Celebrate Boise State

Matthew Ewing: Hello, friends. I’m Matthew Ewing, Vice President for Advancement. Normally, we’d all gather this spring at two of my favorite events: our scholarship dinner and spring celebration to honor you, our donors to Boise State University. While we’re unable to gather this year, we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to thank you for all that you do for our students. This year, all of us have had to be creative, innovative, and resilient in light of the many challenges we face. This “can-do blue turf thinking” resonates true with our students and the donors who support them.

Dr. Marlene Tromp, President, Boise State University: I want to thank you today for your support of scholarships. Scholarships are so incredibly important. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for the support of donors like you. I was a young person living in a small town in Wyoming, and because of the support of generous donors, I was able to make my way to college and, along with the hard work of my parents and working on campus myself, I was able to earn my degree—something that we didn’t even know would be possible. Donors play such an important role in the future of higher education. Boise State faculty, staff, and students have navigated the challenges of COVID and of this entire year with such resilience and creativity, and your support has meant so much to them.

Matthew Ewing: So, through the art of storytelling and a little video technology, we’ve prepared some stories from those who matter most: our students.

Benjamin Martin, Entrepreneurship Management, Program Assistant, Boise Rock School: Scholarships have been a major part of my academic career since I’ve came to college. You know, I’ve got the marching band scholarship, which brings me basically in-state tuition. It actually helps me go to school in Idaho versus back home in Colorado, so that was really nice. And then this specific internship really helped out during the pandemic. Obviously, there was not a lot of opportunity for jobs and internships. As a senior in college, I was looking for, you know, more experience, more internships, so I was really—I was really grateful to find an opportunity that could help me find those experiences while able to get some money out of it too.

Laila Saadi, Biology Major, COVID-19 Contact Tracer: Scholarships are super important to me personally because I probably wouldn’t be able to be here speaking without them. My education is something that’s also super important to me, so scholarships just help me to continue to pursue it, and they’re just very, very helpful. And people who donate are just amazing because they help kids like me just be able to continue doing what we love.

Justine Teeter, Elementary Education Major, Student Teacher: Scholarship support has been amazing on my academic journey. Before this year, I was working full-time, going to school full-time, and also trying to be a wife and a mother to two kids at home. And so, getting these scholarships last year was super helpful and just made me feel really grateful that I didn’t have to try to balance everything, because with COVID and you have that uncertainty of like, what’s going on with your job, so um, getting all the scholarships has helped me not have to work and try to juggle it all.

Andy Avalos, Head Coach Boise State Football: So, one of my fondest memories about being not only a student here, student athlete that was fortunate enough to have a scholarship is just getting to meet people from all over the nation, really the world, and being able to learn about new cultures, new environments that people grew up with, and creating those relationships and having fun as we grew together in college. And that was one of my favorite things about being on campus, especially as a freshman and living in the dorms. Having a scholarship in college as a student athlete was very beneficial from the standpoint during the fall semester and the spring semester. I was able to really focus on my growth in terms of academically being involved with the football team and the demands that took so that I didn’t have to work to pay to be in college, and I was able to grow, graduate in four years, and really take advantage of the opportunities and the support that I was given.

Don Collins, 2003 Boise State Graduate, BBA in Economics: Scholarship support was, you know, impactful to me and my—my financial well-being, also my ability to get an education. I received a Len B. and Grace Jordan scholarship through the economics department for my last two years. I was able to focus on my learning, but also helped me realize the importance of, you know, community, paying back, and really gave me a chance to reflect on going forward how I could make a difference.

Ann Collins, 2004 Boise State Graduate, BBA in General Business: I really think that it’s important for students to be able to go to school and get some assistance and not have to worry about it, be able to focus more on school and community and maybe volunteering and just being able to better themselves over just worrying about having a job and how am I going to pay for this and just to be able to enjoy themselves a little bit more.

Don Collins: You know, I also think the university plays an important role in the state and in the city, in the community, and my ability to give back to students through my contributions on boards and through donations is really important for me to make that difference. My hope for Boise State is really to continue to be a key part of the community in the state and really the nation, right, in leading the way in how we go about our business. I think that’s important and not to lose sight of, you know, our very short but important history.

Benjamin Martin: This donation has really helped me in terms of just, you know, having food on the table while at the same time getting some relevant experience.

Justine Teeter: Donor supported scholarships has helped me be able to pursue my dream of becoming an educator without the stress of thinking about where all the money is coming from.

