STATE StoriesPast Seasons

Travis Jensen
Hey there Jackrabbits! Welcome to the first ever episode of STATE Stories podcast. I'm one of the hosts, Travis Jensen, Vice President of Leadership Initiatives at the SDSU Alumni Association. I'm here with my co-host, President and CEO of the SDSU Alumni Association, Andi Fouberg.

Andi Fouberg
And we are coming to you, not live, from the Jensen Smith boardroom of the SDSU Alumni Center. Hello, everyone.

Travis Jensen
This podcast is all about celebrating the amazing SDSU community and the legendary alumni who have come from this wonderful institution. We'll be bringing you stories, laughs, and a healthy dose of Jackrabbit pride.

Andi Fouberg
And whether you're an alum or a friend of SDSU, we want to reconnect you with State, share some favorite memories, and remind you of why SDSU holds a special place in all of our hearts.

Travis Jensen
This season, we'll be chatting with some incredible SDSU alumni who are doing fantastic things in all sorts of fields from agriculture, health care, higher education, you name it. We'll probably have a Jackrabbit doing it.

Andi Fouberg
And of course, we can't forget the fun stuff. We'll be diving into some hilarious stories from campus life. Those only at SDSU moments. And what truly makes our alma mater special.

Travis Jensen
So buckle up, Jackrabbits. We are in for a great season of storytelling, laughter, and a little bit of nostalgia. But before we get to our first guest episode, tell us, Andi, what's one of your favorite SDSU memories? 

Andi Fouberg
One.

Travis Jensen
Just one.

Andi Fouberg
That seems hard.

Travis Jensen
Yeah. Yeah, you know, I don't make the rules. I just enforce them.

Andi Fouberg
You actually did make the rules.

Travis Jensen
I did actually make them.

Andi Fouberg
You decided that we were going to each tell one story. And so while you told me we were going to tell one story, I still have struggled with what the one story. I think you, like me, had an incredible experience at South Dakota State. And so, the idea of one story, one impactful time here can be really challenging, right? Because we had fantastic professors that you could tell a story about it. We had great friends that we could we were in organizations with that you can tell great stories about. And so it becomes a little bit challenging to narrow it down to one. So, thanks so much for this assignment. There's no extra credit if I tell more than one story. Is that what you're saying?

Travis Jensen
Correct. Well, and you are the boss, so you can.

Andi Fouberg
And now this is a podcast all about stories that I remember from college, which while there are many memorable stories I don't know that I have, I don't know that my memory is good enough to tell all of them. And maybe that's one of the beauties of going to college in the 90s instead of today. There's very little evidence.

Travis Jensen
Less documented.

Andi Fouberg
Yes, much less documented than what happens today. Although the memory I will choose to share was well documented. I was a member of the Pride of the Dakotas, and we had the opportunity to march in Bill Clinton's second inaugural parade. And so that was that is probably that kind of moment, certainly historic moment. just in the annals of our country. Right. but for me, in my time as a college student, and certainly it wasn't just about the very long bus ride to Washington, DC. and if you ever have a chance to ride a bus to Washington, DC, please don't. especially if you are not 20 something, because I don't know how my body would handle that bus ride today. But you're with your friends and it's just, we had a wonderful, wonderful experience. Certainly, the opportunity to march in a inaugural parade is once in a lifetime and just so many memories. Whether it's marching down Pennsylvania Avenue and turning toward the viewing stand and, seeing all of the, the dignitaries and the president and so forth, or the time before when you're just kind of getting ready. That's a really long day. what you don't realize when you're watching the inauguration is there's a little bit of loose timing in terms of it's a really long day when you're participating in the parade. So, the, the experience itself, the things that we got to do as part of, that experience just so impactful in, my memory. So, I think that is one of those there was a there was, one moment when we were, waiting and you're on the mall in Washington, DC, and we had so many, you know, just a lot of time. And there was we were walking along, and I saw a wheelchair down the mall, and so. And it's cold. Right. And there's a, it's a fur coat. There's a person in a fur coat and the tag on the wheelchair, I have no idea if she was actually in the wheelchair. I'll never know. But the tag on the wheelchair said Rosa Parks. I assume I have no way to know that it wasn't. And so, I am going to say that it was, Rosa Parks are say that it was Rosa Parks. And so, just the idea of being near someone who is, such, an impactful part of our American history, too shy, to not to college, too, not too cool because it wasn't that at all. It was. I guess that is not how one would describe me, but I would I would say definitely, just didn't have didn't go and say thank you or whatever. I should have said at the moment, but, that I, I, I suppose this the story also has regrets, but definitely just this kind of, moment, from the whole experience. And then I think just back to, a couple of years ago when students had a similar situation and not an inaugural, but going to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Pride of the Dakotas provides so many of us, you'll hear from one of our guests just how important and impactful that experience is for so many by having them have, they didn't ride a bus so thank you to those who helped get them there that they did not have the bus experience, but it was I cared about the bus. But the reality is that trip was really impactful.

Travis Jensen
Yeah. And like you said, really, truly was a once-in-a-lifetime moment

Andi Fouberg
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I've had, I lived in Washington, DC for ten years, so I've had the opportunity later to go to other inaugurals, but, you know, was not in the parade. Right. And that's just different. Right. Like it's just a very different experience. And so, just that I wouldn't have had that opportunity if I hadn't been in the Pride of the Dakotas and if I hadn't gone to South Dakota State University.

Travis Jensen
Well, if you had to pick one story, that's a pretty good one to pick.

Andi Fouberg
Well thank you. So, you also have to pick one story.

Travis Jensen
Yeah. That's tough. Well, I don't have one once-in-a-lifetime moment story to share, but I do have one that I feel like is still impactful to me, even to this day. In the moment, you know, in that at that time, I probably wouldn't have recognized how impactful it is. But my story is from my freshman year of college, and it was early spring semester, and we were having one of those just epic South Dakota blizzards and all of us on fourth floor, young Hall, or just really, we had a lot of pent-up energy that needed to be released. And didn't know what to do. And someone suggested that we all go outside and play football.

Andi Fouberg
In the middle of a blizzard.

Travis Jensen
In the middle of the blizzard. Yes. Yeah. And if our moms had known at that time what we were doing, I think they would really question our decision-making abilities.

Andi Fouberg
Freshmen guys have so many good ideas.

Travis Jensen
Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, that was reflected in the attire that we used we elected to wear out there, which is not much, a T-shirt and shorts and maybe some gloves because, you know, that makes sense. We have to protect our hands if we're going to play flag football or. But yeah, it was, you know, it was just really fun to be able to spend some quality time together. And I think we spent maybe an hour and a half out there. So how we didn't get hypothermia, I don't know. And I think once we came inside, we were really questioning it. But I think the reason why it's so impactful is because it was a bonding moment for a couple dozen of us. And as I reflect back that almost nearly 25 years and I think back on some of the people that I was, that was a part of that experience, I'm still in connection with them. Right? They're still part of my network. I'm still friends with them. And interacting with them is just really cool. I think a lot of our listeners, although maybe they can't relate to the questionable decision-making of that, can relate to the idea.

Andi Fouberg
I think most of our listeners can probably relate to questionable decision making.

Travis Jensen
While in college, sure. But I think they could probably most definitely relate to just being able to make those connections while at STATE. Right? Like, yeah, just lasting memories. Whether it's finding your spouse or just one of those rock-solid friends, connections you make with faculty and staff, it's just it's a really special place. And although that wasn't a big once in a lifetime moment, it was certainly an impactful one for me.

Andi Fouberg
Well, I think that's why I'm looking forward to sharing these stories with our listeners. Right? They'll have an opportunity to hear some of these impactful. And, you know, whether their life changing or life altering or really just, this was a great part of my college experience. I often talk about how SDSU is special, and we're going to get to hear from a lot of people, some of whom you know, some of whom you won't or don't know, until we get an opportunity to introduce them. And so, I think that's one of the things I'm looking forward to most in this is just getting to share some of those stories, which is why it's titled STATE Stories.

Travis Jensen
That's right. Exactly what we're trying to capture with our guests. And we are really excited for the guests that we have for season one. So, we really hope that everyone will subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode.

Andi Fouberg
And if you know a fellow alum with a story, let us know. We would love to hear from you and learn more about alums that maybe we already know and don't know that about them, or alums that we don't yet know. We're looking forward to that.

Travis Jensen
Until next time. Go Big, Go Blue,

Travis Jensen and Andi Fouberg
Go Jacks!

Travis Jensen
Hey there, Jackrabbits! Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Andi Fouberg
Our guest today is the director of athletic bands, directing the Pride of the Dakotas marching band, pep band, and the concert band, and serves as assistant professor of music. A 1998 alum, Dr. Kevin Kessler has influenced thousands of SDSU students and alumni. It's with great pleasure we have him joining us on the podcast. Welcome to the show, Kevin.

Kevin Kessler
Thanks. It's great to be here. The checks in the mail for that introduction. Wow. It's really nice. It's great to be here.

Travis Jensen
Kevin, we're so excited to have you joining us on the podcast. When we were dreaming up the idea of this podcast, we wanted to have guests who could share great stories about State. You were one of the first people we thought of joining us. So again, thank you. So, when students, alumni and friends think about their favorite memories of State, it's not uncommon for some of those memories to include the Pride of the Dakotas marching band. You have the pleasure and responsibility of leading the Pride. From your perspective, what makes the Pride so special?

Kevin Kessler
Well, certainly the students are what make it, right. I love the fact that we don't require an audition. And so that has allowed us to welcome into the band people from all walks of life. We have students who come from schools that are so small, they've never marched a step. We have students from schools that are some of the best high school marching bands in the country, and they all come together to form this group. And I love the idea that we don't have to turn anybody away that has played an instrument or spun a flag and wants to be a part of this. So, that's really special. The idea that students come from all different academic disciplines on campus is fun as well. And so, it's this melting pot in our college culture that, the student who is the ag major gets to meet the poly sci major or, the music major gets to meet the business econ major or whatever it is, and it forms this terrific family. And I think the members of the band, past and present, would call it that. And that's what makes the Pride so special are the connections that these students make. The experiences that they can talk about, for the rest of their lives. Andi, you and I talk to Pride alumni all the time. Andi, you’re a Pride alum. And we could sit there and tell stories, and very little of them would be about the performances themselves. Right? It would be about a travel experience or, a specific person or a specific event that happened within their time in the Pride. The performances are great, and we love them, and we work hard to do the best we can with those performances. But it's the connections and it's the people and it's the experiences that really make this ensemble special.

Andi Fouberg
As a Pride alum, I also appreciate that there were no auditions coming from one of those, I had marched before, but coming from one of those, those small towns. Thousands of students have participated in the Pride over the years. Working with that many unique personalities, and for our listeners, Kevin was my drum major when I was in college, so maybe I was one of those unique personalities. You must have some funny stories. So, what's your, give us some of your best stories?

Kevin Kessler
I think from a, from a teaching standpoint, some of these stories, I'm probably not privy to because I think the best stories are probably formed when, you know, the parents are away. You know what I'm saying, right? But as far as being around them, I just love their sense of humor and their energy. We will do dress up days, right? One day a week we’ll do just to break things up and to have some fun, we'll do a dress up day. And some of the things that these students will do, as an entire section and really, really sell the bit. And so you have, we'll do a Disney Day, and we'll have an entire section dress up like Disney princesses and you know, these or

Andi Fouberg
Please tell me it was the tubas.

Kevin Kessler
I think it was the trombone section, actually, or the entire piccolo section. Somebody took the time to cut out little pieces of construction paper, black construction paper, and they all wore white shirts. And so they, they taped these dots to the shirt, and they show up as 101 Dalmatians. Just other, other things that I love, moments that crack me up is during football games, we will play at tailgate concerts. We will take one band, one part of the band and take them to the alumni tailgate and we'll take the other part of the band and go north to the backyard. And then when those concerts are done, we congregate for a while in the SJAC (Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex) before we go outplay. And just organically over the years, every section now has something that they do in the SJAC prior to going out and marching pre-game, and it's just fun to watch it. There's nothing that has come from the staff. They just all have their thing, they have their cheer. They all sit in the same spot. They have these just little activities. And we just walk around and just listening to them, the jokes they tell, just the laughter, I mean, I just, I really get a kick out of that. As a student, I think some of my best memories were when we were on the road, if we were traveling to something, and just again, the connections we would make, making the most out of odd performance situations, small high schools where, the grass looked more like, you know, your neighbor's lawn or something like that, just dealing with those things. But the students are their energy, and, like I said, just those organic moments that they create, when we give them a little bit of downtime, just I always get, I always get a good laugh out of.

Andi Fouberg
Well and their energy is infectious. So that's pretty great. to be around a lot, right? 

Kevin Kessler
Yeah. It keeps you young. You learn a lot of, phraseology and you learn a lot of pop culture that you would not if you weren't around people like that. That’s what I love about the job is, I can maybe stay relevant with my teenage daughter. I can or certainly with the students I work with. And their energy is absolutely infectious. And you can see that, not only within the band and within the band, it's perhaps students who, are new to the university and haven't quite found their place yet and haven't quite found their people. I think that's not necessarily a funny story, but it's fun to watch to see those students kind of get pulled into the fold. And we have students who are insistent on, oh, no, you're not going to you're not going to sit off by yourself and be lonely. We're going to make you a part of this. And then during the games, just seeing where we sit and being surrounded by the student section, seeing that interaction and us getting, just getting into the game day environment together, those are, those are some of the best parts of the fun parts of the job for me.

Travis Jensen
You know, Kevin, as a fan, it's really fun to watch the just the general public's interest in the Pride. It seems to have grown and continues to grow over the years. And I think with that, it appears that there's an increase in the number of students participating in the Pride. Is that fair? And then what would you attribute that to?

Kevin Kessler
Yeah, I think the public investment in this band goes back a long time, literally decades. If we really wanted to get granular into the history of the Pride, the love for this band and the attention that this band has been afforded goes back well over 100 years when Carl Christiansen was the director. And there was something magnetic about his personality. And this band was unusually large for the size of the school. And that, you can attribute that going back decades and a tradition that has been maintained. You know, currently does the, has the band been getting bigger? Yes. Over the last 8 or 9 years, we've seen some terrific growth. The invitation to Macy's was certainly a big catalyst, but we had grown since my arrival. The band had grown over the course of 6 or 7 years by about 70 members. We were in the mid 250s, maybe 260s. And then when we got the Macy's invitation, the year we went to Macy's, we were 345. So obviously that was a carrot, no pun intended, Jackrabbit fans, but that certainly helped a lot. And we've been able to maintain good numbers over the last couple of years. We were over 300 last year, will be in that neighborhood again this year. And that's a result of certainly students and people want to be a part of something that is special and appreciated. And I think it's a really nice relationship that we have between the university community and us. I mean, we appreciate their love and their support. And because we do feel that sense of support, it's something that one, it’s attractive. If you are going to be a part of this group, you're going to be loved and appreciated. So what better catalyst and recruitment pitch is that right? That, this is not just a band. It's a presence. It's part of the university culture. And we're very appreciative of that.

Andi Fouberg
You mentioned Macy's. The band has been part of some pretty special SDSU moments. I had the opportunity to be there when they marched at Macy's, and it was emotional. But you've been a part of a lot of those moments at SDSU. Can you pick a favorite? Do you have a favorite? Which ones stand out?

Kevin Kessler
There are two that that go together. One is that the band was invited to play for President Bill Clinton's last campaign stop, which was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the night before the 1996 election. And we got to go to the Sioux Falls Arena and play for him and play for the rally. And then after that was done, we were invited down to the floor and out walks Bill Clinton and shook everybody's hand. And that was that was a powerful moment, getting to meet a president. And then of course, in, you know, true college kid fashion, we started chanting inaugural parade, trying to, you know, make the case to get us to Washington. And lo and behold, we got an invitation. So those two things go hand in hand. And just a thrilling moment. I mean, just chills, walking down Pennsylvania Avenue and turning toward the reviewing stand and seeing Bill Clinton grab Vice President Gore by the shoulder and say this is the band I was telling you about. And we have video of him pointing at us. If you are a good lip reader, you can see that moment. I think for me as a student, that was, by far, I don't think you can, even put a close second to those, that stretch of days in 1996 and 1997.

Travis Jensen
Kevin, working for the Alumni Association, Andi and I have the pleasure of hearing stories from thousands of alumni and friends. And the word special is used frequently. I'm guessing you've probably heard that as well. From your perspective, what makes SDSU, you know, the university so special?

Kevin Kessler
I'm going to quote one of my friends and colleagues, Dr. Aaron Ragsdale, who's our percussion instructor. When we talk to students about, prospective students, about coming to SDSU, one of the things that he talks about, at length, is the idea that this university is kind of right sized, and what he means by that is that we are big enough to offer incredible opportunities, not just in music, but for our purposes. That's what we talk about. We talk about the number of different ensembles we have, the variety of music ensembles we have, the theater opportunities, the dance opportunities, the travel opportunities. And yet, we are small enough to know you, you are not going to get lost because we are a small enough school in the performing arts that we know practically everybody by name. And so we provide these world class opportunities and yet there is a really personal commitment amongst the faculty. And there is this, this sense of, real commitment to the individual student because we're able to do that because we're not swamped with, you know, 600 kids auditioning to be in the marching band. Right. And I think that's part of what makes it very special. And then, beyond that, again, it's the idea that we, we are welcoming, we nurture that quality in our students and because of that, they form these relationships and connections that they have for the rest of their life. I mean, there are people that I met the first week of marching band as a freshman that are still the people that I socialize with today. I met my wife in the marching band. So I, I think just that healthy balance that we have, that Dr. Ragsdale again refers to as right sized, is what makes this place, really special and makes us stand out.

Andi Fouberg
Kevin, you are the head of the Pride. And, as an individual, you have accomplished a lot in your very brief professional career. What would you say, and I'm going to make you say something. Don't, you're a humble guy, so don't go off on me but what would you say you are most proud of?

Kevin Kessler
That's a really, that's a loaded question. I only can say. Well, I can say one thing. Wow. And you run this place, so I have to listen to you, and I have to obey that.

Andi Fouberg
That implies that anyone does. So, I mean, I know you'd be the first.

Kevin Kessler
So, I mean, I'm not going to answer it with one thing, but I'll, I'll give you a couple.

Andi Fouberg
That's great.

Kevin Kessler
Certainly, certainly Macy's was a highlight of my career. The band has done so many amazing things in its history, and that was one thing that the band had not done yet. So I think, that being a unique jewel in the Crown was, was important. I'm also really proud of the student success amongst the members, on campus and off campus. You know, we've had this last year, in the fall of 2023, 27% of the university population made the Dean's list, right? 45% of the Pride made the Dean's List in that same semester, while they were in marching band and busy with marching band. We've had a Udall Scholar in the marching band. We've had students, go on to grad schools, and really high level, highly regarded graduate programs in, in all kinds of things. Just be successful community leaders. We've had, Pride graduates, be elected into the South Dakota Legislature later. And it's the success of the student and the idea that they're able to do marching band and continue to be successful in school and then go out and do all those great things is, is, very important to me. But personally, yeah, Macy's is a is a big deal and I just think,

Andi Fouberg
It's a big lift to take 350ish college students to...

Kevin Kessler
It was, but again, going back to the success of former Pride members, the person who helped coordinate the trip himself was a graduate of SDSU, had a music education degree, marched in the Pride, and it meant a great deal to him that he was able to lead this trip and organize this trip for us. And that's just another example of the quality of, of people that we are sending out into the world from this university and from, from the band as well.

Andi Fouberg
So we're new to this podcast thing. So, tell us what we should have asked you that we didn't ask you.

Kevin Kessler
I'm new to this, too, so I'm not sure. How am I? How am I supposed to add. I think if we had time, I think there's a lot of individuals. I was kind of being broad in in how I discussed student success, but, we could we could do another entire podcast on this student went out and did this in the world. And this student is doing this now, and we could also discuss what we're what we're hoping to do in, in the future, you know, the goals that we have and so forth.

Andi Fouberg
So thought about asking you about the future, but I didn't mean to put you on the spot, Kevin.

Kevin Kessler
Well, you're not going to get a specific answer.

Andi Fouberg
Kevin, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast. We really appreciate it.

Kevin Kessler
I appreciate you having me on. And I love nothing more than talking about this band. And the members of it are just my favorite people in the world. And talking about all the, all the fun things that we get to do.

Travis Jensen
Thanks Kevin.

Kevin Kessler
Thank you.

Travis Jensen 
Thanks for joining us for this episode of STATE Stories podcast. If you liked what you heard, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us share these incredible stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can listen to all our podcast episodes on our website at statealum.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

Travis Jensen
Hey there, Jackrabbits! Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride. 

Our guest today is the associate athletic director of communications for South Dakota State University. Tyler Merriam is the lead play by play voice for football, men's basketball and baseball. He also produces Jackrabbits Sports Network, hosting radio shows, podcasts, and producing endless content for the ever-growing fan base. Welcome to the show, Tyler.

Tyler Merriam
That’s a very professional introduction. I'm not worthy of it but thank you.

Travis Jensen
Yeah, I'll pat my own back if I can. 

Tyler Merriam
As you should.

Travis Jensen
Thank you.

Andi Fouberg
Oh, my. This is going to be exciting. So, to get us started, you have quite a bit more experience at this type of thing with a microphone than we do. Any tips for us, Mr. Merriam?

Tyler Merriam
Well don’t sell yourself short. You are not a tremendous slouch in any way, shape or form. I mean, be yourself. Relax. Have fun. I have a feeling we're going to enjoy ourselves over the next few minutes.

Andi Fouberg
If you're going to be a slouch, be a tremendous one.

Tyler Merriam
Excel at anything you do.

Travis Jensen
I tell you what, let's jump right into it. 

Tyler Merriam
Let's do it.

Travis Jensen
Let's do that. SDSU athletics has a fun and rich history, and you've been witness to many of those memories and moments. Now I recognize this is probably a tough question for you, but what would you say are your top three fondest SDSU sports memories? 

Tyler Merriam
Oh, wow. Are we talking about specific games or just moments, or am I just allowed to run with this thing for days on end?

Travis Jensen
Run with it. Have fun with it. 

