When Dreams Become Reality

From academics to athletics and everything in between, SDSU supporters are transforming extraordinary dreams into a bold reality.

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_{Published on March 15, 2024. Written by Steve Erpenbach, SDSU Foundation CEO and President.}

We’ve been fortunate to bask in the glow of remarkable achievements these last few years – events and milestones that were once only far-away dreams.

Back-to-back national championships in football. Engineering students winning NASA competitions. A Rhodes Scholar and Udall Scholar. The Pride of the Dakotas in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Majors in elementary and special education for the first time in our history. A national tour production of Chicago, one of the longest-running musicals on Broadway. A day of giving that has grown each year and now brings together nearly 6,000 unique donors to make a difference for Jackrabbits in a 24-hour period.

Just a small sample of things, all within the last handful of years.

NOW THINK OF JUST THIS LAST WEEK:

Women’s basketball earns its 12th trip to the NCAA tournament in 15 years;

Men’s basketball is going to the Big Dance for the seventh time in 13 years;

Wrestling finishes third in the Big 12 with two conference champions and eight qualifiers to nationals.

None of it happened overnight.

Each started with a vision and a bold, infinite mindset. The university set priorities and made strategic – sometimes tough – decisions; donors invested in facilities, programs, faculty, and scholarships and experiences for students.

The results speak for themselves.

The string of successes that we’ve witnessed at SDSU is not only unprecedented, it isn’t happening at very many universities.

This place is special.

Seven years ago, the current comprehensive campaign, Bold & Blue, was hatched with talk of a half-billion-dollar goal. A campaign of that size and scope, like so many other bold ideas, was once a far-away dream. Yet the success of Bold & Blue speaks for itself.

Whether it’s Big 12 wrestling and Summit League championships or a $500 million campaign, there’s a common thread. This university dared to set those high aspirations and believed it would achieve them.

Time and again, Jackrabbit Nation has been there to answer the call.

It was on full display this week at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. The 73,287 in attendance, including an all-time record for the women’s games, was overwhelmingly blue.