COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Mountain West, in partnership with the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation, announced the league’s Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway recipients. The tuition giveaway awards one $10,000 grand prize and eight $2,500 scholarships.
The grand prize winner is Emily Garus from Boise State University. Garus, a senior, competes in beach volleyball and is majoring in elementary education with Middle School Math Endorsement. She was honored during the third quarter of the 2023 Mountain West Football Championship in Las Vegas on Saturday, December 2.
Eight Mountain West student-athletes were awarded $2,500 in tuition from the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation and Dr Pepper as part of the Go Teach Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway. Campus representatives recommended all student-athlete recipients based on their aspirations to pursue a career in teaching or coaching, with the grand prize winner being selected by the Mountain West.
Recipients of $2,500 in tuition awards (each of the students is majoring in education):
Emily Garus, Boise State, Beach Volleyball (Elementary Education with Middle School Math Endorsement)
Payton Allen, Fresno State, Baseball (Kinesiology, Physical Education)
Kai Arneson, Nevada, Football (Packteach)
Brynn Boeyink, New Mexico, Women’s Soccer (Elementary Education with a minor in TESOL)
Mikela Labno, San Diego State, Women’s Volleyball (Interdisciplinary Studies Major – Emphasis in Education and Communications)
Jacob Lopez, San José State, Track & Field (Kinesiology)
Taylia Stimpson, Utah State, Women’s Basketball (Education Teach & Learning Sciences)
Tyce Raddon, Wyoming, Wrestling (Secondary Education, Spanish)
This is the fourth year of the Go Teach Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway, part of a collective six-year effort between the CFP Foundation and Dr Pepper, awarding more than $1.5 million in tuition to student-athletes looking to become teachers. This fund is in addition to Dr Pepper’s Tuition Giveaway program and includes all 10 FBS conferences, the University of Notre Dame, and HBCUs. Up to 150 student-athletes will be awarded $2,500 in tuition each year, and 11 grand-prize recipients will receive an additional $10,000 tuition grant – one student per conference.
“Student-athletes make great teachers,” said CFP Foundation Executive Director Britton Banowsky. “We are so thankful to have the support of Dr Pepper and conference partners like the Mountain West to help us identify student-athletes interested in pursuing a career in education so that we build a great pipeline of teachers.”
The CFP Foundation and Dr Pepper are dedicated to growing the Go Teach initiative to place qualified teachers in classrooms nationwide. Launched in 2018 through a pilot program at the University of Texas at Austin, the Go Teach initiative quickly expanded to a dozen schools by the end of 2019.
The CFP Foundation is the largest sports entity supporting K-12 educators in America. For more information about the CFP Foundation, visit cfp-foundation.org.