Tyler Merriam
Well, I think you have to go back to, I was lucky enough that I was a freshman the last year of Division 2. So, I got to see the North Central Conference and then got to witness the transition in person. And then my first year as a full-time employee, I was the voice of women’s basketball when they were nationally ranked, went to the tournament for the first time, won a game, came so close to going to the sweet sixteen, and that was something obviously nobody from South Dakota had ever done before. It really captured the imagination of a lot of people coming off the WNIT runs of the two years before that. So that was a really cool thing because it was kind of the first time a lot of that had occurred. And to have a front row seat and not probably at that point have enough context to realize how special it was, like you knew it was cool, but you know, we’ll do this every year, right? This is how this goes. No pressure, AJ. So that obviously ranks right up there. Having the opportunity to be in the catbird seat for back-to-back national championship runs with football and to see how that program has grown. Because I remember sweating to see if they would get in the playoffs and then sweating whether or not they’d be a top 8 seed. And now, here you are, they are the number one seed, they are going to host all these games. It’s almost just assumed, right? Again, no pressure, Jimmy. It’s assumed that these things are going to happen. Still to me one of the great days ever when you go back to March of 2012, the Summit League Championship double title win by the Jackrabbit women and men. It was the men’s first. The women had an overtime win over Kansas City. That day because Justin Sell from the very first day he got hired as athletic director said we can make all these comments about where things are going, it jumps to another level the first time the men’s basketball team goes to the NCAA tournament. It’s just different. And it was. And to get to have a front row seat for all of that. Those are moments that are really cool. There’s all sorts of travel stories that jump out and things like that. But as far as like specific games, specific moments, those are probably a few that rise to the top pretty quickly.

Andi Fouberg
Travis wanted you to name one, and I allowed you to name three. So we're clear, right? 

Travis Jensen
She knows you well apparently.

Tyler Merriam 
She knows me too well. Yes. I felt I was able to censor myself. 

Andi Fouberg
Those are great. I mean, those are the those three if you think about just kind of what that what they mean to SDSU athletics and SDSU and to alumni, those are really grand moments. 

Tyler Merriam
Was there a surprising snub, in your opinion?

Andi Fouberg
No.

Tyler Merriam
Oh, okay. I was just curious if there was one other one that you guys would have thought of.

Andi Fouberg
I think picking one of those three would have been really challenging.

Tyler Merriam
Sure.

Travis Jensen
I think as the average fan, they recognize those moments as like, that's when we have arrived. 

Tyler Merriam
Sure. 

Travis Jensen
Right. Like that solidified for us. This is the moment that Jacks have arrived. 

Tyler Merriam
And you go back to like the 2016 Dakota Marker game in Fargo. That's one that sticks with people. There are certain moments along the way or a play here or there. The Montana State football game last September, I mean, that's a moment that will live on, just in general, the Summit basketball tournament. I mean, there's a lot more that you certainly could go into.

Andi Fouberg
So you have the responsibility and perhaps pressure, as the play by play voice to keep things moving and listeners informed, as the action is taking place in real time and sometimes in action, if I remember a shoe tying incident at one point. Describe how you stay focused on the task at hand while also recognizing you’re a big fan. 

Tyler Merriam
You're giving me a lot of credit that I stay focused first and foremost. But in all seriousness, my dad worked at the Oahe Dam as a power plant mechanic for three decades, and it was manual grunt labor, and he hated every second of it except for every other Friday, because he worked nine hour shifts and got every other Friday off. And he told me constantly growing up, told my brother the same thing if you get a chance to do something you love, do it because I don't love what I do. It's a federal job, takes care of my family, great pension, benefits, retirement, all those things. I don't love what I do, I love what I do. Like, this isn't work. You know, there's time put into it and there's passion and all these things. But I'm not digging ditches. I'm not dealing with, you know, downpours and all these things because you're outside. I get to talk about sports and that's fun. And I get to, I have the opportunity to build and engage relationships with these student athletes, and that keeps me young I’d like to think. Some of my best friends or people that I've gotten to know, either as broadcasters or coaches and whatnot. So it's a privilege for me to get to do this. It's not something that I want to do it right. And I want to represent our fans. but I don't view it like it's this huge anchor that is weighing me down by any stretch. As far as like going with the flow of everything and staying attentive and all that. You just describe what's going on, you know, and certainly you have your prep. I think some of it goes back to an old line that Vin Scully uttered, the longtime voice of the Dodgers, that you have the humility to prepare and the confidence to pull it off. So you have notes and you're prepared if unique things happen. But I'd forgotten all about the Dentlinger shooting thing till you brought it up. But something happens and you just go with it.

Andi Fouberg
Oh my gosh, It's one of my favorites. It was classic, Tyler.

Tyler Merriam
I was not prepared for it. And I probably could have done a better job of it and listening back to it. But it's just one of those things, and there's times that a line will come up in, in a broadcast, especially in football, when you have so many voices, something will be said and you kind of make fun of the other with it and it becomes sort of a running theme. And so, you just kind of roll with it and it's fun. I mean, that's the biggest thing is, and I hope that comes off to the listeners, it's not a laborious task to go on the road and do these games. It's fun.

Andi Fouberg
Well, it's fun to listen to you so.

Tyler Merriam
Thank you.

Travis Jensen
So talking about that preparation, when you look at athletes, oftentimes you hear them talk about how there might be a routine or a ritual that they utilize to get into the zone. How about you? Do you have a routine or a ritual that helps you kind of get in the zone before you get behind the mic?

Tyler Merriam
I mean, not particularly. I don't really get nervous anymore. Do you get like the that energy, you know, that that there are times and specifically I can recall last January in Frisco before the Montana game, it was our pregames two hours and we're getting going and I'm sitting there just watching the clock like, can we just get to the game? Like we've had all this buildup, we're on the air. Can we just can we kick this thing off now? Do I have to wait 90 more minutes? You know, it wasn't a nervous oh my gosh, I'm going to screw this up. It was let's just go. You know we're ready. I'm sure everybody else was the same way. We've been here long enough. We've waited. Let's just go. There's an excitement level. Like I said, Travis, that you get excited to get to do what I get to do and talk about it, and, and, and you play off the crowd, too. I think that's the other thing. It's not so much, you know, all those things leading up to it. It's playing off of when you've got 19,000 people at the stadium where you got thousands inside what was Frost Arena now is becoming First Bank and Trust Arena. The atmosphere at the summit tournament. You know, just like a player you get captured in all of that and try to do it justice. And it's awesome to play off of all of that. And so you know, it's probably little things I do here or there and, and the biggest thing is I just try to I try to slow myself down because you talked about being a fan, being excited. The easiest thing in the world is to go a thousand miles an hour. Take a deep breath, slow yourself down, make sure everybody can understand you, and also to remember that I have no control over what happens. This announcer jinx stuff is great to talk about, but if I could impact what was actually happening, you don't think I would have done that long ago in a variety of ways? So I can't catch a ball for them. You know? I can't make a throw for him. I can't shoot a ball or make a pass or whatever. All I can do is describe it. So take a breath, try to enjoy it as best you can, and soak it all in.

Travis Jensen
Well, you've polished your craft. You've been doing it a few years now. We certainly don't want to age you by any means.

Tyler Merriam
Of course not. 

Travis Jensen 
But there was a time you were a student here at State. You earned your degree in journalism.

Tyler Merriam
Best decade of my life.

Travis Jensen
Let’s reflect on maybe some of those moments huh.

Tyler Merriam
As a student? 

Travis Jensen
Yeah as a student. Tell us, what are some of those memories that stand out to you that you just. It brings a smile to your face. 

Andi Fouberg
Well, and you mentioned in passing, but listeners may not know that you worked in this as a student. You didn't decide to come halfway. You've been doing this even before you got to SDSU.

Tyler Merriam
I knew what I wanted to do from I didn't know. Obviously the position I have didn't exist until I finished college, but I knew very early on that I wanted to do sports play by play. Ironically enough, one of the previous voices of South Dakota State University Athletics, Chris Stevens, was doing high school games in Pierre, and Chris became a mentor of mine before he passed away and learned a lot through him. Chris introduced me to Ron Lenz when I was a sophomore in high school if memory serves. Ron, of course, the long tenured sports information director here at SDSU and built up relationships. Tom Coughlin was the general manager of the radio station, one of the radio stations here in Brookings at the time, and they were owned by the same company as the station that I was working for in high school in Pierre and Tom and Scotty Quas said hey, if you come out here, we'll have jobs for you. And Tom gave me some of the best advice I've ever had, and I owe a great deal to Tom Coughlin. And Scotty and I are dear friends and it's become, you know, one of the most cherished relationships I have. And so it's funny how things work out. And Ron the same way, you know, every Tuesday I have lunch with a group, including Ron Lenz and Ron got me started my freshman year. I was already doing the radio thing. And then Ron hired me in the sports information office. And through that, again, we talk about sometimes it's the quality of the job you do, and sometimes it's connections in who, you know, being hired by Ron and working in the SID office, I got to know all these coaches, all these administrators. And that led to we need a fill in for this, and then we can do some baseball and hey, there's a football game. Can you do this? And so here I am in college doing a football game on WNAX. Now there would be a little bit of nerves in that particular case. Thankfully Jerry Oster was there to smooth everything over. And there's another guy. Jerry and I still work together to this day, and he's become a dear friend. And Steve Heming, of course, who was the longtime voice. So I was lucky to have a lot of people that shepherded me. A lot of people that encouraged me, were willing to put up with me, because you think I'm a handful now, when I didn't know anything back then, I can only imagine what I was like to certain people. But they humored me, and they allowed me to grow. And I've tried to pass that along now. And we've got obviously, you know, Brent Bowen's a great example. Brent's a student who we were able to recruit up here in part to be on our crew. And he's had a lot of opportunities because of that, because if nobody took care of me, I wouldn't be where I am. You know? I had to have a lot of people guiding me and again, overlooking some things to get there. And I was very lucky to be able to, to be here, to watch SDSU growing up, to be just three hours from home, far enough away, but not too far. And to have the opportunity to grow was tremendous. I had the same dorm room in Binnewies my freshman and sophomore years and then lived off campus for the next eight years of my schooling and eventually earned my undergrad, well, eventually was given my undergrad. 

Andi Fouberg
Please just take this and go. And you wouldn't leave.

Tyler Merriam
That's true. You know, they say you can go anywhere from here. Well, I'm not living proof of that.

Andi Fouberg
So, I'd like you to put your fortune teller hat on here for a minute.

Tyler Merriam
What am I Carnac all of a sudden?

Andi Fouberg
Carnac the amaze. Yes.

Tyler Merriam
Aged reference. Carnac the Magnificent.

Andi Fouberg
Carnac the Magnificent. That's what it was. Yes. What is the future of jackrabbit athletics look like? I mean, obviously we assume, we're on a great trajectory, right? But if you were to look out at Jackrabbit athletics, what would you say is on the horizon?

Tyler Merriam
You know, in all honesty, it's tough to answer, Andi, because you know as well as I do the ever changing landscape of college athletics. Is SDSU in a really good spot right now? Certainly. What are things going to look like in three years? So many things are changing with conference realignment and with NIL and collectives and all of these things. It's really hard to predict where things are going. I have a tremendous amount of faith in our president, Barry Dunn, and in our athletic director, Justin Sell, knowing they've thought through all this. Because the biggest thing that I think people on the outside don't understand is if a situation arises where a potential move could come up, it is not a scenario in which you get a call and say, hey, we're considering you as an option. Take a year, year and a half, do a bunch of research, talk to folks, get back to us. It's going to be a Wednesday at 2:00 o’clock. Hey, we're making a Friday at Noon announcement that we're adding three schools to our league. You are in or you are out. You have 24 hours to tell us. So, Barry, Justin, they have to have all their ducks in a row for if these calls come, how to handle them and what the best option is. And you don't want to move for the sake of moving, but you also need to at least keep up, if not, be ahead of the curve. And that's such a delicate line to walk in. Things are much different now than they were five years ago. They're much different five years ago and they were ten years ago. SDSU is using the best place it can be right now. It really is. But what does the future hold? I think it's hard for any of us to tell. And it's hard to tell with our broadcast contracts where things are going. You know, Booth cam wasn't even thought of five years ago. And now a bunch of schools have it's become a big thing for us, the digital platforms and how we deliver stuff. So everything is such in constant motion that it's really hard to predict too much, other than I have tremendous faith in our leadership, and I think we're in the best spot we could possibly be.

Andi Fouberg
And I think we're really fortunate to have the fan base and the support that we have because it gives you some confidence that no matter what happens, no matter what decisions get made that are in our control or as you say, so many of the things out of our control, Jackrabbit Nation will be there and be, behind us and supporting. And that's the confidence that that must bring President Dunn and Justin Sell and others, has to be just a real support.

Tyler Merriam
That's a great point. And I think the other thing, too, there will always be a place for student athletes to come to a place to focus on earning a degree, to obtain that degree in significantly less time than it took me to, and also to succeed, whether it's on the field or in the pool or on the track or whatever it might be, there will always be a place for that. Now, for some student athletes, like they're interested in trying to go pro and they're interested in another things, and that's fine. And there's a place for that too. There will always be a place for this. And SDSU is so much better than a lot of them at again bringing individuals in who have distinct majors. And you know, how many mechanical engineering majors have come through. Mark Gronowski’s one. And we could go back in time to a number of them or nursing majors who you know what that six figure NFL deal looks great in the practice squad but I went to school as a pre-nursing and I really want to pursue that. That's not the norm. It happens here and it happens again and again because of the types of individuals that are recruited. And that goes back to the philosophy of the leadership from the top down. And so because of that, that gives you great confidence to and that even if things change, you're at a different level, whatever. There still is going to be a place for what happens here as far as student athletes are concerned.

Travis Jensen
It really has created kind of a special environment, right? Whether that's for the student athletes or just the average fan. It's a really good time to be a jackrabbit, right? It's just fun to witness everything that is transpiring. One question that we really like to ask our guests, and the reason why we like to ask it, is because we get this unique perspective right? We all have our own reasons why State is special, whether that's the academics, whether that is the relationships that we're building over the years, whether it's just the community as a whole. But from your perspective, Tyler, what makes SDSU so special?

Tyler Merriam
I think you kind of hit on it. My answer would be the people. And without going too far down the rabbit hole, for those that don't know, you know, my wife Jill and I have two children, two boys, both of whom are special needs, both of whom have had a number of challenges in their lives and will continue to, and both are currently prospering. And the support from President Dunn, the support from Justin and my coworkers, the support from the community, the support from people like Andi. dear friends, that is not the way things go in a lot of places. We had a member of our staff, a recent hire, who has a special needs child who asked, can I bring my child around? And I looked at this person. I said, well, why wouldn't you be able to? Well, at my previous job, like I just. No by all means like, Joe comes up here and he knows where Kathy Heylen's office is, because that's where the candy is, and he knows where Tyler Glidden office is, and he knows where to go here, and he's going to stop there. And like, that's the family atmosphere. And it's not just within athletics, you know, it goes through the whole department. Every time that my wife is at Hy-Vee and Barry's at Hy-Vee, Barry stops or, hey, how's Joe, how's Wyatt, how are things? That's not everywhere. It should be, but it's not. And it's a great compliment, a great testament to how things go. I would not have gotten through some of the things, we would not have gotten through some of the things without the support of, again, people on campus, people in the community. And to this day, I ran into somebody yesterday who used to work here and hasn't been here in a while. Hey, how's that little boy? Is he doing okay? You know, what's the latest? That doesn't happen everywhere. And so, to experience that, to get you know, enveloped in that warmth, it's very special and Justin talks about it a lot that there's, there's always money, you know, you can always find money somewhere. You can find places to work, but can you find a place where it's a family feel? Can you find a place that truly accepts everything? And there's no question in my mind, this is that place. And my wife and I and our kids are forever grateful.

Andi Fouberg
Thank you. That's, this has been a lot of fun. I do want to clarify for our listeners, I don't know how long it took you to get through college, but I don't think it was a full ten years.

Tyler Merriam
I'm not going to ask you to look that up.

Andi Fouberg
Well, and we're not allowed to share that information with others. And so we will whatever the secret is, but Tyler, thank you. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you for what you do at South Dakota State University because not only does it matter but it’s a lot of fun for us to have you here and have you sharing your talent with us so thank you.

Tyler Merriam
Well, thank you for having me. I enjoy being had and it was a great pleasure. 

Travis Jensen
Thanks for joining us for this episode of STATE Stories podcast. If you like what you heard, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us share these incredible stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can listen to all our podcast episodes on our website at statealum.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening!

Travis Jensen
Hey there, Jackrabbits Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Our guest today is an esteemed alumna of South Dakota State University, who has made significant contributions both in her professional career and to the SDSU community. Kim Tyler, a 1982 graduate, had a distinguished 31-year career at the Kellogg Company, retiring as vice president of the Alternative Channel Sales. Kim most recently served as the co-chair of the historic SDSU Bold and Blue campaign. Welcome to the show, Kim.

Kim Tyler
Well thank you. It's great to be here.

Andi Fouberg
We are excited to have you. So thank you.

Kim Tyler
Well, we get to talk about our favorite things.

Andi Fouberg
Yeah. Yeah. So, let's do it. Your story is inspiring. We'll get to a lot of that. We want to hear about your fondest memories at SDSU. What can we start with? Something very recent.

Kim Tyler
Okay.

Andi Fouberg
You were the co-chair of the Bold and Blue campaign, SDSU Foundation's campaign that raised over $604 million for SDSU.

Kim Tyler
What a remarkable, remarkable event. And I say event not because of the big announcement night, but the many years that it took place. The thousands of people that completely bought in and embraced, supporting SDSU in just huge, huge ways. It was such a privilege and honor to be part of the campaign, let alone be, I guess, on the PowerPoint slide. That said, I was a co-chair. Right. But, what a tremendous professional experience, and just so inspiring to be a part of it. You know, when I think toward the end and we were counting the folks and thinking about over 30,000 people participated with, you know, every level. the number of folks, both that were first-time donors and got on board, and then the number of folks who really supported us with huge leadership gifts. It was just a testament to those individuals and how they were so bought in, right, to our university and how they could change lives, and really change the history, change the trajectory, of SDSU. It was remarkable to be part of it.

Travis Jensen
And it was a culmination, as you pointed out, of years of work in the making. Right. Working towards that. Describe for us what it felt like when you learned of that final total. I mean, we're talking about $604 million dollars. That’s a lot of money.

Kim Tyler
Well, I guess to be honest, though, when you're kind of on the inside during the years and you're just seeing, I mean, every update we would get, every few months or as the years progressed into the campaign, we just kept being overwhelmed, with the support. And we kept thinking, wow, you know, we started the campaign, and our good consultant thought, hey, you know, boy, a really good response. We think for sure that you can reach over a 400 million mark. That was the first number that we talked about. And, except that when Dana and I met with the president and Steve Erpenbach and a couple other leadership folks, you know, Dana and I were like, no, that's not a good number. You know, who would raise 400 when a half a billion is the number we need to go for. So, I mean, it was pretty early on that we decided, nope, we're going to have great response. We have such good leadership, both at the foundation but more over at the university and we have extraordinary jackrabbit loyalty. The region supports us. Oh, no, I mean, right away it was like, no, we're going to hit. We are going to go after a half $1 billion. So then toward the last year or so, as we're thinking about how we're going to wrap up the campaign. to be honest, it wasn't shocking because you got to be I was a little bit more on the inside. But when you did start thinking about, okay, we didn't just do a half a billion, you know, we eclipsed that tremendously to the 600 million mark. So yeah. Overwhelming. It was a joyous day, obviously, for all jackrabbits. Yep.

Travis Jensen
Anyone that interacts with Kim Tyler would say that you are a diehard jackrabbit, not just in your words, but certainly within your actions as well. Yeah, and you have generously given your time, your talents and your treasure to State. And it probably comes as no surprise to you. We see this frequently, this type of generosity from our alumni.

Kim Tyler
We do.

Travis Jensen
What is it about SDSU that makes alumni want to give back?

Kim Tyler
You know, I tried to think about that a little bit. You gave me a little heads-up on some of the things we were going to talk about today. And it's the people part. It's the, it’s over the years, the people who have bought into the culture of what being a jackrabbit means. And, then that turns into the mission. And really, SDSU, when you think about how a land grant university really came to be a what, in the late 1800s? It was about service, and it was going to be a university that prepared people to serve their region, their community, frankly, the globe. Because of the programs, you know, the majors, the colleges that make up a land grant university, it's really all about service. We have everything from entrepreneurs to engineers and health, you know, agriculture. And so I think that's it. I think there's such a culture of making the world better for each other, and for our state and our community and ultimately the world.

My story, I guess, how personally I think that has affected me as, hey, I mean, my parents met here in the 40s, late 40s. You know, they were engaged at the military ball. My dad played in the band. He, you know, I still have his 1942 band sweater. He played cornet. So he has, he had great stories of playing in the band when the weather was horrible and the games were long and those kind of things. So there you go. I mean, I'm a I'm a daughter of a band member, and my mom was active on campus, and I'm sure at that time in the 40s, what was there? A few hundred kids. I don't even know what the attendance would have been at that time. So then fast forward. I was able to play volleyball here and tennis here one year. and I think I think about Title IX and, you know, the volleyball team drove around in this mediocre, crowded, old kind of banged up minivan like a van. You know, it wasn't minivan in those days. It would just be a van. A cargo van, right. And the coach had to drive. We barely fit the team in and our gear, and that's how we went to games. And we wore these really, really ugly navy blue cotton warm up shorts and, bad shrunk, wrinkled gray t-shirts for. But you know what? It didn't matter, did it? Because we were the women on the team were so excited and so focused because I remember telling my parents after graduating from high school how I, you know, yeah, I'm going to go to SDSU, but I think I want to try out for the volleyball team because I just wanted to wear yellow and blue. I mean, I just wanted to make the team. I never thought I, you know, I certainly wasn't ever a star. It was a I was a mediocre player who made the travel team. You know, there weren't scholarships or anything like that. 

And then fast forward, I think the other reason that I'm so loyal is that, when I graduated from SDSU, I took a horrible job that I didn't want to stay in. And it was early in 1983. I graduated in 1982. Unemployment was over 10% at that time. That was in the early 80s recession. Interest rates were like 15%. You know, we're complaining about 6 or 7% today. So here I am, you know, trying to get a job. What am I going to do? I really enjoyed sales. I enjoyed interacting with folks. And I, I had left Brookings, went home to live with my parents, and I get a call from my old roommate saying, well, the placement center called, and they said they might have a job interview for you with the Kellogg Company. And I'm like, I didn't even know who the Kellogg company. You mean, like the National Kellogg Company or was it some other local, you know, sales company that Kellogg Sales Company. So of course, I called the Career Planning and Placement Center. That's what it was called at that time. They said, yeah, the Kellogg Company is going to be in Sioux Falls. They're interviewing at Augie and, for sales jobs. Wow. I mean, that's how I got my career is through SDSU. So I signed up for interviews. They took me. I competed against some Augie graduates, and boom, I was the only one selected. So, you think back to there's probably maybe 3 or 4 things that really affect people's lives, really affect them in your entire life. And that may be your family, may be your, you know, your faith, your spiritual beliefs and your career. And for me, it was also my top five for sure is SDSU. I mean, I got my career from SDSU. My family is connected to SDSU and so I think that's one of the reasons I'm just, you're right, a fanatic, you know, a really enthusiastic supporter.

