At age 12, he attended an air show at the Chaguaramas Military Museum.
“That was where my interest in aviation took off,” said Lamy who got his private license in Trinidad & Tobago in 2017. “It was a struggle to get funding to secure my commercial license back home, hence the reason why I came to Canada two years ago.”
He does aviation training at Durham College while employed at Porter Airlines as a Line Service Representative.
Growing up in Nigeria, Ogodo realized he loved fixing things.
“I also had a passion for flying, so I decided I was going to fix big birds,” he said.
Chidozie Ogodo (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
With a Bachelor’s degree in Aircraft Engineering from Don State Technical University in Russia, Ogodo came to Ontario last year and is enrolled in Centennial College’s Advanced Diploma in Aircraft Engineering program.
In the final phase of flight training at the Canadian Flight Academy: Toronto Airways, Shwehdi hopes his qualifications and the connections he forged with UPN will help land him a job in the aviation industry.
Malik Shwedhi (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“I will take anything that will help me build hours to get that job as a pilot while mentoring young people and giving back,” the former lead swim instructor said.
From his residence in Bridgeport, Portmore, DaCosta had a bird’s eye view of aircraft’s final approach to Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica.
“That stuck with me,” he said. “I also have family in Florida, so I travelled back and forth to the United States. That was exciting.”
Dimetri DaCosta (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
DaCosta graduated from Brampton Flight Centre in 2022.
Flying alone for the first time could be either exciting or stressful.
On a 45-minute flight on IndiGo from Goa to Mumbai to visit family members in 2014, DaCunha was intrigued, seeing a woman at the controls in the cockpit.
“I was fascinated and I told my parents I wanted to fly planes,” she recounted. “They told me go ahead and make it happen.”
Luiza Marina DaCunha (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Eleven years later, DaCunha is on the verge of completing her instructor rating at Durham Flight Centre.
She plans to become a pilot.
In Grade Nine, Okwii practiced and take-offs around an airport in Kenya.
“That was so much fun,” he recalled.
Timothy Okwii (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
The holder of a private pilot’s licence, Okwii is working towards securing a commercial license and an Airline Transport Pilot License which is the highest level of certification in civil aviation.
Neghat Hidari was the recipient of the Air Canada $2,000 scholarship awarded to UPN members who aspire to become commercial pilots or aircraft maintenance engineers at Canada’s largest airline and flag carrier.
Though she flew at a young age, she never thought she could be the one operating the flying controls.
A conversation with a Grade 11 classmate at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute in Scarborough changed that perspective.
Neghat Hidari (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“He told me he wanted to be a pilot,” Hidari said. “It occurred to me that I could do that too. That is when I jumped into it.”
She recently completed Seneca Polytechnic’s Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies program and is pursuing her commercial pilot’s license at Diamond Flight Centre in London.
Lloyd Skeen Memorial bursaries were presented to Jada Best and Brandon El-Jurdi.
Best is pursuing an Honours Bachelor of Science in Forensic Biology degree at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus and El-Jurdi is majoring in biology for health science and chemistry at the University of Toronto.
An aspiring pediatrician, Rosen completed McGill University’s undergraduate neuroscience program in 2021 with a 4.0 Grade Point Average and is a third-year medical student at Yale University.
Abena McRae, Azka Siddiqui, and Silvana Garcia-Otero were recognized with Patrina Bailey-Hohn Memorial scholarships awarded to young women chasing higher education.
The DNDF co-founder and Mississauga Seventh-day Adventist Church member passed away in October 2010 at the age of 36.
McCrae, who last month completed the first year of the Bachelor of Management & Organization Studies program offered by Western’s Huron University College, aspires to be a corporate lawyer.
Abena McRae (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
The CW Jefferys Collegiate Institute graduate and Ontario Scholar spent the summer of 2023 in the Toronto Police Youth in Policing Initiative program, assigned to 31 Division.
A Grade 12 student at St. Joseph Secondary School in Mississauga, Siddiqui will pursue engineering with a minor in business in university.
Azka Siddiqui (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“This scholarship will go a long way in helping me to achieve my academic goals,” the teenager said.
Winding down high school at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary in Oakville, Garcia-Otero is enrolled in the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
Silvana Garcia-Otero (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“My parents migrated from Colombia about 20 years ago and our family has had financial struggles,” she said. “As I embark on another chapter of my education journey, the scholarship will ease some of the challenges.”
