Ten minutes into his campus tour, Joey Ancheta knew Boise State was “going to be where I spent the next chunk of my life.”
“I’m a firm believer that you know your home, when you’re supposed to be somewhere, just by feeling it,” Ancheta said. “This is how my life was supposed to go. The community, the culture, the spirit of everyone wanting to help you in any way possible was something I felt from the first minute I set foot on campus.”
Ancheta became a campus tour guide himself, inspiring others to attend Boise State. Originally intending to major in Criminal Justice, he switched to English Education to the delight of his father and grandfather, both of whom taught high school English in public schools. Since graduating in 2023 he has taught English at Victory Middle School in Meridian, Idaho, coached three sports teams, and worked lunch duty daily while pursuing a master’s degree at Boise State in Educational Leadership. He’s doing it all with help from — and as the first recipient of — the BOLD Scholarship, named after the cohort of alumni to which Ancheta belongs: Broncos of the Last Decade.
Established by the BOLD Committee and endowed in late 2023, the BOLD Scholarship is available to Boise State graduates who intend to return to the university to pursue advanced degrees, and its story is emblematic of the BOLD project as a whole — an act of service providing resources for committed, recently graduated Broncos that tapped into cherished Boise State values and the whole Bronco community to achieve its objective.
Through the BOLD Committee, members and volunteers seek to touch the lives of recent graduates with relevant events, programming and services. Many of these initiatives focus on the professional and social lives of graduates, like tailgates, and networking and volunteer opportunities. A scholarship, said Abbie Beltoff (’16), Boise State University Alumni Association Board president and BOLD Committee member, was an appropriate addition to the committee’s portfolio.
“We wanted programming for new grads, but also passionate graduates who wanted to give back to the university. One tenet was creating a scholarship. It would be impactful to help students who graduated from Boise State and wanted to come back for their advanced degree,” she said.
The push for more endowed student support was already in the air when the committee established the scholarship. Student access and success are a plank of Boise State’s strategic plan, the Blueprint for Success; and the university had begun emphasizing permanent sources of student support well before the October 2023 public launch of Unbridled: The Campaign for Boise State University, of which endowed scholarships are a pillar. The committee knew the next step was raising enough money to ensure it could maintain the BOLD Scholarship in perpetuity.
Committee members began pairing its social events with its philanthropic objective; tailgates and networking events doubled as fundraisers. On Bronco Giving Day 2022, the annual community-wide day of giving, an appeal for the scholarship raised $12,000. Endowing a scholarship at Boise State requires a $25,000 investment with the Boise State University Foundation, the nonprofit that manages the university’s investments. The committee had a five-year plan to reach its goal, and met it in nine months.
“Our group took it as a challenge,” Belthoff said. “How can we endow this faster and get this money to students? Our committee members are really invested in this process.”
Once the BOLD Committee had endowed the scholarship, all that remained was to award it — but to whom? Members put out the word that the committee was accepting applications for Boise State alumni who wanted to pursue advanced degrees at their alma mater, and received numerous applications.
In April 2024, the committee convened to select its candidate. As the committee sifted through the applications, themes emerged. There were student-athletes, scholars, Broncos with records of community service and compelling career plans, veterans, and others demonstrating strong financial need. Committee members came to the process with their own histories of academic and professional success, and understandings of what it means to be a Bronco. The process of selecting the scholarship’s first awardee reflected many visions of success and excellence, both among the applicants and the committee members tasked with selecting one.
“Being at a table with others who didn’t pursue the same path at Boise State, we were in the same room to help bring different visions of student success,” said BOLD Committee member Maria Paluzzi (’18). “Boise State allows everyone to find a way to be who you want to be with your education.”
The pile of applications winnowed into a shortlist before the committee finally selected Ancheta’s. His passion for and ongoing relationship with Boise State, his service to his community through his chosen profession, and demonstrated financial need were strong contributing factors.
“As the first recipient of this scholarship, I feel truly honored to receive it. My experience with Boise State from the get-go was that it’s a place where people help and support each other,” Ancheta said. “This is relieving a huge financial burden.”
Are you a Bronco of the Last Decade? Learn more about programs, events, career services, and volunteer opportunities, and make a gift to the BOLD Scholarship online.