Andi Fouberg
Well, with a story like that, you're probably not going to enjoy this question but which is always a great way to start how to ask a question, but we're asking people about their kind of favorite memories of SDSU, obviously. Right. And that can be challenging. So instead of just asking you for a favorite because everybody complains when they're told what is your favorite. Share with us a couple.

Kim Tyler
Sure. Yeah. You're right. I have no single favorite. It's more of the cumulative time that you spend with friends here and experiences and, you know, throughout your college days. Well, I was an RA. I was a resident assistant in Pearson. Second floor, Second North. Yep. Second North.

Andi Fouberg
How long?

Kim Tyler
Just one year. I lived in Pearson Hall for two years. You know as a freshman and looked up to my RAs. They were great friends and thought that would be a pretty good job. And, hey, you know, paid room and board. 

Andi Fouberg
 Yes, it did. Yes, it did.

Kim Tyler 
Yes. So, that's a good way to go. Anyhow. So that was fun. That was a great experience. And I learned being an RA, that there are tunnels underneath campus.

Andi Fouberg
Those were closed by the time I was an RA.

Kim Tyler
Okay. So that was fun. I know, I remember vaguely, you know, very vaguely, one evening in the middle of the winter where there was another RA that taught us that there were those and we found ourselves, you know, across campus from Pearson, underneath somewhere. So.

Andi Fouberg
Maybe they didn’t reach all the way over to Hanson. Maybe the tunnels didn’t get.

Kim Tyler
And I think we got pretty far anyhow. Anyhow, you know, that's a fun memory. Yeah and being an RA was great. And a lot of friends and good memories from doing that. You know, the fact that I did get to be a jackrabbit athlete, that's huge to me. That was really important. Like I said, even though there wasn't any, you know, we're talking many decades ago. So no scholarships, no, no glitz and glamor with that because you were playing, you know, D2 with a pretty small budget. But just the fact that I had those teammates and that experience and the fact that I could say, hey, I made the team. And then I got to run out on that court, Frost Arena, and play volleyball. That's, that's really special. And I think, you know, just the social aspect and growing up, becoming an adult in college is really important for a lot of people. But I have to go back for me, just the biggest thing about the fact that I got an interview with, you know, a huge company, a global company in Sioux Falls, and they let Brookings know. They let SDSU know that they were looking and that I could do that was, you know, that's huge. I think that's probably my biggest, oh, you know, just such a positive thing.

Andi Fouberg
And led to an incredible career. You like to downplay you had an career with Kellogg.

Kim Tyler
I had a very good career with a super company with a lot of the same values and culture that SDSU have. You know, it was, people didn't realize this, especially when I worked there in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s is that the largest shareholder, is the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. And at that time, back in those decades, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation was a top five foundation in the world, and they were supporting the betterment of kids and helping families thrive. So think of that. Think of you're working for a company whose largest shareholder is trying to make a difference in the world, you know, and that was the culture at our, you know, and we're a food company. And that doesn't mean that everything we made was perfect and healthy and everything, but it was wholesome. And, just the way we went to work, every day was, in a family way and with the most integrity we possibly could have. So, yeah, I got to work for a great company. And, what a great experience. But that was, you know, that, SDSU led me to that.

Travis Jensen
As I say, I'm starting to hear a theme here. Right? Between SDSU and your experience at Kellogg. Seems pretty special.

Kim Tyler
It was.

Travis Jensen
So, going back to your experience as a student-athlete, for those of us that were never student-athletes, I think it's hard for us to really grasp how much, time and dedication is spent towards being an athlete while also focusing time and attention on your academics. It requires a certain level of work ethic and discipline. How did that experience as a student-athlete prepare you for your professional career?

Kim Tyler
Well, Travis, you're given a 1979 or 80 athlete way too much credit. You know. So let's just be real here.

Andi Fouberg
Travis weren’t you listening when she talked about the van.

Kim Tyler
You know, it's just yeah, I'm a whole nother generation of, you know, a woman athlete in that time that, you know.

Andi Fouberg
Laid the groundwork.

Kim Tyler
Well,

Travis Jensen
Guess I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit.

Kim Tyler
Okay. And that. No, I it was a great experience, and I would never, ever change. I would never, but, hey, back then, you know, the practices and the commitment wasn't, was just a percent of what our men and women do today. Right. And the, the pressure on them and just the level of, work, you know, the work and time and effort that's put into today's Division 1 athlete. So but, I mean, to get to where you're, I think where you're going with that. Sure. Look, having to be part of a team and have high standards and that's part of being a jackrabbit is that, you know, we're family. And we certainly there's a huge amount of caring for each other and supporting each other and wanting to make a difference. But there's also a standard to be held to. And I think, certainly that work ethic and the standard of performance, helped working for a Fortune 500 company.

Andi Fouberg
So what I hear you talking about is a little bit of expectations, but what advice would you give current students, recent graduates who are looking to make their mark in the world, right? Whether that's what they take from SDSU out into the world, what they can give back to SDSU, what would be some advice you would give graduates?

Kim Tyler
You know, I think whenever I think about being the best version, you know, of yourself, it it's about thinking about others and about how your role at your job, in your family, your role in your family, whether your spouse or daughter. You know, it's about how you can help somebody else. And I always felt the most satisfaction when I felt like I was making a difference or when I was. And we used to say this at Kellogg. Well, did I add value today? You know, did I add value for my customer? Did I add value to my employee or my peer that I worked with? And I think that's what leads a lot of people to keep rooting and keeping in touch with jackrabbits is because we're making a difference, and we have high standards. And most of jackrabbit, or SDSU graduates, are in roles that are making a difference or improving the lives of others, and that's when it feels the best. So, for a graduate, hold yourself to a high standard, think about how you're affecting your, your role at work, and your family and then also stay connected, because it's so much fun to be on a winning team. And I think that's what, that's how Jackrabbits feels that we're on such a winning team, and it feels good to be a part of that and make a difference.

Travis Jensen
So the Bold and Blue campaign may be over, but that doesn't mean we're done, right? We have great leadership here at the University that is constantly looking ahead, visioning ahead on the future of SDSU. And just as one example, right. This drive to become an R1, Research premier research university. So many great things are happening and will happen thanks to this great leadership. But it does require the involvement of our alumni. So can you just tell us why do you think it's so important for alumni to stay connected with SDSU and to give back?

Kim Tyler
And we were going to do this just for 15 minutes today. That's a.

Travis Jensen
Fair question.

Kim Tyler
Wow, Travis, that's a big one. Yeah. well, you know, where do you start on that? First off, you said. Yeah, Bold and Blue. The official campaign and the big announcement. We've kind of come to an end on that. But like you said, that's now the really has been a springboard to the next level of greatness for SDSU. And we have great leadership on this campus. We have super people, right? You folks have done just a tremendous job of keeping our alumni connected and motivated and inspired by the great communication that we send out on a regular basis and opportunities to be involved. I guess. You know, being a part of something greater than yourself. That's why you should be connected to SDSU. Being able to say that you're connected to a university that is improving the world around us and because, you know, on a business side, SDSU is, is a great force for economic development in our state and our region. And, so to be a part of that and to support that and to stay connected, it feels good and it's the right thing to do. Yeah.

Travis Jensen
Kim, we want to thank you for being here with us today, for sharing your stories and your insights. It's been an absolute joy.

Kim Tyler
Oh, thanks for having me today. It's been fun to be with you.

Andi Fouberg
Thank you, as always, Kim. Great to have you here.

Kim Tyler
You're welcome.

Travis Jensen
Thanks for joining us for this episode of STATE Stories podcast. If you like what you heard, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us share these incredible stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can listen to all our podcast episodes on our website at statealum.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening!

Travis Jensen
Hey there, Jackrabbits Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Andi Fouberg
Our guest today is a cherished figure in the South Dakota agricultural community and a dedicated alum of South Dakota State University. Jim Wooster has made significant contributions to SDSU and the state's agricultural sector, and we're so thrilled to have him joining us today. Mr. Jackrabbit, welcome to the show.

Jim Woster
I'm looking forward to this. I liked your intro. You could keep talking. Just go as long as you want to. No, that was good! No, and I’m looking forward to it. I love this university.

Travis Jensen
You know, Jim, it is an absolute honor to have you here with us today. 

Jim Woster
Thank you!

Travis Jensen
It's always fun to visit with you and to hear the stories that you have to share. And as Andi had alluded to, you are an active member in the university community. You've been a part of SDSU for many years now. Why don't you start, could you just share with us how did your journey with SDSU begin?

Jim Woster
It like many young guys my age, young gals my age, our parents didn't go to college. Grandpa and grandma didn't go to college. You're going to go to college, period. Don't argue with us, and back then it was South Dakota State. I mean, for the most part because either agriculture or home economics or teaching. And so I wound up coming to South Dakota State in the fall of ‘58, and just everything about it kind of fit. You know, I was a pretty naive young thing and got here and learned some things. I could tell you a story about my first roommate from Rapid City who was not too far into our tenure’s roommate, he started selling cigarettes out of the room, and I didn't know where he was getting them until the police came. And there's a big box that well he was stealing them out of the store. But he went to the Navy. They let him give him his choice, so that I don’t know. Can you imagine being that dumb that you didn’t know where is this guy getting these boxes? He’s selling them for like $0.25 a box or something like that. It was great, you know? But that was my first education. How dumb I was. But that was okay. But it was just we lived in Scoby Hall, and you know, ate our meals at Wecota, down in the basement of Wecota, the cafeteria and it was in all three over there. It was just a great time. I think that's where, you know, you talk about and I always refer to this, Andi does also, of South Dakota State University being a family, and I mean that sincerely. But I think it all started on 3rd East at Scoby, you know, Jerry Fitzgerald, a farm kid from Dell Rapids, Wally Wallace, a farm kid from Dell Rapids, Chuck Patterson, engineer from Windom, Minnesota. Gary Mischke, another engineer from over by Windom, Minnesota. In the first couple months, 8 or 10 of us, Errol EerNisse, who's been a leader at this university as a volunteer, an engineer from Rapid City in a you know, because you've the only thing you've got as a lonely freshman is each other and especially when you're eating all your meals together. It just, that friendship lasted a lifetime and it's still there. Alan Tuntland, we were all at 3e Scobey. I mean, that's where it all started. These 10 or 12 guys, and we've remained friends. And I imagine there's not a soul that, maybe other universities, that wouldn't tell the same story that these friendships go on for life started as a freshman in a dormitory. I mean, it was just interesting! You don't realize it at the time. It's 25, 30 years later that you realize, hey, these are pretty good people. And I met them the second day I started at South Dakota State. Somebody would stop here and say ‘You gonna go eat?’ I guess I will, so you walk over to Wecota. Where are you from and where are you going?

Andi Fouberg
You've been involved in numerous initiatives at SDSU over the years. Can you tell us about some of the projects or roles you've taken on at the University and maybe why you've taken them on? And do you have like kind of some favorites?

Jim Woster
Oh, that's a good question. Well, I suppose when you're around here, it kind of started, working at stockyards. Dan G., who’s a legend around here judging team coach, taught livestock marketing. I started coming up and talking once a semester, well quarter at that time, talking to his marketing class. And from that, he started bringing his, a bus load of the marketing kids down once a semester to the stockyards for the entire day. And anyway, I got to get to know some people up here. And then we started just an initiative with the Block and Bridle kids. I'd been in the Block and Bridle Club again to introduce the young people to the agriculture industry. They'd come to Sioux Falls, we’d go to GTA feeds then over to Zip Feeds, and just take 5 or 6 of the kids around and young people around that were juniors and seniors. And, that went on for quite a while. I was not that, well I guess I was too, but when I think about, what have we been Division 1, 20 years? I think it is, but I think about that as maybe the biggest thing and I was not necessarily leader in that, but I was at all of the meetings. I was at the Board of Regents when we made that presentation to get the approval. And when I look back now and I'll be very honest, I wasn't sure we were doing the right thing. But I'm a person that understands that when you've got the Jerry Lohr’s, and the Al Kurtenbach’s, all of these people and we just didn't go into that. I remember meetings, day long meetings in the old alumni conference room. A lunch would be brought in, and Carol Peterson would come, and she'd research, ‘Can we do this academically? Are we ready to do this academically?’ And people would come in and talk about the dollars, you know, is this going to work? So it wasn't half hazards. And as I listen to people that are smart, and really smart, I thought, you know what, I think these guys are right. And obviously it did work. But that was probably one where I learned more. I was a big I was a part of it. I was there all the time, but I learned more than what I gave. I can tell you that. But that was probably one of the biggest things that we've done, that I've been a part of it. It's just that I'm very proud of. And again, I'm going to be very honest. At the start, I wasn't sure we were doing the right thing.

Andi Fouberg
There were a lot of people who had a lot of opinions on both sides for it.

Jim Woster
Oh goodness, yes. Understandably! 

Andi Fouberg
 Yeah, it was a big decision. It was a very big decision.

Andi Fouberg
So you have told me over the years a number of great Hobo Day stories. 2022 you were the grand marshal of the Hobo Day parade. Quite a kick, right? Knowing your passion for state that was a moment for you. So talk a little bit about your Hobo Day history and specifically that.

Jim Woster
Hobo Day, when I started at South Dakota State, Hobo Day wasn’t Hobo Day. It was Hobo Week or two weeks, because you build a float. And the seniors and juniors that, like the ag float that we worked on. Pharmacy always won, I mean they were always, they’d win most beautiful most valuable. Darn them, but there was a farmer in town, the Davis farm, big shop, and that’s where we worked. And of course as a freshman you wore the green beanie, but you’re supposed to grow a beard. Well for whatever reason I wasn’t able to, and so I was getting stopped walking to class. People would say, “Why aren’t you growing a beard?” I’d say, “I can’t.” “Yes, you can.” I’d say “How do you know that?” Well anyways, but I think Hobo Day at that time we didn’t have tests during Hobo Week. There were no exams or anything like that. The float deal was probably a month. Most nights for the floats you’d have 20 people that’d be out in that shop. People would know what they were doing mechanically, but I think when I was a junior when the ag float finally won the most beautiful and beat the pharmacy people. And of course that was a three-day celebration. Although, we didn't need much a reason to celebrate, but it worked out. I think that another, this was an interesting Hobo Day. I think I was a junior, and for whatever reason, on a Friday night we're downtown in front of Gus's B and G Billiards and it's supposedly out of hand. You guys, maybe could have called it a ‘mini riot,’ but no, there's nothing getting broken. But Hilton Briggs was president of South Dakota State University at the time. Just to show you how things change. I had a friend who was dancing on the hood of his car and this and that and the other thing. All of a sudden there's a gentleman just walking down the street, coming from 6th, heading south, down towards where about 200 people are, myself included, with a bullhorn, megaphone. And it's President Briggs. And just to show you how times have changed, as soon as we saw who it was, it starts to get quiet. And he said something to the effect, this is not verbatim, he said, “You students have got 10 minutes to clear these streets and get back to wherever you belong, or I will take names and I will expel.” The streets were cleared in three minutes.

Travis Jensen & Andi Fouberg
Wow!

Jim Woster
Because you knew he meant it. Yeah, there was the president of South Dakota State, ‘get the heck out of here or I’m going to kick you out.’ It is just a different time, but I remember that and that’s it. I don’t know why I wound up being a grand marshal twice but 20 years ago I was, and it rained all day. It rained during the parade, and we weren’t very good at football. North Dakota University was beating us by 50. I mean they were just killing us. Nobody left and I didn’t want to leave because I’m the grand marshal. There was about 200 people there. I’m watching these two young guys in front of me. They had a flask or two in their pocket. They’re cheering, I’m really admiring that they still got their heart and soul into this. Well North Dakota U had a big running back, named Deustch. I don’t remember his first name. He went on to play in the pros, but a head so far away on the field. Anyway, he gains another 17 yards. Then this kid stood up and he said, “Ease off, North Dakota.” Then he fell down passed out. I thought he was hurt, so I run down. No, he was just sleeping, but he summed it up for the 30 of us left. Would you ease off out there . That was a long Hobo Day.

Andi Fouberg
Well you came up to me after you had been through the parade route in 2022, and it was not a rainy day. It was a beautiful day, huge crowd, and I didn’t expect many things to surprise Jim Woster about South Dakota State anymore, right? But when you watch the parade you see it at your upper-vantage point, and you had the opportunity to see it on the whole route and the people and the excitement and just how it is hard to capture a little bit of just how big that event is.

Jim Woster
I didn’t realize, because like you say, you find a spot. My niece lives just down the street a little bit, so you park, and you walk up and that’s where you go. My sister, when she was here, her husband had Fergen’s Menswear. So we would park behind Fergen’s and watch the parade, go in and get coffee. You don't realize how many people there are. They're hanging off rooftops. They’re sitting looking out the windows. It's absolutely amazing. I don't think, Andi you're right, I can't remember. I remember getting brought down to the end of Main Street and we had a horse and buggy. That's what I was riding on. And all of a sudden, I get emotional. I'm sitting there just by myself thinking about this is an amazing thing that we're doing. I understand that at many universities it's hard to keep this kind of thing going. That it's just not something, but like Andi said, you just don't realize until you make the whole road, the whole route. Sorry, you just don't. It's amazing.

Travis Jensen
And there's so much passion within our alumni community, right? The Jackrabbit Nation, so to speak.

Jim Woster
That’s right, our Jackrabbit family! They love this place. I mean you see it so many times. Yeah, thank you for asking me to do that because it was just a very special day. It really, truly was.

Travis Jensen
You know, Jim, you took the passion that you have for SDSU, and you brought that into your professional career. You had a successful professional career. You've played a pivotal role in the South Dakota agricultural community. How did your education and experience here at SDSU prepare you for your career in agriculture?

Jim Woster
Obviously, an animal science major, you know, just the basis of things. We had like beef production and sheep production. I grew up on a beef operation, but you know, the things that I’ve always told the young people that are thinking about not going to college. At least a couple of years and again, for two reasons, the people you meet that are going to be part of your life for the rest of your life. If you needed that are in the same career that you are, but the other things are genetics, the nutrition and all the things that dad might have a little problem teaching you or Uncle John. I mean, and that's not a criticism, but those are the things. And then I think the other thing is the trips to the Sioux Falls stockyards, and there was a little doubt in my mind that I wanted to be in some kind of livestock marketing. And part of that was the marketing class. Bill McCone taught a beef production class and marketing class. Bill and Helen were just great people. If any students that were around here at Christmas time that's where you went for lunch. I mean, they just made sure that the kids were, they were good people. The marketing thing that I fell in love with started with, McCone, the class that McCone was teaching. And then Dan G. later took that on.

Travis Jensen
So you touched on it a little bit, talking about, you know, your interest in genetics and maybe the lack of, access to that information prior to coming to SDSU and having worked in the agricultural sector, you've witnessed changes, right? And over the years, advancements in technology. How have you seen SDSU evolve over the years to meet the needs of the agricultural community?

Jim Woster
We've got, just a block or two from where we're setting the Precision Ag Center. I mean what that's done to agriculture, and I'm not smart enough to get into the depths of technology. But when I see the people that are involved in what they're doing, and I've got one of my best friends from college, ranches and farms in Sully County. And they are into technology. His son came here, played football. His grandson came here, played basketball. And now the three of them are, but what they're doing with technology is just phenomenal. And that’s just interesting that the Maynard, the bachelor at Onida, South Dakota, that left the land. And you go to the Precision Ag Center I think there's 15 kids out there getting $5,000 a year scholarship because of that. And he had no connection here except for the research component. Out in that country that taught him about no till farming. But the technology, well we're the first Precision Ag to have a Precision Ag four-year major in the country. This facility over here. And there's others. I mean, you can go around campus and find but the one that really jumps out and says it all about who we are is the Precision Ag Center. It just is. And again, I couldn't even talk to what they do over there, but I do know what farmers say. I mean when they talk about, Precision Ag we are a leader in this state and started here at South Dakota State University.

Andi Fouberg
You talked a little bit about SDSU being a family, and we've talked about that, and we've talked about how special this place is. And just what kind of goes into our experiences here. But what do you think has maintained that spirit, that community, that makes this place so special?

Jim Woster
That's, you know, I think a part of it probably goes back to, and the word rural isn't necessarily applicable anymore to South Dakota State, but it kind of is. We're still in this part of the country and the families and the generations that go here. We're still kind of like a small town in South Dakota or northwest Iowa or southwest Minnesota. Where, you know, everybody kind of gets to know people, and it's just, I think a good example is, and we've talked about this before, but I think about just last Thanksgiving that Barry Dunn and Jane hosted Barry's family, 30 some people. They're sleeping on the floor just like you'd do if you had the farmhouse. Barry's job was to do dishes and take out the garbage and this, that, and the other things. And then Andi, she's hosting that weekend. She hosted, uncle and mom and dad and this and that. And the Foundation here, they're always having a birthday party or something. But I think the one that got me, and I know that if this is redundant Andi tell me, but Justin and Jenny Sells, the biggest day that we have at South Dakota State for fundraising for the athletic department is the annual scholarship. Well about two months before we're going to have the scholarship, Justin’s son announces that they're getting married on that day, he and his little lady. Now what do you do if you're the athletic director? There was no hesitation. None at all as far as Justin and Jenny. We got a wedding. Family. But he wasn't worried, because it was all set up to go. And it set a record, by the way, another record. But it was going to go good. You know why? Family. Because everybody was going to step in and make sure that that event. But I thought about a dad and a mom who are athletic director and academic advisor for these kids. And with a thought, we got a wedding to go to. Sorry, we can't be… Family. And I think that to me that said it all, it really did.

Andi Fouberg
Your commitment to giving back to SDSU is evident. People who know you, know about SDSU, because you tell them about SDSU. You are affectionately referred to as Mr. Jackrabbit. You have been incredibly generous, offering your time, talent, treasures to serve the Jackrabbit community. What would you tell alumni in terms of staying connected, how to support the university, what's your message to people in terms of, you know, this place and their life after they graduate?