Laila Saadi: Donor support scholarships really just help me be able to pursue my education and help me—they’re going to help me achieve my goals of what I ultimately want to do in my career. Education is super important and people who give back, they’re just absolutely amazing. I want to thank them so much for doing what they’re doing because kids like me might not be able to attend a place like this and have this experiences without them.

Andy Avalos: So we appreciate you. We’re looking forward to getting you guys back on campus, whether it be at sporting events, events around the student athletes to help continue to impact them not only from a financial standpoint, from a mentor standpoint, and helping them grow and develop within our community.

Dr. Marlene Tromp: Your support helps make Boise State University an education and a community leader now and in the years to come. I’m so thankful for your interest, your involvement, and your ongoing support. Go Broncos!

Matthew Ewing: From all of us at Boise State University, thank you for what you do, and Go Broncos!

Buster Bronco holds up a variety of signs saying “Thank You” in different languages.

[Music]

Tim Dunnigan: Hi, my name is Tim Dunnigan. I’m the Dean of the College of Health Sciences, and it’s my pleasure to be able to visit with you. I’m sorry that we aren’t able to actually have a face-to-face dinner. The scholarship dinner is one of the things that I always look forward to. It’s a chance for me to connect with you all and really celebrate what higher ed’s all about: our students, and how we can help them succeed in their educational pursuits and go out in the world to make a difference. So, such as life with COVID, things have changed. With COVID, I want to mention just a couple of things in our college and how we’ve engaged in this at the university. Community environmental health has changed their name to the Department of Public Health and Population Sciences, and we’re able to use many of our faculty and students to engage in helping co-create a plan on how we deal with the COVID epidemic. And we’ve done an outstanding job at our university to allow students to continue with their education, their service, their research, and our faculty during this pandemic. And I know that those folks played an important role with it, as did our—our nursing program, our students engaging in vaccinations. And we also have health services in our college, and these are really some of the heroes at the university, the work that they’ve done tirelessly to deal with students with COVID and to help in the prevention of that. So that’s really impressive what they’ve been able to do. I also want to just talk about all that you do. And that’s what this is about, the difference that you make in students’ lives. So students can go out and better deal with the next pandemic. All the differences that we make in health, whether it’s in mental health, delivering through traditional hospitals, out in public health, prevention that we do in kinesiology, the work in our imaging programs, our respiratory therapy programs, nursing—all of these programs make such a difference. They make differences in the lives of people in Idaho and across the United States. We have wonderful faculty, we’re engaging in cutting-edge research, and we’re able to allow students to engage in that because of the support that you have. I know my wife, Shawn, and I feel honored to be able to invest in student scholarships, and that’s something we’ve done since I came here almost 11 years ago. And I just want you all to know that what you’re doing makes a difference, and it’s addressing the key thing: our students and their success. So thank you, and hopefully next year we’ll have dinner together. Thanks.

Karina Krischek: Hi, my name is Karina Krischek, and I am a recipient of the Creme Family Memorial Nursing Scholarship as well as the John F. Nagle Foundation Nursing Scholarship, and I just really wanted to say thank you. If it wasn’t for your contributions and your generosity, I probably would not be where I am. So, thank you.

Katie Mortz: Hi there, my name is Katie Mortz, and I just really wanted to sincerely thank the donor of my scholarship. I’m in my last semester of the nursing program at Boise State University, and if it weren’t for the scholarship, I really wouldn’t have been able to finish this last semester, in this last year of my schooling. So, I just really appreciated it, and I really wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for you generous donors. So this scholarship was really a blessing, and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Ricky Minder: Hi, my name is Ricky Minder, and I’m a sixth-semester BSU nursing student. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your incredibly generous gift of scholarship. You have afforded me the ability to be here, focusing on what matters: taking care of patients and learning the craft of nursing. Your gift is allowing me to lay the foundation of what it takes to become a phenomenal nurse, and for that, I hope you know that I am so grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Garrett Brontoli: Hello, my name is Garrett Brontoli, and I’m currently a sixth-semester nursing student here at Boise State. Your generous scholarship has granted me the opportunity to focus on my schooling as well as my patients without the stress of that financial burden. I’m able to be the best nurse I can be and one day give back to this community. So thank you, thank you so much.

Madelaine Ryan: Hi, my name is Madelaine Ryan. I am a third-year student in the Adult-Geriatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. I am so grateful to have received the Norco Nursing Scholarship this year. Because of your generosity, I’ve been able to spend more time in clinicals, learning from wonderful teachers, rather than picking up additional shifts at the bedside to help pay for school. This has been a really difficult year in nursing, and your gift truly made a difference in my life. So, thank you so much.