Adobe Founders Award 2021 winner Dr. Ransford Morel Hyman Jr., a cousin of Skeen and the second African-American to complete a PhD in Computer Science Engineering at the University of South Florida, launched a scholarship program in his late father’s name shortly after his death in 2009.
This year’s recipients were Omarian Hussain and Arielle Rosen.
A graduate of Newtonbrook Secondary School, Hussain is enrolled in Western University’s Bachelor of Health Studies program.
The University Health Network Princess Margaret Centre Department of Hematology & Medical Oncology summer intern is in Japan this month for a cardiac surgery observership at Showa University Hospital’s Cardiovascular Surgery Unit.
Scholarships were also presented to Kailyn Blair, Nia Frazer, Robin Kerr, Victory Okeuo, Ruth Abdi and Vanessa Page.
Blair just completed her first year at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama where she is majoring in Business Administration with a focus on marketing.
After graduation, she plans to enrol in a Master’s in Business program.
Kailyn Blair (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“When I am done with that, the goal is to come back home and hopefully have my marketing agency,” Blair, the recipient of a scholarship donated by the Mississauga Seventh-Day Adventist Church, pointed out.
An honour roll student every year at Cardinal Leger Secondary in Brampton, Frazer enters Wilfrid Laurier University in September to pursue Business Administration studies.
“This scholarship will help alleviate some financial burdens,” the Brampton Racers Association awardee said. “It will allow me to excel in my studies and play basketball.”
Sometimes, young people underestimate parental support, which is critical for their development and well-being.
Not Frazer who is the eldest of three siblings.
“My parents have been there every step of the way,” she said. “They drive me to basketball practices and tournaments and push me to apply for scholarships.”
Nia Frazer with her parents Ray and Jacinda Frazer (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Ray and Jacinda Frazer accompanied their daughter to the awards ceremony.
“Nia is smart, positive and very motivated,” said her father.
Completing high school at Port Perry High with 280 volunteer hours, Page was the recipient of the Brenda Williams Memorial scholarship.
Vanessa Page (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
The honour roll student and animal lover is enrolled in Trent University’s Indigenous Bachelor of Education Studies program, the first of its kind in North America that allows students to complete three years of undergraduate studies and two years of professional studies that lead to certification.
“I want to advocate for Indigenous students and mother nature,” said Page who volunteers with the Save the Wetlands and Marine Biology Rescue. “The Truth & Reconciliation Commission report touched me and I want to spread awareness.”
Kerr, the recipient of the Rising Star scholarship, is a registered practicing nurse, specializing in perioperative surgery at Halton Healthcare, Abdi – the winner of the Fitzharold Gillespie Memorial scholarship – is a fourth-year University of Toronto student, majoring in immunology and global health and Okeugo, the Darlene & Derek Quashie scholarship awardee, is in Toronto Metropolitan University Lincoln Alexander School of Law program.
Greg Claxton, who met Skeen in an aviation program in high school, started a one-man Polar Dip that lasted four years and raised about $40,000 or the DNDF. He will restart in January after a six-year hiatus.
Since the inception in 2003 when it awarded a $500 scholarship, the foundation has presented over $325,000 in scholarships — $20,000 this year.
Beneficiaries include Dr. Tshea Dowers who was the keynote speaker at the event.
“The scholarship helped me get through medical school at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California,” she said. “The cost is much higher for international students and without that financial aid, I would not have been able to buy books and pay rent.”
Dr. Tshea Dowers (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Migrating from Trinidad & Tobago at age seven, Dowers completed high school at Cawthra Park Secondary and undergraduate studies at McGill University before enrolling in medical school.
Last year while at U of T doing a neuroradiology fellowship, she won the Best Oral Presentation for her research into the benefits and drawbacks of lowering contrast dye in neurological imaging.
“That work revolved around imaging brain tumours and decreasing the dye used in meningiomas which are indolent and slow-growing tumours of the central nervous system that don’t always require surgical resection,” Dowers said. “Decreasing the amount of dye used to image those tumours is better for the patient, the environment and the hospital system.”
Sign up to stay informed on the latest news updates
© 2017 Ron Fanfair