Jim Woster
I think it's got to do with the young people. People, you know, we’re not old people, but young people that start here. It's a different world, and you know when I went to school and even 25 years ago, it wasn't quite as difficult financially to do the things you do, but that's what scholarships do. But I just really encourage alumni that have not been back here for 20 years to come. And people will set it up. Andi will help, the Foundation will help, but to really take a look at the campus. Most importantly, is to pay attention to the young people that are the reason that we do what we do. Watch them walk across camp and stop at the union and just sit down, and it’s really easy to do. I mean, it’s you know, I was thinking about that, and this is one of those moments for me. There's been so many of them, but the semifinal game that our football team won to go to our third national championship game, which the guys won, but if you remember the night it’s snowing. It's kind of nasty. It's full, it’s just packed. And we’re there, and we’re going to win the game. We're there. I mean, we know we're going to win. All of a sudden the students are just there throwing snow, but then they start singing, ‘If you're going to play in Texas, you got to have a fiddle.’ They started singing before it came out of the, you know, the loudspeaker. And I'm looking at them and I thought, they get it. They get that this is a lot more than a football game. This is South Dakota State, and this is who we are, you know, because it was not the nicest evening. Everybody was there, but the students were just ‘if you're going to play in Texas, you got to have a fiddle in the band.’ And it was, I don't know. I thought to myself, this is special. Look at the young people. They're getting it.

Travis Jensen
That's such a good point, Jim. I think it's so easy for us to get caught up on the impact that the university can have and the various different industries and the economy, and right? But at the end of the day, it all boils down to the students that the university is serving, right? And I'm hearing this theme from you throughout our entire conversation, so let me ask you this… You have seen students, many students, come and go over the years. What advice do you offer SDSU students or recent graduates who are looking to make an impact in their careers?

Jim Woster
It’d be happy. I used to do a lot of speaking, especially the high school kids and FFA things. I just asked the young people in the audience whether it was a commencement speech. I want you to do something for me. I want you to think about the class that you had at Chamberlain High School that you didn't like. We have them all, and there’s nothing wrong with not liking a class. I want you to just imagine going to that class every day, five days a week for eight hours. You sit in that class and you do it for 40 hours a week and do it for 50 weeks, and you do it for the next 30 years. That's a job you don't like. And no, you're not going to do well. As soon as you find everything, it's the same thing. You had classes here and that’s the other thing that we do at South Dakota State. It's the guidance to take these young people and start directing them via the courses and the counseling to where they want to be. But I think I saw a figure that like 60% of the people graduate from universities in the country 20 years later are not in the same field. They're doing something different than what they, whether it was an engineer, or one of my best friends, I started at 3E Scoby graduated as an engineer from South Dakota State, went to the Twin Cities with Honeywell and just wasn't happy, entered medical school at University of Minnesota, and he's been a physician in Los Angeles for 40 years. I mean he didn't like what he was doing. He made the change. But the young people, when you find what it is or when you go home at night, you're ready to go again in the morning. When you find what it is that on Thursday you're not looking forward to Monday, and on Sunday you're not hating Monday. Again, when you find that job, and it's out there, I mean if you're 30 years old, don't worry it's there. The rest of it will take care of itself, but it all starts here. And I think we do a good job of the guidance, you know, kind of directing people. My sister taught here for 32 years, and she taught basic English for one of her classes. So she saw all these kids that came in, and she said the same thing. She said, ‘Young people, if they need a little bit of help, just to say to, you know, do you like music, or do you like being outside, or what do you know?’ Then kind of work your courses around that. It's be happy.

Travis Jensen
Find your joy.

Jim Woster
Yeah, the rest will take care of itself.

Andi Fouberg
Jim, what didn't we ask you about that we should have asked you about?

Jim Woster
You didn't ask me how old…No, I don't want to go into that. I think the other thing is that the blessings that we've had with leadership around this university. And that's where, you know, when I think about, I can't even remember the figure, $600 million or something we just raised at this little school. But in all the years I've been here, I think this combination of the Barry Dunn and Justin Sells and Steve Erpenbach and Andi. It all goes together, and I go back to that thing family. I mean everybody takes care of itself. But those kind of dollars that just doesn't happen. Somebody has to make it all go. And part of the reason is what we've got going on here is just a, you know, there's just a joy that you see people that are around the campus here. But our leadership. Well right now as I walk in, Jane Dunn brought banana bread over. I mean, you know, the first lady decided if you want some banana bread, here help yourself! And I guess, you know, somebody asked me one time what some of the things that I was most pleased about, and I guess with all the leaders that, you know, I'm in agriculture and especially in livestock did to have a cowboy from that ranch from Mission, between Mission and Valentine, as the president of South Dakota. I mean, a real cowboy understands a saddle horse and knows what a drought does and all of that's, I don't know, there's something about it. And we just had from Peggy and David, been really, really blessed. And of course, there's a guy that told us to clear off the streets or he will expel us. That goes back a ways, too.

Travis Jensen
Well, I think we have said this on every episode, but it's a great time to be a jackrabbit.

Jim Woster
You just summed it. It really is. Yeah, it truly is, because if you're going to play in Texas, you better have a fiddle. That’s all I can say, so.

Andi Fouberg
Well, this has been insightful, a real joy. Thank you, Jim, for being with us. You are right South Dakota State University has been blessed with some really great leaders, and I put you in that group because you have been a constant and a cheerleader and a real champion for South Dakota State for a really long time and we appreciate that.

Jim Woster
Thanks, guys.

Travis Jensen
Yes, thank you Jim.

Travis Jensen
Thanks for joining us for this episode of STATE Stories podcast. If you like what you heard, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us share these incredible stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can listen to all our podcast episodes on our website at statealum.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening!

Travis Jensen
Hey there, Jackrabbits Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Today's episode is a special one, because we have two guests joining us today. Our alumni guests today are Erica DeBoer, chief nursing officer of Sanford Health, and Madison “Maddie” Fitch, a critical care registered nurse at Sanford Health. Erica and Maddie were participants in the first-ever cohort of the SDSU Alumni Mentor Program. Erica served as Maddie's mentor, and we're excited to hear about their experiences and insights. Welcome to the show, Erica and Maddie.

Erica DeBoer
Thanks for having us. 

Maddie Fitch
Thanks.

Andi Fouberg
Erica, we'll start with you. You have built an impressive career in the nursing field. And, Maddie, you are quickly, going on that track. Can each of you share a little bit of the journey that began for you at SDSU?

Erica DeBoer
I love this question because in all actuality, SDSU was actually the second college that I went to as I started my college career. I actually started at Winona State University with really that freshman experience, some of the fear that comes along with that, and actually it was in the middle of my time at Winona State that I went to visit my twin brother at SDSU, and all of a sudden it was like magic. Like I felt like I belonged. And so, after I finished up my year at Winona State and came to SDSU, it became like my new home. It's where I met some of my most important friends. And obviously, the opportunity to reconnect with my twin brother and be back on a similar campus and in the same town.

Andi Fouberg
Maddie.

Maddie Fitch
I think for me, going into my freshman year of college, SDSU was also kind of my second choice. I really wanted to go to a different school, and so coming to Brookings was just not what I expected myself to be doing as a senior in high school. But I quickly fell in love with the campus and the community. And I also met just some wonderful people in my freshman year, but then unfortunately, it was cut short with Covid. And so, you know, my introduction to SDSU was not what I had pictured, but all in the same, when I came back sophomore year, it was such a special place to be, and I just had really fond memories from freshman year that definitely carried into sophomore year as well.

Travis Jensen
Maddie, I've heard your story before. I've had the pleasure of visiting with you, and you shared that experience where, the challenges of Covid, we're all familiar with that. Right? But you talked about there was a moment where you had kind of a shift, right? Where you went all in. You're like, I'm going to make the most of this experience. Tell us a little bit about that.

Maddie Fitch
Yeah. I think getting sent home in the middle of what was, you know, I was in the middle of anatomy. And so, getting sent home in the middle of that and looking at my nursing journey and trying to imagine what that would be like, I went home, and I started working at Monument as a nurse's aide and I think through that experience and missing my friends at school and missing everything that had been in person, I just recognize, you know, there's too many opportunities in life to just sit by and, let them, you know, kind of, I guess, pass up those opportunities. And so, I think that was kind of the shift of working with patients and being in the middle of a pandemic and had never worked in health care before. And so that experience definitely propelled me to do things that I had never imagined doing before so.

Travis Jensen
Now we mentioned in the introduction that you both work together in our mentor program, the first cohort of this mentor program. But the two of you have actually known each other for a few years now. Tell us how your paths crossed.

Erica DeBoer
Interesting question. I actually, unlike Maddie, I've always wanted to be a nurse, and that's what’s been my career choice from the beginning. So obviously I switched colleges, early on, but I became a nurse aide, at Good Samaritan Society near my hometown. And that was where I really started to understand where I wanted to work, what I wanted to do. So when Maddie and I actually first connected, it was fairly instantaneous as part of the mentorship program. Obviously, Andi and I had been spending years contemplating what does it look like? How do we build this mentor program? How do we help people get back to campus, but also give back in a meaningful way? And so by being part of the first mentorship cohort, it was super important to me to connect with, Maddie or other, nurses, up and coming nurses, so that I could understand not only what their lived experience was, but how do we start reconnecting and reimagining what it has to look like as we think about health care today? Because Covid has transformed us. It's transformed us in good ways. It's transformed us in challenging ways. But through the experience and the mentorship program with Maddie, I was able to understand through her experience of clinicals. But also, then as we continued our relationship, just all the amazing insights that you can gain when you're closer to the people that are doing the work.

Maddie Fitch
Yeah, I think when I had first kind of heard of Erica, I was a SSNIP at Sanford. And so that was their internship program. So I knew of her. And then I remember it was like the kickoff to the mentorship program. And Andi came up to me and she's like, “You know who your mentor is, right?” And I was like, yeah. And then I told Andi, you know, I had accepted a job at Sanford. And so, you know, a few hours later I get a text from Erica, and it was just really special to connect with her. You know, during my, internship experience, she talked to our group. And so that was really cool. And then just to get to know her and her vision for the place that I work, the place that I love working at, and then also just hearing her passion for nursing students and the vision she has for them has been really exciting too. But I think it just speaks volumes to what the mentorship program can do and just the experience you can have.

Andi Fouberg
I think you actually met as Trustees. 

Maddie Fitch
Yeah.

Andi Fouberg
Right? Because you, Erica, served on the council of Trustees after being on the Alumni Association Board. Maddie was a student on the Council of Trustees, and I think I remember introducing the two of you probably the year before in passing at a meeting.

Maddie Fitch
Yeah. It was like the spring.

Erica DeBoer
You’re exactly right. I had actually forgotten that connection that happened just because, again, yes, we've known each other for a couple of years, but it's interesting. So thanks for circling us back.

Andi Fouberg
It was a quick…

Erica DeBoer
It was super quick.

Andi Fouberg
Right? Like on a break in between meetings, I'm like, hey, you should meet this person. This might be your future path. Right? So yeah, I think that was just passing. 

Erica DeBoer
Yeah, it was a quick like, ‘hey!’

Andi Fouberg
Maddie, you have been involved now in the mentor program, and I want to ask, what were your initial thoughts of having Erica as your mentor?

Maddie Fitch
Well, it was kind of like, I don't know, a little star struck moment. I'll be honest. I was like, oh, this is the boss of all my bosses. Like, I hope she likes me. You know, I've now accepted the job in her former unit at Sanford. And so it was, you know, definitely a little like, oh, geez, in the start. But then, you know, you have one conversation with Erica and you realize how down to earth she is and how much she cares. And we quickly became very good friends, and she just has so much wisdom and passion for nursing. And I really appreciated that not having anyone in my family in the health care field. And so, yeah, it's just really special and it means a lot.

Erica DeBoer
I have to just say one example of, like one of those moments that I'm like, oh, this feels so good to be a mentor to somebody who's asking me questions. So Maddie is amazing at asking all the right questions, and if she doesn't get the real answer, she's going to find it out no matter how she ends up doing that. So, I remember it was a quick text message that she said, “Have you ever taken this type of patient before?” And I’m like, ‘Yes, I have. I actually took the first one.’ Again, it made me feel super old, but nonetheless, she sent this long, drawn-out, voicemail, voice message. And I listened to it and I'm like, ‘Oh, I can't wait to talk about this.’ So I got to go back to my old world of ICU and pathophysiology and all the light bulbs that can come on when you have that crucial conversation with the team and help them understand all those pieces. So she reignited some things in me, that in some cases, you feel like you forget about once you get to that administrative level. But so fun to be able to be that resource and have that conversation and actually then take that conversation to the next level and say, ‘Gosh, you know what? If Maddie's asking this question, what do we need to change? What do we need to adjust to make sure that we're addressing some of those questions and concerns?’ Because what's beautiful about Maddie, and she's always been this way ever since I met her, is she's got a true passion for the human, that sits in that bed that she's taking care of. And just because I'm nervous about calling that doctor, what's the most important thing for that patient? She's a true advocate and just incredible. And this is what we want, right? Maddie is who I want taking care of me.

Maddie Fitch
Oh, that's so kind. Oh, my gosh.

Andi Fouberg
So I'm not the only person you leave long voice messages for?

Maddie Fitch
I’m horrible at just like short things, you know? I got to explain myself.

Andi Fouberg
I like it.

Travis Jensen
That’s what we want in a nurse, right? Detail oriented.

Erica DeBoer
Yes, yes.

Travis Jensen
I love it. So, Erica, one of the many, many things that I appreciate about you is you maintain this firm belief that leaders need to be mentoring future leaders, right? We need to invest in that next generation. Now, with that thought in mind, I also recognize that you're incredibly busy. You have a lot on your plate professionally and personally and socially, but yet you still participated in the program. What motivated you to become a mentor in the SDSU Alumni Mentor Program?

Erica DeBoer
Fantastic question. From my perspective, I would maybe boil it down to three different things. One, I think that connection between college and what does reality really mean is super critical and helping people navigate what that looks like, I think is so valuable. I didn't have it, so I want to be that for somebody else. That's one. Two, when you think about how complex the nature of health care is, business, industry, no matter what that is, why wouldn't you want someone to have some kind of connectivity to all the mistakes that I've made and others have made, and then those lessons learned. How do you actually share some of those? Because, gosh, you don't want people to make mistakes if they don't have to. The third is that connection to our front line is so incredibly important to me, because they're the future problem solvers for us, and they're the future leaders. So, those would be the three main reasons why. Maybe the fourth selfish one is I get a lot of energy from mentoring other people and learning and understanding from a different perspective. So that would be the selfish side.

Travis Jensen
Now you both are proud jackrabbits and have strong ties to SDSU. What are some of your favorite memories from your time at State?

Maddie Fitch
I would say for me, probably most recently, Frisco. It’s just a special experience, and I think to any graduate of SDSU might say this but graduation week was just so special to me. To have my entire family in Brookings to support me through all the accomplishments and to meet my friends and see where I studied and worked and lived. There’s just such a cool experience, and you really do feel that Jackrabbit pride at the end of it. It’s so bittersweet, but at the same time, it brings back all of the memories. So I think graduation week was just a blast but Frisco. Hopefully, we’ll be back in January!

Travis Jensen
That was pretty special.

Maddie Fitch
Yeah, that was so fun!

Andi Fouberg
Maddie is leaving out a little piece of this, right? Because, Maddie, you had a part in your graduation ceremony. 

Maddie Fitch
Yeah.

Andi Fouberg
You were the student speaker.

Maddie Fitch
That was a really cool experience. Very grateful for that opportunity, for sure. Yeah, got to hang out with Andi quite a bit that week, which is fun.

Andi Fouberg
I will tell a quick story on Maddie, because I am one of the people who helps prepare the students for the commencement address. And we were in her second practice, and Dean Bott- Knutson from the Honors College and I brought her in, and she came up and the first question that I asked Maddie is, ‘Do you have gum in your mouth right now?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ And she goes, ‘You didn't catch me the last time. I said, ‘I did. I didn't feel the need to tell you, but now that we've done it twice it needs to be corrected.’

Maddie Fitch
I did spit my gum out before I came in here. I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’

Travis Jensen
Lesson learned.

Maddie Fitch
Yeah, I've learned my lesson a few times.

Travis Jensen
Erica, how about you? What are some of your favorite memories from State?

Erica DeBoer
As you can imagine, it was a little bit different experience for me because I came in as a sophomore. So, Maddie brought up Mamm Phys. I got to take Mamm Phys and Pharm at the same time at the same semester because of the difference between quarter versus semester. So just a little bit of stress and the need and desire to be successful, so I remember that piece. But what was so amazing, it didn't matter where I was, I met one of my best friends, my sophomore year, and some of the friends that I still spend time with today, in Brown Hall. And then I had the opportunity at the second half of the year to actually become an RA. So, really fun to have that opportunity. One, to not necessarily have to transition to learn a new roommate, but to understand what leadership looks like in resident life. The other funny story I have to tell you is, as many of you probably know about me, I'm not really the I love having fun, but I prefer working. Always working. So, I was in the office as an RA, just managing the front desk. We actually were having a highlighter fight, and I headbutted the filing cabinet and ended up in the E.R. Now, most people would say ‘Yeah right you headbutted a filing cabinet.’ I was at work; this is when I did it. They’re like, “Are you sure you weren’t downtown at the bars?” No, I was not. We were having a highlighter fight. Very normal activity within the dorms, but anyway…

Andi Fouberg
I was an RA for a year and a half. I don't remember ever having a highlighter fight. Are you throwing the highlighters at one another? Are you drawing on one another?

Erica DeBoer
We were trying to draw on one another.

Andi Fouberg
Okay. 

Erica DeBoer
Yes, yes. So that's one memory that came to mind.

Andi Fouberg
The 90s were a different time, everyone.

Erica DeBoer
Very.

Andi Fouberg
Maddie, what have been some of the most valuable lessons that you have learned from Erica during your time in the mentor program?

Maddie Fitch
I think she kind of touched on it earlier, but just always making sure that your patient and their family is the priority. It doesn't matter, you know, your fear of, asking a silly question or the doctor getting frustrated with you or maybe not asking the right question in the right way. But at the end of the day, I think just watching her passion for others and just how much, you know, you can change for one person if you genuinely care about them and their experience, I think is really ignited me in my career so far. And then also just keep asking questions. Erica loves to ask questions. And so I think, you know, taking that into my own practice and into my own personal life as well is just been really valuable and powerful and has allowed me to do a lot of things I never, ever would have dreamt of. And so I think those are kind of some of the big ones to take away.

Travis Jensen
So this question I've asked every guest on the podcast so far, and it pertains to the success of SDSU. What we've witnessed over the past several years, just so many accomplishments, so many success stories. Right? Whether you're talking about academically, athletically, you know, via research, watching all of our alumni just thrive professionally, right? It's just such a great time to be a jackrabbit. So with that in mind, what's one thing that you're most excited about as it relates to the future of SDSU?

Erica DeBoer
One thing?

Travis Jensen
Yeah, one thing. I know that's hard.

Erica DeBoer
The one thing that I'll say from my chair that I'm working in today is the partnership that I have with our College of Nursing, but now even extending on to our College of Engineering is how do we start thinking differently? How do we start pushing those boundaries so that we can do health care differently? Which means we've got to think outside the box. We got to think about different ways for us to contemplate what this looks like. And I feel like that relationship with SDSU and the ability to have those super frank conversations about this is the big problem we're trying to solve. How can you help us? How can you partner with us to get it done? It's amazing the synergies that I'm beginning to see.

Maddie Fitch
I would say just kind of in a similar sense and through the research I've done, post-graduation, I think just continuing to see the growth of students after they're done and, you know, for my experience I'm still working with some faculty at SDSU, even though I'm not in school, but as a professional and a new professional at that, I think it's just really valuable and speaks volumes to how much the university cares about its alumni and also the surrounding area. And, you know, the region itself, I think is just really powerful. And what they want to do and how much they want to serve and give back to their community, and just continuing to support their alumni and also, selfishly, I'm excited to see my sister graduate from SDSU in a couple of years. So, yeah.

Andi Fouberg
From each of your perspectives, what is the thing that really stands out at SDSU as a place of learning, growth, and committed community? What makes it different? What would you say is that thing that makes SDSU special?

Erica DeBoer
Honestly, I'd have to say it's the people. It’s like coming home. I can remember not being on campus for a really long time. And then when I was invited to be on the alumni board, how I just it was like, oh yes, the campus has changed a little bit. Yes, it's gotten a little bit bigger, a little bit busier, but so comfortable and so much commitment and so much community in that space that it's hard not to just want to lean in and figure out how to do it bigger, how to do it better, how to serve the state of South Dakota and all the amazing individuals in a little bit different

Maddie Fitch
That's what I was going to say.

Travis Jensen
Great minds think alike.

Maddie Fitch
Yeah, I was like ditto. No, genuinely the people and just the place itself. Anytime I go back I feel like I never left, and it's just so special anytime you have a conversation with someone on campus or in Brookings or you meet someone and you’re like ‘Oh I went to SDSU’. Like the number of family members I have met at work and they’re like “Oh I’m a Jackrabbit alumni,” and I’m like, ‘Perfect. We’re going to have a great day.’ I think it’s just so special, and the people genuinely care about you and your success and your well-being. And I think that just goes a long way when you're looking at what SDSU does for everyone.

Travis Jensen
Erica, Maddie, thank you both for being here today, for joining us on the podcast, for sharing your stories, and your experiences. We really appreciate it.

Maddie Fitch
Thanks. 

Erica DeBoer
Thank you.

Travis Jensen
Thank you for listening to this final episode of season one of STATE Stories! We hope you have enjoyed the incredible stories from our SDSU alumni. We can’t wait to bring you more legendary stories in the future. Be sure to subscribe so you’ll be the first to know when season two drops. In the meantime, you can catch up on all our episodes at statealum.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you in season two!

Andi Fouberg
Hello and welcome back to the STATE Stories podcast, where we spotlight the journeys, passions, and impact of South Dakota State University alumni. I'm Andi.

Travis Jensen
And I'm Travis, and we are so excited to kick off Season Two of STATE Stories. Whether you've been with us since the beginning or you're tuning in for the first time, welcome to the Jackrabbit family.

Andi Fouberg
Before we jump into what's coming this season, let's take a quick moment to look back. Season One was a true celebration of what it means to be an SDSU alum. And honestly, we were blown away by the stories that were shared.

Travis Jensen
We heard from alumni who were leading in health care, launching businesses, mentoring students, shaping culture, and giving back in incredible ways. There were moments that were heartfelt, inspiring, and even pretty funny because no matter how far people go, those SDSU roots run deep.

Andi Fouberg
Season One featured a nurse and mentee duo sharing how the SDSU Alumni Mentor program helped launch a career, a couple alumni creating and capturing special moments on campus, an ag legend sharing some of his fondest moments at State, and a leader who credits SDSU with giving her the courage to challenge the status quo in her industry.

Travis Jensen
What we learned is this. Jackrabbits are everywhere. And the impact they're making locally, nationally and globally is something we're really proud to highlight.

Andi Fouberg
Okay, Travis. Without giving too much away, what can listeners expect from season two?

Travis Jensen
We have episodes coming that dig into topics like leadership, purpose, reinvention, and even love. From SDSU classrooms to corner offices, campaign trails to dental chairs, the guests this season all have one thing in common. They started their story right here at State.

Andi Fouberg
You'll hear from alumni who are creating opportunities for underserved youth, transforming company culture, building businesses as couples, and the lasting bonds that come from being a Jackrabbit.

Travis Jensen 
That's right. In fact, we'll hear a common theme throughout our Season Two episodes. This idea of finding your community while at State. Our guests talk about finding lifelong relationships and a place where they feel like they belong.

Andi Fouberg
In fact, here's a couple of clips of what you will hear this season on STATE stories.

Travis Jensen 
Now there's something really special about meeting your person during college, especially at a place like SDSU. What role did the campus community play in your relationship early in that connection?

Podcast Guest Preview #1
I think for me it was just the fact that we spent so much time together being on the same team, and a lot of our practices aligned because in fact, we were both we were in the same lane training quite a bit because we were both like in the sprint group. There's different groups for training, a sprint, mid distance, and distance for swimming, at least at the time. That's kind of how the practices were coordinated. 
And so, you know, the men and women's team train together. We were in the same lane. We were doing team meetings together. We were doing we were traveling to meet together. And so I think the beautiful thing about both of us being on the same team is that we just spent a lot of time together, and at the end of the day, I think the best part about that is I didn't really have to reschedule my life to make it work for us to be together. You know, we really didn't have to figure out when I was going to see him. Like if I had been in a different sport or maybe not on the team at all, I think it would have been different. I like to think at the end of the day that we still would have found each other

Podcast Guest Preview #2
Yeah. And I feel like the just the layout and the size of the campus, we had a lot of mutual friends and mutual professors and kind of ran into, you know, cross paths as we went to class and got lunch and everything like that. So there was a lot of that connection to and it was easy to spend time together outside of the pool as well, which really helped, I think, us with that just meeting new people and kind of getting to hang out together the whole time.

Andi Fouberg
You've helped teams across many sectors to create healthier, more intentional workplaces. In your experience, what defines a truly strong culture?

Podcast Guest Preview #3
Oh, there's so many answers to that. But first and foremost, I think it's, every employee knows what it means to win the game. There is a, there's a purpose behind that. What really defines culture is the way people think, act, and interact. And that is all brought into the purpose, the intent, the values, the meaning behind the work because it is all about human connection.

Travis Jensen
It is incredibly fun to watch those eighth graders come on campus and to see the excitement in their eyes and the energy that they bring to the campus community. There's already great positive energy. But then you get a group of eighth graders who have never, or very few of them have experienced that type of environment. And it's just incredibly energizing to witness that.

Podcast Guest Preview #4
Yeah, it's pretty amazing to watch these kids open their eyes to what's possible for their future. And that's the whole point of the trip. And, you know, everybody at SDSU has been just incredibly welcoming and affirming. And, you know, we all want affirmation. We all want to, you know, we want that support from others. But SDSU does it in a pretty special way.

Travis Jensen
So, Andi, was that your experience at State as well?

Andi Fouberg
Did I find my community?

Travis Jensen
Did you find your community here at SDSU?

Andi Fouberg
I think it would be hard not to find your community at SDSU. I certainly as an RA was somewhat responsible for a rambunctious community while I was at State. So it's interesting to run into those folks now, as you know, adult adults, as I sometimes say, rather than as student adults. They have students who have come to SDSU. And so it's kind of a full circle moment with some of them. And it's still weird to have them think that I'm still their RA. They still make jokes about it at this stage. Certainly, the Pride of the Dakotas is a community. Certainly still in touch with some of those folks. I was in Alpha Xi Delta. And so that has been a great community of folks who sisters that I'm still in touch with, but then I went to work for the Alpha Xi Delta after college and continue to volunteer, and so the roots that were planted at the chapter here have continued to flourish in ways and relationships around the country. So…

Travis Jensen
I have to imagine you have a lot of stories from being an RA that you probably can't share on the podcast. 

Andi Fouberg
Well, I was an RA in Hansen Hall, so. Oh yes, yes, yes, absolutely. 

Travis Jensen
And all the former RA’s or perhaps even current RA’s are probably shaking their head right now as they listen like, oh yeah, we have stories.

Andi Fouberg
Yeah. I think they're CA’s now, their Community Assistants. Right. That's right. Community is right now built into the name. Yes, yes. Travis, what about you?

Travis Jensen
Well, as I think about it, much as you had stated, how can you not write like, how can you not find your community if you're attending SDSU? And as I thought about this question, instantly of course, the first thing that comes to mind for me is the close group of friends that I have been able to acquire over time now, but most certainly as a student here at SDSU.

Andi Fouberg
That’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Travis Jensen
No, Andi. Thank you.

Andi Fouberg
You said that was the first thing that came to mind, and I think you're in trouble.

Travis Jensen
Yeah, I think what Andi is referencing is the fact that I met my now wife here at SDSU. And I'm hoping that maybe she's not listening or not paying attention at this moment, but yes, that's correct. So, I include her as a friend as well, right?

Andi Fouberg
Isn’t that thoughtful? Nice.

Travis Jensen 
I really painted myself in the class. Yeah. More than anything, though, I think that when I think about community here at SDSU and my time here, I think about the environment and how that made me feel as a student here. And I am very open and sharing that I wasn't the best student when I started attending. And there were certainly moments where I easily could have fallen out, but I was surrounded by too many people that were invested in me, developing and growing not only as a professional, but as just a good human being. And so there was no way for me to fail because I had too many people that were invested in. So I just created an experience for me that I always knew that I was going to come back here at some point. And so, just like you, we both…

Andi Fouberg
Found it.

Travis Jensen 
We both found it. We found our way back. And here we are now hosting a podcast for our alumni association.

Andi Fouberg
Listener. Singular.

Travis Jensen
Perhaps my wife, who is not too thrilled right now, but we'll work through that.

Andi Fouberg
I think when you talk about that support system, though, and that is the special part of South Dakota State University and the experience here, and the thread that you hear from people is what it looked like, what it felt like to find their community, and then how much it existed. Then and in many cases continues to exist. And how fortunate we all are to have that start here, how really fortunate some of us are to have found our way back, and get to hopefully help either spread that message or encourage that along the way today. 

Travis Jensen
And we certainly hear that in Season One. Right? Many of our guests reference their wonderful experiences here at State and the reason why they continue to invest their time, talent, and treasure. And that theme, as you pointed out, continues to play out with our guests in Season Two. And, you know, for our listeners who are unaware of why we do this podcast, we recognize and we have the fortunate position that we get to interact with alumni all the time who share their excitement and love of being a jackrabbit and being a part of this community. But we recognize that there are so many out there that don't get to hear those stories. So here we are. Yeah, sharing those stories with others.

Andi Fouberg
Yeah, we don’t want to be selfish with them. We get to hear them all the time. And so we don't want to be selfish. We want to share those with people.

Travis Jensen
That’s right. Because there's not a lot of people get to have just regular interactions with Jim Woster or John Stiegelmeier or Kim Tyler. So this is our opportunity to be able to share those wonderful stories with others.

Andi Fouberg
And excited about the people you're going to get to meet in Season Two.

Travis Jensen
Very much so, yes. But as you mentioned, SDSU is very much a special place, and we hope that this season gives listeners a fresh appreciation for the power of the SDSU experience.

Andi Fouberg
That's right. Thanks to our listeners for joining us on the first episode of Season Two. A reminder that new episodes will drop every other week. If you haven't already, hit that follow or subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss a single story.

Travis Jensen
And while you're at it, share this podcast with a fellow alum or a current student. Because the more we celebrate these stories, the more connected we all become. 

Travis Jensen & Andi Fouberg 
Thanks for listening.

Andi Fouberg
Hey there, Jackrabbits! Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Travis Jensen
Today's episode is a real treat. We're joined by Rana DeBoer, a proud SDSU alumna, culture strategist, entrepreneur and public speaker who has dedicated her career to helping organizations and leaders thrive. Rana, welcome to the show.

Rana DeBoer
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. What an awesome opportunity this is.

Andi Fouberg
So excited to have you. Your journey has touched the worlds of business, government, wellness, leadership development. But before we dive into that, can you take us back to where it all began? Tell us about your time at South Dakota State University. What did you study? How did your experience as a student kind of shape you to this line of work?

Rana DeBoer
Absolutely. I would love to. So, grew up in Okoboji, Iowa, and honestly, I was like, South Dakota, what is what is South Dakota? I don't even know. And was lucky enough to get recruited to run track at SDSU. And so, in 1990, ventured to Brookings and got introduced to what I would say is the spirit of South Dakota. Just loved it. I completely fell in love with it. The school was just a beautiful campus, right. And obviously, my degree was nutrition science, health promotion, exercise science. You know, all the things that had to do with human and organizational performance, really focused on the human performance side. I spent so much time in the hyper building and so many great memories. And I'll never forget walking into Frost Arena for the first time. It was like this, WOW, super cool experience. And being a part of the athletic program was, just a tremendous way to be able to transition from being several hours from home, being an only child and then walking into it basically a family right away with, again, like I said, this beautiful spirit of South Dakota. And oh, those basketball games, you guys, they were electric. The men's basketball games were some of my favorite memories. All of the 400 runners, 800 runners, you know, you create this little synergy with one another, and you do things together. You do life together, you do school together, you do fun together. And, oh my gosh, we had just a great time at the basketball game. That’s some of my greatest memories.

Andi Fouberg
I’m trying to imagine how many times you probably ran around the indoor track at Frost Arena as a track athlete.

Rana DeBoer
Yeah, countless times. And then to be a sprinter and be like, I can't do this indoor track anymore. So jealous of the facility now it's not even fair. But, to get all dressed up and go outside and run with them. The distance runners were sometimes better than the sharp curves up there, but oh my gosh, still tremendous time. 

Travis Jensen
Yeah. You found your community.

Rana DeBoer
I absolutely found my community. And I think that's, you know, just one of the most important pieces that you get out of college, is this pride of the blue and the gold. There's just so much pride there. It's that sense of belonging, that sense of collegiality and the connection that you have with people that you don't even know. But you can say, yeah, I'm a Jackrabbit too, and you've got this instant friend.

Travis Jensen
You've worked in the public and private sectors. You've coached leaders. You've built cultures from the ground up. Can you pinpoint a moment, maybe even during your time at SDSU that sparked your passion for leadership in that human centered work?

Rana DeBoer
100%. You know, after undergrad, I ended up in Sioux Falls and did coaching at Canton outside of the school district, while I also was a personal trainer and a fitness instructor. And at one point, sort of, you hit this, wow, I'm not going to make the money I'd really like to in this career. So hiked myself back to SDSU graduate school. And I'll tell you what, I have many, many great memories and so many great experiences on undergrad. But that graduate school program with Dr. Vukovich in the Ex Phys lab was unstoppable. Number one, he's brilliant. He's still a mentor. And somebody that I call on today to help me think through things. But, being able to be a graduate assistant with the track and cross-country team, teaches you a lot about leadership. Because the jump from high school coaching to college coaching is, you know, that's a big bridge, a big gap to jump over. So many great leadership lessons there. And then again, that time in the Ex Phys lab. But for him teaching me the value of research to be principled in your work. Not that I didn't have that, but I didn't have the richness of it. Right. So, it taught me that principle of research. But the innovation that you get out of research too. Just to really come and appreciate that and then put that into my work today. Every group I work with, I don't know if I should say this or not. This is so funny. Is like a little research project. I mean, honestly, just like with coaching, there's so many different personalities, different strengths, different orientations and tilts, what motivates one person doesn’t the other. And so, that grad school experience was incredible. To be able to do that and to really extend, you know, I always share this story, that I got into corporate because I was dead broke after graduate school. Honestly, I just needed a job and ended up at Avera in the corporate health where we were out doing wellness program, injury prevention, rehab and care and thought I was completely selling out and understood that actually, all of those athletic, experiences and all of that great graduate school rich work, really was a dire need in the workplace. Leaders didn't know how to coach. Employees don't know how to team, where you get to argue, where you get gritty, right. You can get mad at each other, but you love each other too. And you lift each other up and you push each other farther than you know you've ever before. And coaches again looking at each person like, wow, look at the talent I have here and this whole team of talent. How do I synergistically put them together? So I would say those experiences at SDSU helped me bridge that or bring that into the corporate world in a really beautiful way.

Andi Fouberg
Let's expand on that a little bit, because you've helped teams across many sectors to create healthier, more intentional workplaces. In your experience, what defines a truly strong culture?

Rana DeBoer
Oh, there's so many answers to that. But first and foremost, I think it's, every employee knows what it means to win the game. There is a, there's a purpose behind that. What really defines culture is the way people think, act and interact. And that is all brought into, the purpose, the intent, the values, the meaning behind the work because it is all about human connection. And the work is easy. The people are hard. Right? But if we can all align towards a common purpose and the value and the meaning behind that work, that creates a foundation of guidance, if you will, to how people think, act and interact in the workplace. And there's a lot of pride, there's a lot of, alignment in what does it mean to win the game. So everyone's thinking towards that same strategic objective and, nobody wins alone, right? You just can't win alone. And you realize when you get into that mix, in that richness of the work, that it's so much more meaningful when you can do it with other people and you're achieving something together, there's nothing better than that. Even the most raging introvert still wants to be included and part of a team towards something really meaningful and purposeful.

Travis Jensen
So with that in mind, looking through the lens of culture, how would you describe the culture of SDSU?

Rana DeBoer
I would definitely say it's fun and lighthearted. I think I've always appreciated that. Never take yourself too seriously. Like there's a zest for life in people at SDSU. I also would describe it as curious. And maybe that's just because that's where I really learned what it meant to be curious. But there's a genuine honor, respect and curiosity, you know? Who are you? What do you do? Let's learn. Let's grow together. I would say the other piece is giving, giving back, contributing to the communities in which we live, work, grow and play. That's instilled in you somehow, somewhere through the SDSU way, if you will.

Travis Jensen
So, let's pivot a little bit to the topic of leadership. You had mentioned the impact that Dr. Vukovich had on you. Academically. Professionally, who were some of the key influences in both your academic and professional career that helped shaped your view of leadership?

Rana DeBoer
Sure. You know, I'll never forget being, that freshman at SDSU and there was a gal, she was an incredible 800 runner, and her name was Kim Fordham from Aberdeen. And she probably taught me that first real college lesson of leadership where she took me under her wing, to show me the way to sort of be your buddy or your mentor, if you will, like welcome to the world of, athletics in school and keeping it all pulled together. So she was definitely someone who was, empowering. She pushed me, supported me, and she let me cry. But then told me to put on your track spikes and let's go girl, like, you know for sure. I'll also say that, there was a gal at Avera. She was my first, real corporate boss. She was head of nursing Judy Blauwet. I'll never forget the day that she called me into her office and kind of gave me that feedback of I your spirit to win Rana. I love how you get things done. You do it with other people for the most part. Then there was this really awkward pause. And you know what's coming right? And so you can only say this in health care. Well, to some extent, she's like, but you're leaving dead bodies behind you. It's gallows humor, right? Of course you say those things a little bit and have some fun with it. And her point was, no one wins alone. Like, thanks for your competitive fierceness. But that was my first real lesson in what it meant to, bring other people along, invite them to the table, the value of co-creation, of setting strategy, but then inviting everybody in to have a say, a piece, a word, a part of bringing it to life. That was an absolutely monumental, definitely moment. Great leadership.

Andi Fouberg
Those lessons can be challenging to hear, right? But if you internalize that, I mean, how great is that kind of, you took that and what it did for you long term and how you build teams now.

Rana DeBoer
Absolutely. It's absolutely critical. And you think about kids today coming out of school. Kids today, I can say that because I'm, you know, a parent and such. But kids entering into their first kind of professional sort of degree, their first professional role, I just can't emphasize enough that word curiosity. Be curious, be humble, be hungry. You don't have all the answers. You don't know everything, but you can absolutely influence and help everybody at the table learn and grow with this incredible spirit and knowledge and zip and zest that new employees bring into the workplace, right? New grads, they just have so much energy.

Andi Fouberg
Speaking of energy, let's talk about momentum. You don't stay still for very long. Whether it's launching your own company, working for the city of Sioux Falls or coaching executive, what keeps you moving forward? And how does your connection to SDSU continue to play a role in that momentum?

Rana DeBoer
So I'm going to go back to the word purpose, which is a little bit overused. But you know what? I'm glad it is. And that experience at SDSU secured for me that my purpose, my role, my strengths, my gifts, were absolutely to serve others. And in that sense of service is the human potential piece. It's a passion point for me. I just love it. I can't stop enough and to bring that kind of infectious positivity to other people and teams, to say every single person has potential on your team. It is your job as a leader to look at it, see what it is, maximize it, and then grow it and use it. And that, that's my calling, right? No matter what venue that I bring that into. So that is just, also insatiable. Desire to learn and keep growing myself, being healthy, being well, that's all a piece, that's all part of it, that fuels that ability to just keep going, keep believing, keep helping people.

Travis Jensen
You get to have some really, dynamic conversations with leaders and various different organizations, and you even mention having conversations with young professionals that are just coming into their careers. So with that in mind, if you could offer a piece of advice to SDSU students or young alumni who are stepping into their careers, what would that be?

Rana DeBoer
I would encourage every grad to have a transition team. So it's one of the most powerful sort of strategies or approaches that I use in my work with organizations. But everybody needs a transition team. So every time that you're rolling into a new position, a new role, a new title, a new adventure, you need a colleague around the table that is your trusted advisor, right? Somebody you can lean into for professional advice. You need somebody at the table that will speak truth into you that's, an ever loving, human being who loves you no matter what and will tell you when you're on track or off track. And you need to hear that/. You've got to have somebody who helps you with creative thinking, that person who's really an ideator or who will help you be creative and get unstuck when you feel like you're stuck somewhere. And, I think from there, people can fill in the blank with, who else do you need around the table? But everybody needs a transition team at some point in their life. Multiple of them

Andi Fouberg
I love that.

Travis Jensen
Yeah. Me too, there were times where I needed a transition team and I was not intentional about that.

Rana DeBoer
Yeah, be intentional about that. It'll help you be successful. For sure.

Andi Fouberg
Before we transition to kind of close this out, anything we didn't ask you? Anything you'd like to share with Jackrabbit Nation? If you will? 

Rana DeBoer
I think, I think something kind of fun would be okay to share. Is that okay? This might get a little crazy, and we can edit this out if you really think you need to.

Travis Jensen
Oh, I'm intrigued now. 

Andi Fouberg
Yeah, I just decided we don't edit this episode. 

Rana DeBoer
There's no editing on this one. So, bun huggers were a real, real transition for me. Speaking about transitions. So essentially you go from high school athletics wearing some gym shorts, tank top.

Travis Jensen
Oh, yeah. Yeah. 

Rana DeBoer
And then you get acclimated to basically wearing a swimsuit to be able to compete in. So that was a lot of fun. 

Travis Jensen
I can imagine there's some challenges with that.

Rana DeBoer
I'm not sure that's really what Jack Rabbit Nation wanted to hear,
but oh my gosh. 

Andi Fouberg
But every track alum can probably relate to what you just said. 

Rana DeBoer
Yeah. Get the right kind of underwear, the right kind of sports bra. You know, the whole thing. Oh my gosh, so so fun. 

Andi Fouberg
So now I'm really having the whole run. Lots of laps around, Frost Arena because the track was open to everyone, not just. And so the, the, the slowly which is how I would
mark my time. Right. And then serious and so yeah. So you're probably like, well we're half dressed and the other people on this track who are just here to use it, are wearing parkas practically is probably how it felt in comparison.

Rana DeBoer
I guess it's just another lesson in like, don't take your life to seriously. Right, like, keep it real, have fun and do good things. SDSU gave me that gave me that strength, that resilience, that humor. When you needed a push, when you need it. And absolutely, like I said earlier, the smarts just made me wicked smart and hungry to keep learning

Travis Jensen
And a community.

Rana DeBoer
And a community without question.

Andi Fouberg
What a great way to close out. Rana, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a pleasure hearing your memories and, perspectives. And we're proud to share this with, our listeners. So thank you so much for joining us. 

Travis Jensen
Yes. Thank you. 

Rana DeBoer
Thank you for the opportunity.

Andi Fouberg
Thanks for joining us for another episode of STATE Stories. Like what you heard? Hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us continue sharing these inspiring stories form our legendary SDSU alumni. You can find all episodes at statealum.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

Andi Fouberg
Hey there, Jackrabbits! Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Travis Jensen
Today's episode has a little extra heart because it's all about a couple whose story began right here at South Dakota State University. We're joined by Dr. John Bisson and Alex Bisson, proud SDSU alumni, small business owners, and yes, STATE Sweethearts. The two met as students, fell in love on campus, and now run Bisson Dental in Brookings, South Dakota, where they've been serving the community since 2018. John and Alex, welcome to the show.

Alex Bisson
Thanks so much for having us. We're excited to be here.

John Bisson
It's going to be great. Thanks.

Andi Fouberg
Let's start at the beginning. How did the two of you meet at SDSU? And do you remember your first impressions of one another? 

Alex Bisson
I do. I don't know if John can say the same. Um so how it all kind of played out is, after being together for many years, we realized that we had actually crossed paths well before we started our journey here at SDSU. But officially, my sister was at the State Swim meet in the summer of 2007. And I remember she called home and she said, Alex, you'll never believe I just met this guy John, and he's going to SDSU and he's going to be on the swim team, and he's really cute. And I was like, oh, all right, well, tell me more. So my sister kind of met him and I think she told you, John, about me and that we would be swimming together. And so, of course, I looked him up on social media as any normal person would. And I remember my first impression of him is he walked into the natatorium, into the swimming arena in boardshorts. So, as you know, most collegiate swimmers wear, like, very tight fitting jammers or like a Speedo when they compete and or train, and he walks in wearing his boardshorts. I look over at Coach Brad Erickson and, at the time, head coach of the SDSU swim & dive team, and I go, hey, coach, who is that? But like in my head, I played it off cool. Like, I had no idea who he was, but I fully well knew that was John Bisson from Sturgis walking in.

John Bisson
Yeah, that was a fun day. I was not prepared for those first couple college practices. It was it was a little rough, but, yes.

Alex Bisson 
You did great.

John Bisson
No, and I just remember meeting you at, kind of the first couple swim practices and, getting introduced and, Yeah, it was just really excellent.

Andi Fouberg 
Do you still have those boardshorts?

John Bisson 
I don’t think so.

Alex Bisson 
I sure hope so. That's a memory right there, John. Your first swim meet or first swim practice wearing boardshorts. I will never forget that. 

Andi Fouberg 
A little extra drag. You wanted to show people just how fast he was. He put a little extra drag.

Alex Bisson
Exactly. 

John Bisson
Yeah, yeah.

Travis Jensen 
Do you remember the conversation you had with who is now your sister in law? Do you remember that?

John Bisson
Oh, yeah, I remember that. I do. I was, kind of sitting at the, it was actually the STATE meet here in Brookings is where we had it at an outdoor pool. I was just checking some times to see how I'd done, and Liz walked up and kind of introduced herself. We talked for a little bit, and she mentioned that her sister was going to be going to SDSU to swim. That's where I was going at that time, too, and kind of helped make that connection and everything. 

Travis Jensen 
Now, did you do the social media sleuthing as…

Alex Bisson 
Be honest, be honest.

John Bisson
You know, I didn't have to wait too long. Alex reached out to me and said, hi on social media. So it was pretty easy to put the, connect the dots at that point. 

Travis Jensen 
So you technically made the first move? 

Alex Bisson 
You darn right I did. 

Andi Fouberg 
Way to play it cool, Alex. 

Alex Bisson 
You know what I was like. I think, I don't know, there might be something here. So I knew right away from the beginning I was like, I think I need to get to know this guy. And it paid off, as we should say. Almost. How many years since then are we in now? 18? 

John Bisson 
Yep.

Alex Bisson 
Since that day. Summer of ‘07. In the summer of 2025. Am I doing my math right there? A lot of years. 

Travis Jensen 
Now, do you feel like you need to defend yourself with the whole board short fiasco?

John Bisson 
You know, I didn't come from as strong of a swimming background as far as high school and everything. I kind of…

Andi Fouberg 
That’s the program in Eureka. 

John Bisson 
Haha. Yeah, the Metropolis of Eureka. You know, we kind of had a smaller team, and I just didn't have all that setting for the larger team. When I showed up, that was kind of what I had always done for that. And, yeah, I learned very quickly that I wasn't about to keep up with all the other fast collegiate swimmers wearing that. So I had to change paths really quickly.

Travis Jensen 
Finding ways to cut time, right. 

John Bisson 
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Travis Jensen 
Now there's something really special about meeting your person during college, especially at a place like SDSU. What role did the campus community play in your relationship early in that connection?

Alex Bisson 
I think for me, it was just the fact that we spent so much time together being on the same team and a lot of our practices aligned because in fact, we were both we were in the same lane training quite a bit because we were both like in the sprint group. There's different groups for training - sprint mid distance and distance for swimming, at least at the time. That's kind of how the practices were coordinated. So, you know, the men and women's team train together. We were in the same lane. We were doing team meetings together. We were doing we were traveling to meet together. I think the beautiful thing about both of us being on the same team is that we just spent a lot of time together. At the end of the day, I think the best part about that is I didn't really have to reschedule my life to make it work for us to be together. You know, we really didn't have to figure out when I was going to see him. Like if I had been in a different sport or maybe not on the team at all, I think it would have been different. I like to think at the end of the day that we still would have found each other if I had not been on the team or John had not been on the team. I think back a lot about that because I didn't start my career at SDSU, so I started my career at the University of Minnesota. I swam for the Gophers for one semester, and I realized pretty quickly it was just not the right fit for me personally. I knew I wanted to come home. I wanted to come back to South Dakota, and there was no doubt in my mind it was going to be South Dakota State University and nowhere else. I had known Brad Erickson for quite some time, and so I called Brad and I said, Brad, I'm ready to come back. I gave this a go. I just knew it's not my time. This is not like the fit for me. He welcomed me back with open arms. It was a great transition. I think at the end of the day, the best part about all of that is I got to meet John and I wonder, there's so many times when I wonder if I hadn't made that switch, if I hadn't come back, or perhaps had gone to a different South Dakota State University or a university in South Dakota, had we met. I'm just really thankful for how that all played out in the path that I took.

John Bisson 
Yeah. And I feel like the just the layout and the size of the campus, we had a lot of mutual friends and mutual professors and kind of ran into, you know, cross paths as we went to class and got lunch and everything like that. There was a lot of that connection too and it was easy to spend time together outside of the pool as well, which really helped, I think, us with that. Just meeting new people and kind of getting to hang out together the whole time. 

Andi Fouberg 
How did you choose South Dakota State? So we kind of got the picture for Alex, but John, how did you choose SDSU?

John Bisson 
Yeah, so that's a great question. When I started out, I was pre pharmacy is kind of the path that I wanted to take with that. I had some friends that are a little bit older and, kind of family friends that had gone here and really enjoyed the school for, you know, all the different degrees that they went, pursued for that. Because I was doing pharmacy at that time, that was kind of a clear choice for me that they had a great program here, and I thought I'd start with that. As I went through my career at SDSU, I kind of changed, majors a couple different times, just kind of trying to find the exact right fit that I wanted to. The pre-professional club, and they did a great job to show me the way with them.

Travis Jensen
You know we’ve established that you were able to spend a lot of time together. Whether that was at practice or at meets, in the classroom, and then you started to form more than just a bond at some point. At what point did you each start to think this could be more than just a college relationship? Was there a moment where it clicked for you?

Alex Bisson 
I'm going to have you start.

John Bisson 
You know, I think, as we spent more and more time together, I just found that it was really easy to spend time with Alex, and we just really enjoy each other's company. Whether it was watching a movie or going to a swim meet or just working on homework, it was just always easy. I really, felt like we just connected on a deeper level right away.

Alex Bisson 
I would agree with that. For me, we had agreed to go see a movie together over Christmas break that first year. It would have been my sophomore year and John's freshman year. We were sticking around for some reason. I think we both had like late finals that year, so we were both still here. Then we agreed to go see a movie and okay, it's silly, but it was kind of the first time that we had like held hands. That for me that was the moment. So if you're asking me if there was like a moment where it all clicked, it was that, I mean, honestly, I don't even remember what movie it was, but clearly I remember that that was like the first time that we held hands. It was like, okay, there's something here, and this is so special, and I just felt so lucky.

Andi Fouberg 
Brookings is a special place for so many SDSU alumni, but for you, it's not just where you studied, it's where you've chosen to build your life. What makes this community the right fit for your family and work, and what made you want to come back?

Alex Bisson 
When we graduated from SDSU, John got into dental school at Creighton University in Omaha. I had graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism and I started looking for a job there. Ultimately, we ended up five years in Omaha. John's dental school took four years, and then he worked there for one year. We had started our family and decided after our son Jackson was born, I did try to go back to work. A 2 a.m. wake-up call with a new baby is really hard. Working on the morning show at KETV is where I was working at the time and I said, I think we just need a switch. We were kind of far from our families and so we decided to come back to South Dakota. At the time, we had a connection to someone in Mitchell, a dentist in Mitchell that we knew was looking for an associate dentist. At that point, I don't want to speak for you, John, but I don't think we were ready to own our own practice, kind of dive into that just yet, so we worked. John worked in Mitchell for about a year and a half, almost two years, for this dentist in Mitchell. It was a good experience, great opportunity to learn how a business operates, because we knew at the end of the day that that's the path that we wanted is to own our own business and have our own dental practice. Then once we knew that we were ready to start looking for that opportunity, we were made aware of an opportunity here in Brookings, as well as others throughout the state, that there might be a doctor that's ready to either partner or sell his practice to a dentist or another doctor. There was no competition. The other opportunities, when we knew Brookings was on that list, we said, yep, we don't even need to explore these other opportunities. Why? Brookings is just such a great place. It's big enough to have those opportunities that you want to have, especially for a growing family. There's so many things going on at campus, from arts to athletics to all of these different events that are put on by different organizations and clubs. It's just great for us to be able to take our kids and show them all these different things. Take them to a football game or take them to a show at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center. It's just really cool to have that. And then the people here. That’s what we loved, or at least I can say that's what I loved when I went to school at SDSU. You still have that hometown feel, which is what I felt like I lost when I went to the University of Minnesota. I came from a graduating class of 24 kids, so for me to go to the University of Minnesota, while it's an incredible university, I just felt lost. It was a culture shock for me. When I came back to Brookings, it was home. It felt like home, and it still does to this day.

John Bisson 
Yeah, I would add to that. Just remembering that there was one summer that we stayed here while were on campus, and like Alex said, how we just really, really loved and enjoyed all the events and opportunities that we had during the school year. I think it was really fun to see Brookings for kind of more than just as SDSU at that time. In the summer we kind of got to see it without all the, you know, busyness of the school year and all the extra students that were there and kind of got to go to the campus for some summer classes while it was a little quieter and just kind of dive in a bit more. We just both really enjoyed all the other things that we don't always get to see during that school year at that time too, which was really cool and made it feel like home for us.

Alex Bisson 
I remember when we had the opportunity to come back, I texted Justin Sell, the athletic director, who was one of his first years I think was when we were I don't remember exactly what year.

John Bisson
Juniors or seniors. Yeah.

Alex Bisson
Yeah. One of his first years here on campus was like our later years as swimmers. So we got to know Justin well. And when we had the opportunity to come back, I texted him and I said, hey, what do you think? There's this practice for sale in Brookings. Like, is it a good opportunity? And he's like, why are you even asking? You know the answer. Like of course it's a good opportunity to come back to Brookings. I think that was just like the final that clinched the choice for us to come back. 

Travis Jensen 
It doesn't surprise me that Justin was such an ambassador. Right.

Alex Bisson 
Exactly. Yep.

Travis Jensen 
You're now married, raising a family and running a business. That's a lot of shared responsibility. What inspired you to go into business together? I mean, I have to imagine that would be difficult for many couples, and you chose that path.

John Bisson 
You know, I think we decided to go that route and kind of have a shared business adventure with just the fact that we had spent so much time together in the past and we knew that we worked really well together, whether it was just working on homework or, you know, swim meets and kind of having shared goals and knowing we could work hard for those goals. I think that was a big part of it. Alex is really good at kind of making things happen, whether it's all the behind the scenes stuff with the business and everything. She does a really good job with that and is really the glue that holds a lot of that together that I just don't always have time to manage some of those things. I just know that it's in good hands when she's working on that and doing all those things.

Alex Bisson
I like to call myself just the support system for him. I think he steers the ship so well that I don't really need to be there a whole heck of a lot. He's just incredible at what he does. He's a phenomenal dentist. He really good chair-side manner. And I just kind of fill in the gaps. So I offer the support wherever he needs it. I have filled in on maternity leaves. I deep clean our office every week. I work on payroll. So just those few things here and there that I can help where I feel like I'm going to be an asset to our business. And just kind of support John in that venture. It really, at the end of the day, is cool to see not only the two of us, but, you know, there are other teams in Brookings that work together, husband and wife crews specifically in the dental field, and I love to see that. I'd love to see that partnership between husband and wife. I think it's really a special opportunity for us to be able to do that together. Yeah.

Andi Fouberg
We always like to reflect on the college experience, and you've done a little of that. But do you have a couple favorite memories of your time on campus together?

Alex Bisson
I do. I have one that really sticks out for me because it was early on in our relationship. So when I was a sophomore, I decided to try out for, and this was John's freshman year. Mind you, he had just been on campus a month or two. I decided to audition for an audition, but I decided to try out for, Miss SDSU, and I think we were kind of talking at that point. We weren't officially dating, but just spending time together. I remember getting on stage and like looking out into the audience, and he's there. Like, John came to miss SDSU. I didn't ask him to come. I told him I think at some point that I was going to be doing that, but I remember looking out and seeing him there, just getting butterflies, more butterflies in my stomach than I already had. And then I went on to compete at Miss South Dakota, and I won, and I got to go to Miss America, which all of those things, the culmination of it was just this incredible experience. And he was always there. He was the rock alongside of me on the good days and on the really hard days because yeah Miss South Dakota is great but there are some challenges in there too. And going to Miss America and just having my family and John there to support me, that was one of the biggest highlights of my career here at SDSU. I did have to take that year off. I decided to take a gap year. And so I took time off of my classes and off of, I deferred scholarships for a year on the swim team. And just that alone was a little bit tricky and a little bit challenging. So to have the support of John in all of that, looking back, I think that also really strengthened our relationship because I don't know that a lot of 19, 20, 21-year-olds in a relationship would have some of those unique challenges that we had when I was going through those years of pageantry.

John Bisson
Yeah, I just think so many of my favorite memories from SDSU just revolve around the people and the classes and the swim team that we went to, you know, all the meets and traveling and just a lot of really great time we spent together with Alex as well. And it's just so much fun, especially being there and cheering her on for some of her gap year and pageantry and everything was really fun to see. And it was just so amazing to see her kind of take on a bigger role with that and really grow during that year. And just seeing how she managed all of the challenges that she, you know, was presented with that. And it was really fun to see what you could do when you put your mind to it.

Alex Bisson
If I had not taken that gap year, I always sit back and think I would have graduated a year prior and I would have, you know, you just always what ifs. It's always those what ifs. And so I think just having that year off where we could graduate together and have that experience and that celebration of our earning our degrees here at SDSU was just, that's another day that just kind of is burned in my memory forever in a good way.

Travis Jensen
Gosh, it's almost as if it was meant to be.

Alex Bisson
I like to think so.

Travis Jensen
There are a lot of students at SDSU right now building friendships and relationships and who knows, maybe even futures together. What advice would you give to those couples who might be walking the same path you once did?

Alex Bisson
That's a great question. I think what I would tell those students is just to really be mindful of all of the opportunities that you have. John and I were so lucky in the fact that we were both kind of able to do exactly what we wanted to do. I felt so lucky and blessed that after our time at SDSU, I could go with you to Omaha and to Creighton University for your dental school. I know couples can make it work if they have to go separate ways for post-graduate schooling or even during their time at SDSU if a transfer would be needed or would happen. But I would just say, I think at the end of the day, I love how our story turned out. I wouldn't change it for the world. So it's just one of those things where you have to just balance the beauty of your relationships that you have, while also being so mindful of the goals that you have as well. I can say now that I run marathons, and I along during that year of Miss South Dakota, somebody told me, if you can get through this year with him as your boyfriend or person, you can get through anything because it really is that challenging of a year. And I always think back on that and think, yeah, actually that's true because we've been through ups and downs since SDSU, we have hard days and we have easy days. But at the end of the day, I'm just so glad that I get to share it with him, because I know that no matter what, he's always going to be there for me and support me. And I run. I train for marathons now, and he watches our kids for three hours when I'm out in a training run. He's the first person to say where are we going next? What's our next race? He wants to travel the world with me if I'm, you know, keep running these marathons. So that's really cool. And I think if you have that person and you find that person here at SDSU or wherever it is, don't let that go.

John Bisson
Know, I would just think that, you know, for students that are walking their path right now through SDSU, one of my biggest pieces of advice that I give a lot of students that come shadow or just young friends and things like that is just, you know, have patience and, you know, faith that you know things are going to work out. At this age, I feel like a lot of times students feel like everything has to happen perfectly and right away and the first time and a year feels like eternity and things like that. And just knowing that following your heart and making sure that it is exactly what you want to do and where you want to be. And, I think that SDSU is a great place to kind of figure those things out.

Alex Bisson
I always say, think if you're on the right path on your own, everything else is going to fall into place. So just make sure that you are doing what you want to do, and everything else will come.

Travis Jensen
Alex, John, it has been such a joy to hear your story from your first days on campus to raising a family and running a thriving practice in the Brookings community. Thank you both for joining us today. We really appreciate it. 

Alex Bisson
This was so fun. Thanks for having us. 

John Bisson
Yeah, thank you so much for having us.

Andi Fouberg
Thanks for joining us for another episode of STATE Stories. Like what you heard? Hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us continue sharing these inspiring stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can find all episodes at statealum.com/podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

Andi Fouberg
Hey there, Jackrabbits! Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Travis Jensen
Today's episode has a little extra heart because it's all about a couple whose story began right here at South Dakota State University. We're joined by Dr. John Bisson and Alex Bisson, proud SDSU alumni, small business owners, and yes, STATE Sweethearts. The two met as students, fell in love on campus, and now run Bisson Dental in Brookings, South Dakota, where they've been serving the community since 2018. John and Alex, welcome to the show.

Alex Bisson
Thanks so much for having us. We're excited to be here.

John Bisson
It's going to be great. Thanks.

Andi Fouberg
Let's start at the beginning. How did the two of you meet at SDSU? And do you remember your first impressions of one another? 

Alex Bisson
I do. I don't know if John can say the same. Um so how it all kind of played out is, after being together for many years, we realized that we had actually crossed paths well before we started our journey here at SDSU. But officially, my sister was at the State Swim meet in the summer of 2007. And I remember she called home and she said, Alex, you'll never believe I just met this guy John, and he's going to SDSU and he's going to be on the swim team, and he's really cute. And I was like, oh, all right, well, tell me more. So my sister kind of met him and I think she told you, John, about me and that we would be swimming together. And so, of course, I looked him up on social media as any normal person would. And I remember my first impression of him is he walked into the natatorium, into the swimming arena in boardshorts. So, as you know, most collegiate swimmers wear, like, very tight fitting jammers or like a Speedo when they compete and or train, and he walks in wearing his boardshorts. I look over at Coach Brad Erickson and, at the time, head coach of the SDSU swim & dive team, and I go, hey, coach, who is that? But like in my head, I played it off cool. Like, I had no idea who he was, but I fully well knew that was John Bisson from Sturgis walking in.

John Bisson
Yeah, that was a fun day. I was not prepared for those first couple college practices. It was it was a little rough, but, yes.

Alex Bisson 
You did great.

John Bisson
No, and I just remember meeting you at, kind of the first couple swim practices and, getting introduced and, Yeah, it was just really excellent.

Andi Fouberg 
Do you still have those boardshorts?

John Bisson 
I don’t think so.

Alex Bisson 
I sure hope so. That's a memory right there, John. Your first swim meet or first swim practice wearing boardshorts. I will never forget that. 

Andi Fouberg 
A little extra drag. You wanted to show people just how fast he was. He put a little extra drag.

Alex Bisson
Exactly. 

John Bisson
Yeah, yeah.

Travis Jensen 
Do you remember the conversation you had with who is now your sister in law? Do you remember that?

John Bisson
Oh, yeah, I remember that. I do. I was, kind of sitting at the, it was actually the STATE meet here in Brookings is where we had it at an outdoor pool. I was just checking some times to see how I'd done, and Liz walked up and kind of introduced herself. We talked for a little bit, and she mentioned that her sister was going to be going to SDSU to swim. That's where I was going at that time, too, and kind of helped make that connection and everything. 

Travis Jensen 
Now, did you do the social media sleuthing as…

Alex Bisson 
Be honest, be honest.

John Bisson
You know, I didn't have to wait too long. Alex reached out to me and said, hi on social media. So it was pretty easy to put the, connect the dots at that point. 

Travis Jensen 
So you technically made the first move? 

Alex Bisson 
You darn right I did. 

Andi Fouberg 
Way to play it cool, Alex. 

Alex Bisson 
You know what I was like. I think, I don't know, there might be something here. So I knew right away from the beginning I was like, I think I need to get to know this guy. And it paid off, as we should say. Almost. How many years since then are we in now? 18? 

John Bisson 
Yep.

Alex Bisson 
Since that day. Summer of ‘07. In the summer of 2025. Am I doing my math right there? A lot of years. 

Travis Jensen 
Now, do you feel like you need to defend yourself with the whole board short fiasco?

John Bisson 
You know, I didn't come from as strong of a swimming background as far as high school and everything. I kind of…

Andi Fouberg 
That’s the program in Eureka. 

John Bisson 
Haha. Yeah, the Metropolis of Eureka. You know, we kind of had a smaller team, and I just didn't have all that setting for the larger team. When I showed up, that was kind of what I had always done for that. And, yeah, I learned very quickly that I wasn't about to keep up with all the other fast collegiate swimmers wearing that. So I had to change paths really quickly.

Travis Jensen 
Finding ways to cut time, right. 

John Bisson 
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Travis Jensen 
Now there's something really special about meeting your person during college, especially at a place like SDSU. What role did the campus community play in your relationship early in that connection?

Alex Bisson 
I think for me, it was just the fact that we spent so much time together being on the same team and a lot of our practices aligned because in fact, we were both we were in the same lane training quite a bit because we were both like in the sprint group. There's different groups for training - sprint mid distance and distance for swimming, at least at the time. That's kind of how the practices were coordinated. So, you know, the men and women's team train together. We were in the same lane. We were doing team meetings together. We were doing we were traveling to meet together. I think the beautiful thing about both of us being on the same team is that we just spent a lot of time together. At the end of the day, I think the best part about that is I didn't really have to reschedule my life to make it work for us to be together. You know, we really didn't have to figure out when I was going to see him. Like if I had been in a different sport or maybe not on the team at all, I think it would have been different. I like to think at the end of the day that we still would have found each other if I had not been on the team or John had not been on the team. I think back a lot about that because I didn't start my career at SDSU, so I started my career at the University of Minnesota. I swam for the Gophers for one semester, and I realized pretty quickly it was just not the right fit for me personally. I knew I wanted to come home. I wanted to come back to South Dakota, and there was no doubt in my mind it was going to be South Dakota State University and nowhere else. I had known Brad Erickson for quite some time, and so I called Brad and I said, Brad, I'm ready to come back. I gave this a go. I just knew it's not my time. This is not like the fit for me. He welcomed me back with open arms. It was a great transition. I think at the end of the day, the best part about all of that is I got to meet John and I wonder, there's so many times when I wonder if I hadn't made that switch, if I hadn't come back, or perhaps had gone to a different South Dakota State University or a university in South Dakota, had we met. I'm just really thankful for how that all played out in the path that I took.

John Bisson 
Yeah. And I feel like the just the layout and the size of the campus, we had a lot of mutual friends and mutual professors and kind of ran into, you know, cross paths as we went to class and got lunch and everything like that. There was a lot of that connection too and it was easy to spend time together outside of the pool as well, which really helped, I think, us with that. Just meeting new people and kind of getting to hang out together the whole time. 

Andi Fouberg 
How did you choose South Dakota State? So we kind of got the picture for Alex, but John, how did you choose SDSU?

John Bisson 
Yeah, so that's a great question. When I started out, I was pre pharmacy is kind of the path that I wanted to take with that. I had some friends that are a little bit older and, kind of family friends that had gone here and really enjoyed the school for, you know, all the different degrees that they went, pursued for that. Because I was doing pharmacy at that time, that was kind of a clear choice for me that they had a great program here, and I thought I'd start with that. As I went through my career at SDSU, I kind of changed, majors a couple different times, just kind of trying to find the exact right fit that I wanted to. The pre-professional club, and they did a great job to show me the way with them.

Travis Jensen
You know we’ve established that you were able to spend a lot of time together. Whether that was at practice or at meets, in the classroom, and then you started to form more than just a bond at some point. At what point did you each start to think this could be more than just a college relationship? Was there a moment where it clicked for you?

Alex Bisson 
I'm going to have you start.

John Bisson 
You know, I think, as we spent more and more time together, I just found that it was really easy to spend time with Alex, and we just really enjoy each other's company. Whether it was watching a movie or going to a swim meet or just working on homework, it was just always easy. I really, felt like we just connected on a deeper level right away.

Alex Bisson 
I would agree with that. For me, we had agreed to go see a movie together over Christmas break that first year. It would have been my sophomore year and John's freshman year. We were sticking around for some reason. I think we both had like late finals that year, so we were both still here. Then we agreed to go see a movie and okay, it's silly, but it was kind of the first time that we had like held hands. That for me that was the moment. So if you're asking me if there was like a moment where it all clicked, it was that, I mean, honestly, I don't even remember what movie it was, but clearly I remember that that was like the first time that we held hands. It was like, okay, there's something here, and this is so special, and I just felt so lucky.

Andi Fouberg 
Brookings is a special place for so many SDSU alumni, but for you, it's not just where you studied, it's where you've chosen to build your life. What makes this community the right fit for your family and work, and what made you want to come back?

Alex Bisson 
When we graduated from SDSU, John got into dental school at Creighton University in Omaha. I had graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism and I started looking for a job there. Ultimately, we ended up five years in Omaha. John's dental school took four years, and then he worked there for one year. We had started our family and decided after our son Jackson was born, I did try to go back to work. A 2 a.m. wake-up call with a new baby is really hard. Working on the morning show at KETV is where I was working at the time and I said, I think we just need a switch. We were kind of far from our families and so we decided to come back to South Dakota. At the time, we had a connection to someone in Mitchell, a dentist in Mitchell that we knew was looking for an associate dentist. At that point, I don't want to speak for you, John, but I don't think we were ready to own our own practice, kind of dive into that just yet, so we worked. John worked in Mitchell for about a year and a half, almost two years, for this dentist in Mitchell. It was a good experience, great opportunity to learn how a business operates, because we knew at the end of the day that that's the path that we wanted is to own our own business and have our own dental practice. Then once we knew that we were ready to start looking for that opportunity, we were made aware of an opportunity here in Brookings, as well as others throughout the state, that there might be a doctor that's ready to either partner or sell his practice to a dentist or another doctor. There was no competition. The other opportunities, when we knew Brookings was on that list, we said, yep, we don't even need to explore these other opportunities. Why? Brookings is just such a great place. It's big enough to have those opportunities that you want to have, especially for a growing family. There's so many things going on at campus, from arts to athletics to all of these different events that are put on by different organizations and clubs. It's just great for us to be able to take our kids and show them all these different things. Take them to a football game or take them to a show at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center. It's just really cool to have that. And then the people here. That’s what we loved, or at least I can say that's what I loved when I went to school at SDSU. You still have that hometown feel, which is what I felt like I lost when I went to the University of Minnesota. I came from a graduating class of 24 kids, so for me to go to the University of Minnesota, while it's an incredible university, I just felt lost. It was a culture shock for me. When I came back to Brookings, it was home. It felt like home, and it still does to this day.

John Bisson 
Yeah, I would add to that. Just remembering that there was one summer that we stayed here while were on campus, and like Alex said, how we just really, really loved and enjoyed all the events and opportunities that we had during the school year. I think it was really fun to see Brookings for kind of more than just as SDSU at that time. In the summer we kind of got to see it without all the, you know, busyness of the school year and all the extra students that were there and kind of got to go to the campus for some summer classes while it was a little quieter and just kind of dive in a bit more. We just both really enjoyed all the other things that we don't always get to see during that school year at that time too, which was really cool and made it feel like home for us.

Alex Bisson 
I remember when we had the opportunity to come back, I texted Justin Sell, the athletic director, who was one of his first years I think was when we were I don't remember exactly what year.

John Bisson
Juniors or seniors. Yeah.

Alex Bisson
Yeah. One of his first years here on campus was like our later years as swimmers. So we got to know Justin well. And when we had the opportunity to come back, I texted him and I said, hey, what do you think? There's this practice for sale in Brookings. Like, is it a good opportunity? And he's like, why are you even asking? You know the answer. Like of course it's a good opportunity to come back to Brookings. I think that was just like the final that clinched the choice for us to come back. 

Travis Jensen 
It doesn't surprise me that Justin was such an ambassador. Right.

Alex Bisson 
Exactly. Yep.

Travis Jensen 
You're now married, raising a family and running a business. That's a lot of shared responsibility. What inspired you to go into business together? I mean, I have to imagine that would be difficult for many couples, and you chose that path.

John Bisson 
You know, I think we decided to go that route and kind of have a shared business adventure with just the fact that we had spent so much time together in the past and we knew that we worked really well together, whether it was just working on homework or, you know, swim meets and kind of having shared goals and knowing we could work hard for those goals. I think that was a big part of it. Alex is really good at kind of making things happen, whether it's all the behind the scenes stuff with the business and everything. She does a really good job with that and is really the glue that holds a lot of that together that I just don't always have time to manage some of those things. I just know that it's in good hands when she's working on that and doing all those things.

Alex Bisson
I like to call myself just the support system for him. I think he steers the ship so well that I don't really need to be there a whole heck of a lot. He's just incredible at what he does. He's a phenomenal dentist. He really good chair-side manner. And I just kind of fill in the gaps. So I offer the support wherever he needs it. I have filled in on maternity leaves. I deep clean our office every week. I work on payroll. So just those few things here and there that I can help where I feel like I'm going to be an asset to our business. And just kind of support John in that venture. It really, at the end of the day, is cool to see not only the two of us, but, you know, there are other teams in Brookings that work together, husband and wife crews specifically in the dental field, and I love to see that. I'd love to see that partnership between husband and wife. I think it's really a special opportunity for us to be able to do that together. Yeah.

Andi Fouberg
We always like to reflect on the college experience, and you've done a little of that. But do you have a couple favorite memories of your time on campus together?

Alex Bisson
I do. I have one that really sticks out for me because it was early on in our relationship. So when I was a sophomore, I decided to try out for, and this was John's freshman year. Mind you, he had just been on campus a month or two. I decided to audition for an audition, but I decided to try out for, Miss SDSU, and I think we were kind of talking at that point. We weren't officially dating, but just spending time together. I remember getting on stage and like looking out into the audience, and he's there. Like, John came to miss SDSU. I didn't ask him to come. I told him I think at some point that I was going to be doing that, but I remember looking out and seeing him there, just getting butterflies, more butterflies in my stomach than I already had. And then I went on to compete at Miss South Dakota, and I won, and I got to go to Miss America, which all of those things, the culmination of it was just this incredible experience. And he was always there. He was the rock alongside of me on the good days and on the really hard days because yeah Miss South Dakota is great but there are some challenges in there too. And going to Miss America and just having my family and John there to support me, that was one of the biggest highlights of my career here at SDSU. I did have to take that year off. I decided to take a gap year. And so I took time off of my classes and off of, I deferred scholarships for a year on the swim team. And just that alone was a little bit tricky and a little bit challenging. So to have the support of John in all of that, looking back, I think that also really strengthened our relationship because I don't know that a lot of 19, 20, 21-year-olds in a relationship would have some of those unique challenges that we had when I was going through those years of pageantry.

John Bisson
Yeah, I just think so many of my favorite memories from SDSU just revolve around the people and the classes and the swim team that we went to, you know, all the meets and traveling and just a lot of really great time we spent together with Alex as well. And it's just so much fun, especially being there and cheering her on for some of her gap year and pageantry and everything was really fun to see. And it was just so amazing to see her kind of take on a bigger role with that and really grow during that year. And just seeing how she managed all of the challenges that she, you know, was presented with that. And it was really fun to see what you could do when you put your mind to it.

Alex Bisson
If I had not taken that gap year, I always sit back and think I would have graduated a year prior and I would have, you know, you just always what ifs. It's always those what ifs. And so I think just having that year off where we could graduate together and have that experience and that celebration of our earning our degrees here at SDSU was just, that's another day that just kind of is burned in my memory forever in a good way.

Travis Jensen
Gosh, it's almost as if it was meant to be.

Alex Bisson
I like to think so.

Travis Jensen
There are a lot of students at SDSU right now building friendships and relationships and who knows, maybe even futures together. What advice would you give to those couples who might be walking the same path you once did?

Alex Bisson
That's a great question. I think what I would tell those students is just to really be mindful of all of the opportunities that you have. John and I were so lucky in the fact that we were both kind of able to do exactly what we wanted to do. I felt so lucky and blessed that after our time at SDSU, I could go with you to Omaha and to Creighton University for your dental school. I know couples can make it work if they have to go separate ways for post-graduate schooling or even during their time at SDSU if a transfer would be needed or would happen. But I would just say, I think at the end of the day, I love how our story turned out. I wouldn't change it for the world. So it's just one of those things where you have to just balance the beauty of your relationships that you have, while also being so mindful of the goals that you have as well. I can say now that I run marathons, and I along during that year of Miss South Dakota, somebody told me, if you can get through this year with him as your boyfriend or person, you can get through anything because it really is that challenging of a year. And I always think back on that and think, yeah, actually that's true because we've been through ups and downs since SDSU, we have hard days and we have easy days. But at the end of the day, I'm just so glad that I get to share it with him, because I know that no matter what, he's always going to be there for me and support me. And I run. I train for marathons now, and he watches our kids for three hours when I'm out in a training run. He's the first person to say where are we going next? What's our next race? He wants to travel the world with me if I'm, you know, keep running these marathons. So that's really cool. And I think if you have that person and you find that person here at SDSU or wherever it is, don't let that go.

John Bisson
Know, I would just think that, you know, for students that are walking their path right now through SDSU, one of my biggest pieces of advice that I give a lot of students that come shadow or just young friends and things like that is just, you know, have patience and, you know, faith that you know things are going to work out. At this age, I feel like a lot of times students feel like everything has to happen perfectly and right away and the first time and a year feels like eternity and things like that. And just knowing that following your heart and making sure that it is exactly what you want to do and where you want to be. And, I think that SDSU is a great place to kind of figure those things out.

Alex Bisson
I always say, think if you're on the right path on your own, everything else is going to fall into place. So just make sure that you are doing what you want to do, and everything else will come.

Travis Jensen
Alex, John, it has been such a joy to hear your story from your first days on campus to raising a family and running a thriving practice in the Brookings community. Thank you both for joining us today. We really appreciate it. 

Alex Bisson
This was so fun. Thanks for having us. 

John Bisson
Yeah, thank you so much for having us.

Andi Fouberg
Thanks for joining us for another episode of STATE Stories. Like what you heard? Hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us continue sharing these inspiring stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can find all episodes at statealum.com/podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

Travis Jensen
Hey there, Jackrabbits! Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Our guest today is Jeff Eckhoff, a 1982 sociology graduate of SDSU and a 2023 Distinguished alumnus. Jeff serves as the director of planning and development services for the City of Sioux Falls. And his career has spanned economic development, small business growth, and community planning. Jeff, welcome to the show.

Jeff Eckhoff 
Thanks, Travis. Glad to be here. I appreciate being asked. This will be fun.

Travis Jensen
That's right!

Andi Fouberg 
Jeff, your path has taken you from a farm near Hurley all the way to city leadership in South Dakota's largest and fastest growing community. Let's start at the beginning. What drew you to SDSU and how did your time here shape your career?

Jeff Eckhoff
Yeah, you know what's interesting, Andi, is it was not in my initial plan to come here. I had visited another school and just didn't have a great experience. And one weekend some friends of mine were coming up here. Yeah, I'll go along. I have nothing else to do. I'll just kind of tag along and we'll, you know, do something on the way home. And so sat through a session, got interested, went on the tour, and just right away felt like the place to be. And so I immediately switched plans and, got my application in late, was in overflow housing, did the whole thing, but was so glad I came here and you just never know where life's going to detour you and where you’re going to turn and pivot and you just have to be ready to take advantage of it. And so it was, it was obviously a great choice.

Travis Jensen
You spent most of your career helping communities grow, from working in local economic development to your current role overseeing planning and development in Sioux Falls. What originally sparked your interest in helping shape communities?

Jeff Eckhoff
You know, so I got out of college, and I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. I actually went to work for the State Department of Labor and spent a lot of time with employer relations and just, talking to business people, talking about their growth plans, from the standpoint of workforce and adding employees, and just really got interested in that. And when I had the opportunity, it was just kind of the perfect marriage of helping the community helping and being involved in the business side of it, which is really kind of what my interest was when I went through college. So it kind of came around as a great opportunity, and once I got involved with that it really sparked my interest in public service, and staying involved with nonprofits or government or that type of thing and serving communities.

Travis Jensen
Was there a moment while you were here as a student that helped, trigger that or maybe spark that that led you kind of down that path? 

Jeff Eckhoff 
Yeah. You know, it was really interesting. So, I was a sociology major, but back then they had an option called Personnel Services, believe it or not. So it was kind of an HR. It was it was way before the Ness School. There really wasn't a business degree here. So I was kind of pursuing that HR and I had an Econ minor that I declared, and that was kind of the route that I was going down. Some of the classes, I remember, like Money and Banking and Industrial Psychology was a class I took. It was just the sociology of people in general and at work. It always really interested me, and it's really interesting how today, so much what I do is group meetings, facilitating groups, working through proposals, working through problems. Those skills, I really use them every day. It's amazing how that path brought me to where I am and how, you know, you're a kid, you don't really know. Right? But those skills really well prepared me for the work I do today.

Travis Jensen 
So a lot of the topics that you were covering in your classes back in the early 80s, still relevant to the things that you're covering today and your current role? 

Jeff Eckhoff
Yep, absolutely. Even from way back then. Yeah, very much so. Those are the classes that interested me the most too, so I'm sure it absolutely was part of setting the path for today. 

Andi Fouberg
Jeff, Sioux Falls is one of the fastest growing cities in the region, and you're kind of at the center of all of that. How do you balance progress with sustainability, and what do you think makes Sioux Falls and by extension, the region, such an attractive place to build?

Jeff Eckhoff 
Yeah. It's a great question. You know, Sioux Falls, obviously way before me, there's been a great, leadership that really has done a good job of planning for the future. Very well thought out, planned and managed growth. We've grown at a pace the last seven years of over 5000 people a year. And we've added in the seven years that the Mayor Tenhaken, has been there, we've actually added like 36,000 people. So you put that in perspective. That is the city of Aberdeen and the city of Harrisburg. All within our city limits. And so that type of growth, like I tell people, they're not going where we didn't think they were going to go, they're just going there a lot faster. But it is a struggle. It's a struggle. And stay out ahead with infrastructure. We really try to focus on redevelopment and reinvestment and trying to conserve our resources the best we can and be smart about growth. You know, very much in an incremental not to spread out and jump around and be as thoughtful and resourceful as we can with the resources that we're given.

Travis Jensen 
Well, one of the exciting developments within the Sioux Falls community is the SDSU Metro Center. Thanks to the generosity of Avera Health, SDSU will be launching the Metro Center right in the heart of Sioux Falls. You know, a space that will house nursing, pharmacy, other health science programs and will offer other university services. What type of impact do you see the Metro Center having on the Sioux Falls community?

Jeff Eckhoff
You know, that's so many things. It's a great location. The visibility is huge. There are over 20,000 healthcare related jobs in the city of Sioux Falls. And the fact is we’re always looking for additional health care professionals. We're always looking to grow that industry. And that supports not only Sioux Falls but the region. So you think about bringing that piece of infrastructure with, education to be able to have more people, having people that are coming back for a second career because now it's more convenient to go there. It's really going to be obviously a boon for that, too. But I also see the Metro Center as you look ten years, 15 years down the road and you kind of look at the, the mission statement of SDSU as far as being a land grant university about innovation and expanding in the community. You think about, the precision agriculture. You think about the Ness School partnership with the start of Sioux Falls and the entrepreneurial universe. And you just think about all those things that the depth and the breadth of a land grant college. And we've got great education partners in Sioux Falls, but none of them have the capacity or the bandwidth that a full land grant university has. And I just really have to applaud, President Dunn and his vision, SDSU Connect, the work that Brian is doing down there to really expand this SDSU beyond the borders of Brookings, beyond borders of South Dakota, and really becoming that regional powerhouse for education, opportunity, economic development. And I just see the Metro Center being kind of epicenter of that for Sioux Falls. And so we're extremely excited about that. And to see it not only in this initial mission that you've talked about, but what it'll become for years beyond that.

Travis Jensen 
Regional powerhouse. I like that.

Andi Fouberg
I like that, too. 

Jeff Eckhoff 
With sports and everything, you know?

Travis Jensen
We maybe need to run that over by UMC. There's something to that, right? The marketing department can put something around that. 

Jeff Eckhoff 
Are the royalties that come with that?

Travis Jensen 
Yeah, we'll look into that for sure. 

Andi Fouberg
I’m sure everyone’s excited about our good ideas here on the podcast. Jeff you’ve stayed involved with SDSU through the foundation Council of Trustees. Why has it been important for you to stay connected to the university?

Jeff Eckhoff 
You know, well a couple things. First of all, I would tell anybody that's a recent graduate or going to be a graduate or is going to come here. The network of jackrabbits is so deep. And so once you leave, I mean, from a professional standpoint and a personal standpoint, I mean, I've made some great friends. Obviously, when you're on campus, you've heard those stories, but I've made even just as good of friends afterwards that our connection was through being a jackrabbit. And we're in Sioux Empire Staters together, or we were at a golf event together. We were at, you know, a Summit League game and a fact, Andi, I think it was a little before you I think it was 2008, the Sioux Empire Staters were the first formal chapter, right? There were a lot of clubs West River Jacks and Yankton, but we were the first formal chapter, and Mike Hart and Jimmy Spears and Eric Coleman and John Gustafson and I were on that initial board and still and John and I knew each other from working in the bookstore from when we were on campus together, but in particular, Mike Hart and I became very good friends through that and stayed connected, even though we're no longer on that board. And so I would tell people that that connection goes on and on. Right. And the introduction of being a jackrabbit is huge. And secondly, I just think that, you know, SDSU lives this mission of giving back, if you've been blessed with a great career, if you've been blessed with a great opportunity, you owe it to your community or state to give back. And being able to connect with the campus, be able to connect back and help in ways to help out with time and treasure with students. That to me, is part of your responsibility to give back as the gifts you were given as a graduate of SDSU. 

Andi Fouberg
It's energizing. 

Jeff Eckhoff 
It is, it's amazing. Every time you come up here and just you get excited and you can't wait for the trustees meeting, and you start hearing about all the great things that are going on. And then you can then you can amplify that message and tell people about it. So it's just it's just been a great experience to be that connected back to the university.

Andi Fouberg 
Well, you've been a tremendous ambassador for us. So, that is appreciated. Looking ahead, what excites you about the future of South Dakota? Any trends or changes you think current jackrabbit students should be paying attention to?

Jeff Eckhoff 
You know, I think that there's so much space out there for the, again, the innovation, the research. When we did a, we’re kind of in the middle of our comprehensive plan, and we did this, statistically valid survey with residents in Sioux Falls and asked them, you know, why do you live here and why do you stay here? And one of the things we asked them is from an economic development standpoint, what things would you like to see us pursue? And then the answers came back pretty loud and clear include biotech, scientific research, things that again, back in the wheelhouse of a land grant university in the heart of Sioux Falls, with the resources of the companies and the health care systems that are there. I think there's a huge space for that. I think, you know, we've talked forever about graduates leaving South Dakota for other opportunities because they aren't available here. I think that space, there's an appetite for it. I think there's an infrastructure that is being built for that. And so I'm excited. And you think about, the R1 initiative, right. And what that can do to help fuel that and take, opportunity for those types of graduates in those disciplines and to expand the disciplines that we have and the opportunities to really bring that knowledge and that economic engine back and keep it in South Dakota and help expand it. So I think the future is really unlimited. And I think things like Metro Center, R1 really are cornerstones of what that can be.

Travis Jensen 
We say this often, but it's a great time to be a jackrabbit. 

Jeff Eckhoff 
It's always a great time to be a jackrabbit.

Travis Jensen 
That's right. You know, one of the things that Andi and I enjoy most about hosting this podcast is hearing the joy of our guests as they reflect on their time at SDSU. What's one of your favorite SDSU moments that brings a smile to your face?

Jeff Eckhoff 
Well, you know, like all of us, right? There's hundreds of little things from the dorm and the Student Union. It was certainly a misguided day at Jim's tab, but that's a whole other story. 

Andi Fouberg 
So you're the one. 

Travis Jensen 
Yep. There we go! 

Andi Fouberg 
There's only been one.

Jeff Eckhoff 
But the story, I’ve thought about this, that I want to share. And, Travis, you and I have this in common. And I think this has to do with undeveloped freshmen, minds of males. And so there wasn't a blizzard, but it was in the winter and it was cold. And we decided it was in December kind of right before finals. There were four of us inside, and we were about to move outside to play football. And so we played football. We were north of Young Hall, kind of in that area. And we're, we're having a great time. And, and it's of course it's cold and, and I got tackled and I broke my leg. 

Travis Jensen 
Oh, wow. 

Jeff Eckhoff
I mean, ride in the ambulance to the hospital and up in Sioux Valley. At that time it was Sioux Valley to have surgery because I broke it really, really, really well. And so this kind of to me epitomizes what SDSU is about. So I remember when I, as Andi mentioned, I came from a small town, and the first time I walked into a class in the rotunda, right, there were more people in that room than my entire hometown. So, you know, you're kind of a little overwhelmed. And so anyway, so I'm in the hospital a little anxious.  I know I'm going to  have surgery next day. And the phone rings. And so I answer it and it's like, “Hello, Yeah, this is Professor Rocky Gilbert from South Dakota State University. I understand that you're a South Dakota State student and that you're in the hospital”, so pre HIPAA obviously. Okay. So I'm going yeah. Yeah yeah. You know it's a very nice conversation and you know signed off. Wish me well. And you know just want me to know that he was thinking of me. And I just thinking, wow. I mean, not and not only professor, but Rocky Gilbert, right? I mean, the legendary Rocky Gilbert.

Andi Fouberg
Had you had a class with him?

Jeff Eckhoff
No, no, and that's a whole other story. I actually, I actually got out of ‘Rockonomics’, so I got around it, but I don't know another story for another time perhaps, but obviously knew who he was and had heard of him.

Andi Fouberg 
Yeah, absolutely. 

Jeff Eckhoff 
And the fact that he would take the time, I have no idea how I found out I was in the hospital, you know, pretty good-sized hospital, right? I have no idea how he found out it was in there, but he did and took the time and, you know, and the only regret from that I have is being a kid from a small town and just kind of. No, not really. I just regret I never followed up with him when on campus and thanked him for that.

Travis Jensen 
It really is a reflection of that jackrabbit spirit, right? To have those individuals within your community that care about you, maybe not having a direct relationship, but the simple fact that they knew that there was someone in need, right? A fellow jackrabbit wanted to just ensure that, hey, we're thinking about you. And, that's not surprising by any means to hear that that was something that he extended to you.

Jeff Eckhoff 
And what was amazing, right, I hadn't met I hadn't met him. I hadn’t declared a major, a minor yet. So he had no idea that I was going to be a future economic student. I just he just knew I was an SDSU student. That's all it took him to make the call.

Travis Jensen
Jeff, we want to thank you. Thank you so much for joining us today, for all that you're doing to help South Dakota grow and for staying connected to the jackrabbit community along the way. Thank you for joining us.

Jeff Eckhoff 
Thank you. It's been a real pleasure. Thank you.

Andi Fouberg 
Thanks for joining us for another episode of STATE Stories. Like what you heard? Hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us continue sharing these inspiring stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can find all episodes at statealum.com/podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

Andi Fouberg

Hey there, Jackrabbits! Welcome to another episode of STATE Stories podcast, stories from legendary SDSU alumni. This podcast is dedicated to celebrating our exceptional SDSU community and its esteemed alumni, bringing you inspiring stories, laughter, and lots of Jackrabbit pride.

Travis Jensen
Today's episode is a special one, not just because of who we're talking to, but because of the moment we're in. I'm joined by two SDSU leaders and two proud Jackrabbits who are helping shape the future of our alumni and donor community. First, of course, my co-host Andi Fouberg, who you know well as the president and CEO of the SDSU Alumni Association. Also joining us is Steve Erpenbach, president and CEO of the SDSU Foundation. Steve, Andi, welcome.

Steve Erpenbach
Thanks for having me.

Andi Fouberg
It feels weird to say thanks for having me. I’m here every time.

Travis Jensen
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's your show, but welcome back, Andi. Welcome back. Let’s start with a little personal history. You're both obviously as indicated, alumni at SDSU. Tell us a little bit about your time on campus. What was your experience like at State, and how did SDSU help shape your early path?

Andi Fouberg
Well, I think listeners have gotten to hear a fair amount about my time on campus. And so I'll if keep it brief, I came to campus as someone who was in 4-H and had been on campus several times. My best friend was here before I got here, and so it just kind of seemed like a natural fit. Then I had a spectacular experience on campus. I just really got involved in things that I maybe never thought of as part of college and had an opportunity to do and be around things that just weren't part of either my upbringing or imagination up until that point. And so, we just had a stellar career on campus.

Travis Jensen
One of the things that you were involved in, if I recall correctly, was The Pride. Correct? And you never had an opportunity in high school to be in the marching band.

Andi Fouberg
Well, I mean, I was in a marching band.

Travis Jensen
Were you the band?

Andi Fouberg
I was not the sole member of the band, but one of my memories is that we didn't have enough people. I went to Artesian-Letcher High School, and we didn't have really enough people to have what you would call a normal set and look long enough in a parade. And so, the band director one year, who I loved, Don Bowman, I loved him, but he decided that we were going to do a point structure. And so I was literally in a row by myself, which might be because maybe I wasn't good at keeping in line, so he's like, well, let's solve this problem. We won't have other people in her row. But it went one, and then the next row had two people in, the next row had three people in the next row. So I had no idea what was going on behind me. That does not prepare you for the Pride of the Dakotas where you might have, like, let's say, eight people across in a line and several rows of that. So, yeah, it was a very different experience, and our trips, quote unquote, trips, for Artesian-Letcher would have been a trip to march in the Blue and White Days parade for Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell. That was as far as the band took folks. Then you compare that to while I was in college. We marched in Clinton's second inaugural. We marched at the Green Bay Packers game. Right? So, a completely different experience. Those are the kinds of opportunities that SDSU brought into my life. And really shaped who I am because of the people that I met and the things that I got to experience.

Travis Jensen
How about you, Steve? What about your experience at State? How did it help shape your path?

Steve Erpenbach
Well, first of all, that's your idea of a short response?

Andi Fouberg
It was until Travis asked me a question!

Travis Jensen
How dare I?

Andi Fouberg
What do you think this is a podcast?

Steve Erpenbach
Well, I grew up in, and was born and raised in Mitchell, South Dakota. I had two older brothers that came to South Dakota State, geography majors. I'm the youngest of five, so by the time I really had no idea of going anywhere else but South Dakota State. It just felt like the right place. They also had a great journalism program, and that was my interest. It just felt like a perfect fit. My brother, Dean, was here. He was finishing up his time at State at the time I got here. I had a little bit of somebody on campus, or at least in Brookings at the time. It was a remarkable experience. I mean, I was here for five years, graduated in 1985. And really the opportunity that I had that certainly served me well throughout my life was working for The Collegian. As I started out, I was a sportswriter, sports editor, and was an editor my last year. I actually met my wife, Michelle, who was the managing editor that last year. We just celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. The people I met there, the experiences I had there, in addition to the classroom, obviously, but The Collegian was really transformational in terms of relationships and experiences. The whole idea of just the communication skills, the writing skills, the leadership opportunities I had served well, even though I only worked in newspapers for about four years after graduating. I moved on to some other things. I moved on to politics, and worked for some really great people, including Senator Tom Daschle, and an opportunity to come back to South Dakota State. Those times at State, the experiences I had there, really served me well in every profession that I've had, including the one I've got right now.

Travis Jensen
One thing that we hear quite often from our guests on, particularly in season two, is that they have found their community here, and that's kind of what you're talking about as you started to develop your professional network, right, as you were working with the Collegian. I mean, you found your wife, added bonus, right? But then that helped kind of jumpstart what would be your career. And so now fast forward, you're each leading cornerstone organizations that support South Dakota State University in powerful ways. Can you give us a snapshot of your role and what your team focuses on on a day-to-day basis?

Steve Erpenbach
From our standpoint, at the Foundation, the university has a strong need for everything from scholarships to support for building projects. Pretty much any of those private dollars that they need really are the margin of excellence at South Dakota State. Our role is to raise money for South Dakota State. We prioritize it. We work with the deans of the university, with the university president and provost, and figure out what their ask them what are their top needs and top priorities. Then we try to find donors who align with that, who have a real strong passion for wanting to give back, but also to give back to those specific areas, whether it's a scholarship or whether it's for a building project or program. Every day we've got about 15 people who work with donors on a daily basis, as fundraisers, that are building relationships and trying to find out what their passion is at South Dakota State and whether they're willing to start investing back in South Dakota State. It's a remarkable opportunity, really a privilege, for us to be able to work with donors, and work with alumni and friends and find ways for them to make a difference on this campus.

Travis Jensen
Steve, I have to imagine with the responsibilities that you and your team have in bringing those donations of funds on campus, you have to be quite popular with the individual, you know, with the leaders on campus. I have to imagine you have a lot of friends at the university.

Steve Erpenbach
Yeah, it is. I mean, it's the partnership that we have between the Foundation and the Alumni Association with our university is I don't think a lot of places have such a great working rapport as we do. And that's what makes it great. I mean, the deans, the department heads, and faculty are really all involved in that relationship building process. They will travel with our staff. They will go out to meet with certain donors because their presence is really important to tell the story about the impact a gift would make in their college or their department. We're really very fortunate starting with President Miller and then President Chicoine and now President Dunn. I've had the opportunity to work with all three of them, and their commitment to the Foundation and what we do, has just been exceptional. That's the reason, I think, that we've had great success here, because that partnership has just been unbelievable throughout that time.

Travis Jensen
Andi, as the co-host of this podcast, listeners have had an opportunity to get somewhat of a glimpse into your role and the responsibilities of the Alumni Association, but I don't know that they know day to day of what that looks like. Maybe describe that for them.

Andi Fouberg
So you're saying by now I should know what a day to day looks like 11 years in?

Travis Jensen
Yeah, good luck trying to answer that.

Andi Fouberg
Yeah. I think one of the beauties of this job, and I think Steve would probably agree in his role, is the amount of variety that we get. Certainly, as he reflected, right, the people we get to encounter and have relationships with, I mean, it's just really great. And I don't know that that's unique to this field, but it certainly is a cornerstone of being in Foundation and alumni work. Our job at the Alumni Association, I feel, is to keep SDSU graduates connected to the university and connected to one another. And that kind of guides the work that we do, whether that's through communications, things like STATE magazine, this. Right? Whether that is through events, we spend the summer on the road because a lot of alumni come to campus when the school year is happening, but during the summer they're in their communities. So we get to go see them in their communities and see what Jackrabbit Pride looks like around the region, if you will. And so, day to day, we're making plans for all of those things. The joke is we don't have pop up events because no one would be there and no one would come to them, Right? We're constantly planning. Right. I think a lot of that is making sure that we're on course to offer the kinds of things that will attract alumni and also to kind of deepen and strengthen those connections. Steve and I both have journalism degrees. We both have politics in our backgrounds. I was new coming into this industry when I took the job. He talked early on about, you know, there's this old adage of an Alumni Association being the friend raisers and a Foundation being the fundraisers. That's not really fair to either of those entities in the work that they do. Right? I would be kidding myself if the hope wasn't if you build a relationship with someone and you show them all the great things that are happening on campus, they wouldn't have the desire to be part of that. They wouldn't have a desire to invest in that at whatever level they can and that's appropriate for them. I think that, you know, day to day we're finding more ways to just make connections.

Travis Jensen
So let's talk about the big news. The SDSU Foundation and Alumni Association are planning to consolidate into a single unified organization in 2026. What brought us to this moment? Why now?

Andi Fouberg
I think, you know, for folks, this is the moment, but for Steve and me we've been having this conversation for many years. Not necessarily that now is the time, but that there would come a time when that would make sense. I think that right now is the time for us to be looking at this in a little bit of a kind of perfect storm, if you will. The Foundation just ended a very successful campaign. If we are going to do this, you do this before you would start another campaign. I'm not saying, and don't know, when that will happen, but you want to have something like this that's going to cause a lot of internal change to happen when you're not doing it in those kinds of ways. I think the other thing is that there is going to come a time when President Dunn retires, and we don't know when that is. If you look at just the support that he has given to the two organizations and the role that he plays, this allows us to do this at a time when kind of everyone's on board. One of our volunteer leaders indicated as we were talking about the early stages of this, said, “we're not breaking any ground here,” and we're not. This is in the region and in the State. Universities our size are a combined organization, and sometimes that comes from turmoil. It doesn't come in terms of both leaders coming to the table and saying we think we can be better together. It comes from a new university president saying, “you should do this.” It comes from a leader of one of the organizations leaving, and they're becoming almost a takeover, if you will. Doing it now with two leaders who believe in this, with a university president that agrees with us, allows us to control our own destiny in a way that I think a lot of places wish that they had if they were making this decision.

Steve Erpenbach
I think to Andi's point, the time felt right. I think just because of, again, we have worked so closely together. We moved into the same building seven years ago, almost eight years ago in 2017. Even though the Tompkins Alumni Center was only about a block and a half away from the Lohr building where the Foundation's at, sometimes that can feel like a mile and a half versus a block and a half. I think that was the. And we also collaborated on the fundraising and design of this building. Our two organizations worked so closely on this project. I think it was kind of a unifying project. Again, to the point of sort of the fundraising and friend raising, Andi was part of the fundraising effort on that and certainly that was important for us. I think that was really an important kind of proof of concept about how good we could and how much better we could be together. Not just physically together, but in terms of having the same project that we were both focused on, both organizations were focused on. It's just felt right ever since. I mean, ever since moving into this expanded Lohr Building with the Alumni Center in 2017, we have just continued to find ways to collaborate more. This was just the final step. We probably have been there, from a practical standpoint, organization all that time. This is really just kind of a legal step that we're going to take in combining boards. Everything else, I think is, is not going to change too much, but we're going to be so much stronger when we're just one legal organization.

Travis Jensen
I want to touch on the point that both of you made. You indicated that both organizations have been collaborating for quite a while. There's a strong relationship with both organizations. How do you see or how will this merger enhance the experience of our alumni, the students, and the SDSU community as a whole?

Steve Erpenbach
Our goal is that the people we serve and that's the university, the alumni, friends, that they're not going to see. If anything different in terms of their interaction with us is going to be enhanced. All the things that we currently do in terms of working with chapters, whether it's welcoming people back to campus, all those things that we do, kind of independently, the Alumni Association and the Foundation. I think they're going to see even a better experience about it. I think we will collaborate even better, even though we're in the same building there are certain times in the throes of busy schedules, that you're sometimes not completely in sync in terms of who's doing what. I also think it allows us to really dream a little bit bigger in terms of things that we want to take on for new initiatives is that we do have a bigger staff. I think the expertise of the two staffs coming together is going to allow us to do some things that right now may not be quite as easy to do. I hope if people look at this they'll say that the SDSU Alumni and Foundation is frankly just does everything it did before and more. We need to do more because the university is counting on us to do more. The alumni expects us to do more. And frankly, we like that challenge of wanting to do even more and get even better.

Travis Jensen
Andi, one of the things that we hear often is how proud alumni are of being connected or feeling connected to stay even years after graduating. Will that Jackrabbit spirit still be front and center in this new model?

Andi Fouberg
Yeah, so to follow on Steve's point just a little bit, there are twice as many living alums as there were when I was in college. You just think about the ability to serve that population and connect that population. Certainly, there's a lot of energy around Jackrabbit nation right now around the Jackrabbit brand, if you will. There's just so many good things happening on campus, and people want to be a part of it, whether it's new programs finally being able to offer, elementary education, accounting. All of those kinds of things create just continued energy for people. We want to do what we can to capture that energy, to fuel that energy. I think about our two organizations. One of the things I said is we use a consultant as we worked through this process. One of the things I said to her early on is there's really only a screen door left between the two organizations. We really have, to Steve's point, when we moved in together, the world changed in a way that we didn't know that it was going to or kind of that we needed it to. I think there's just been so much good that's come out of that. Hopefully, whether people knew why, certain things were getting better or kind of what the Nexus was. There just seemed to be this kind of new era, happening. This is another opportunity for us to really make that even bigger and better. And I think that people will see that, in a very short period of time.

Steve Erpenbach
And I would just add, when you think of sort of jackrabbit spirit and sort of the response that we have gotten as this has been shared with more people about what is going to take place with the alumni association and the foundation consolidating, two of the very first people that we talked to were V.J. Smith and Keith Jensen. They’ve had tremendous service to the alumni association. There's probably not many people who don't know either of those gentlemen. We had conversations with them because again, Keith Jensen was the one that he raised the money for Tompkins Alumni Center. V.J. Smith really kind of took the alumni association to the next level. And, so they have a really a strong, strong feelings about that organization. We wanted to make sure, in a sense, kind of did we have their blessing? We didn't want them to hear it from somebody else. We wanted to be able to articulate why this was important for the alumni association that they helped grow, was going to consolidate with the foundation and tremendous support for them. They have been great advocates for us, very enthusiastic about this. So, I think when you think of the jackrabbit spirit, those two individuals who, frankly, they get it. They see the big picture. And they, knowing the alumni association as well as they do, they know that this is a, this is a win for the university, and we're only going to be a stronger organization as one.

Travis Jensen 
Yeah. Both individuals are incredibly passionate about the SDSU community. And in fact, the Alumni Association Foundation had the pleasure of hearing VJ recently and the amount of excitement that he had with the news of these two organizations coming together. Goodness, you could just feel how, thrilled he was for both parties. And that excitement is pretty common for everyone that is aware of what is happening. Let me ask you, what excites each of you most about this next chapter?

Steve Erpenbach
I think one of the exciting things that that, for me is we come at this in a position of strength in as Andi and I have looked at this, we've talked with regional peers, other universities that have gone through this process. More often than not, a lot of them did it because they had to, because there was, as Andi talked about, there were maybe a change in leadership or one of the organizations was struggling, or maybe both were struggling. And so they really had no choice. And they were told that you need to merge. You need to consolidate. We're coming at this from a position of strength. We have never been individually, have never been stronger as organizations. I think people should be excited about that, that we're doing this for the right reason. And frankly, the reason we're in this position of strength is because we've had tremendous buy in from alumni friends, donors, the university that have gotten us to where we're at. And we're certainly people like Keith Jensen and V.J. Smith and David Marquart, my predecessor, are certainly people that were very instrumental in terms of getting us to where we're at. But people should I'm excited because frankly, we are both really strong organizations, and we're only going to get better as a result of this consolidation.

Andi Fouberg 
So when I think about the the times when we've had to make a decision at the Alumni Association about whether we're going to do something or not, it has almost always been about there are five full time team members at the alumni Association, and can we execute it at a level that we think is necessary or appropriate? Kind of if you're going to do it, do it right, and if you aren't, then if you can't do it right, don't do it. And I think this gives us an opportunity to, look at those things and in a whole different scale. And I think the foundation too, right. There are probably times at the foundation where, well, that would be an alumni function, and we don't want to step on their toes. That’s real. And this removes all of those kind of concerns or barriers, if you will, to opportunity. And I think the thing that excites me about this, the most is opportunity. Whether it's opportunity to serve the university, opportunity to serve alumni, opportunity to grow, our relationships with folks. I think that's what has me most excited about this.

Steve Erpenbach
I would also just add that it's so much about the future. Certainly we are two organizations that care deeply about the traditions and the loyalty that we've had over this, over this time. But you look at everything at this university that has, whether it's first where you think of Frost Arena and how we love that. That was such a big part of my years in college, and now we have first Bank and Trust Arena. And then you think of the great experiences at Coughlin Alumni Stadium, and now you have the Dana J Dykhouse Stadium. You look at new buildings on campus, you look at programs that are stronger now than when I was here or when past alums have been here, and when we always were concerned that when people would come back to the university, they would see some of the physical changes on campus. They would feel like this isn't even my university. I recognize the campanile, but so many other things have changed. But I think that instead, what we have found is the people have such a pride of what the university has become. You know, the wellness center wasn't here for most of, most of the people. And now they see what a tremendous, you know, asset that is for the university and how that serves the student body in the community or the or the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center. Again, what that allows us to do. So I hope people kind of take that same thing, is that look at how all these things have been improved over time because of people have been willing to invest, because there's been a vision for it. And then they will look at our two organizations coming together and hopefully by that same measure, they look at it as we're a stronger organization now because we made the decision to become one, and still hold on to that loyalty in the tradition of our organizations. But we're kind of starting this new chapter.

Travis Jensen
You mentioned the pride that the community has for SDSU, and it's certainly evident that you both possess that pride about SDSU as well. And so I want to bring it back to your own jackrabbit stories. One thing that we do often on the podcast is we like to share advice for our listeners, particularly if we have any students that happen to listen. So let me ask you both, what advice would you give to today's SDSU students who are just beginning to understand the power of the jackrabbit community?

Andi Fouberg 
I don't know anyone who wouldn't go back to college if they could.

Travis Jensen 
Oh. Amen.

Andi Fouberg 
Right. So, I would my advice would be, is to take advantage of all of the opportunity. And I thought there was a lot of opportunity around when I was in college, and I took advantage of a lot of that. There's even more of that today. And so my advice is, find your community right by doing some of those things, getting out there and taking advantage of whether that's, you know, something that happens weekly, whether that's a study abroad, whether that's, you know, the list is almost endless of the number of, student organizations that you can get involved in, and you can start one if they if you somehow don't find the one. Right. But really, take the time to, really appreciate and invest in yourself during this time, because it will be what you remember and how you talk about college after.

Steve Erpenbach
I would agree. Find your place. I mean, there there again, a lot more opportunities than when I graduated in 1985. But again, the Collegian was an experience that was kind of life changing for me. But, but as I look at it now, in terms of the experiences that that students have at their at their fingertips, really, I think there's probably 200 different, student clubs on campus. Even the Taylor Swift Society is, I think, one of the bigger and fastest growing ones. So find your place because there is no matter what your interest is, whether you like big groups, small groups, whatever the interest is, there is a place for you here. And frankly, that creates your, you know, builds your network. I think it frankly adds to your sort of the your overall experience outside of the classroom. The other thing I would say is don't rush your way through it. I, I crammed a four year degree into five years. I wish I could have done six. But I but I do think that there are so many things that you can do. If I had not done five years, I wouldn't have been editor of the Collegian my last year. So, again, find taking advantage of, of everything on campus and, and I don't want to get people through. You don't want to have a lot of student debt. And part of our focus is, is scholarships. Because certainly student debt is a real thing. But finding ways that you can just, take advantage of this because, when you leave here, you can come back. You're always going to be welcome. But those things, those 4 or 5 years, you take are really precious. And, so don't don't take any of that for granted.

Travis Jensen 
You know, embrace those special moments. Right. Steve, thank you for joining Andi and I on the podcast today. Thank you both for the work that you are doing every day to make SDSU stronger for generations to come.

Steve Erpenbach
My pleasure. Thanks.

Andi Fouberg 
Thanks for joining us for another episode of STATE Stories. Like what you heard? Hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us continue sharing these inspiring stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can find all episodes at statealum.com/podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.