When Katey Funderburgh was planning to go to college, she was very concerned about the cost of her education. Katey’s mother was a single parent, money was tight, and Katey was afraid of incurring a lot of debt. In 2017, she was awarded a Bootstraps scholarship that helped to alleviate a lot of her fears and allowed her to attend Regis University. Katey says, “I received a Bootstraps scholarship that significantly impacted my ability to go to college.”

Katey graduated from Conifer High School where she built her sense of community, values, and ethics. She was involved with Interact, the National Honor Society, the Queer Student Alliance, and Peer Counseling. In addition to her high school activities, Katey loved dancing at Peak Academy, and she treasured the close-knit community of Conifer and the high school. 

The transition from high school to university was challenging at first because Katey was apprehensive about leaving her supportive community. However, Regis was close to home, and she kept in touch with friends and teachers from CHS. She also made friends easily and developed many new friendships. She lived in the dorms for her first year, then she served as a Resident Advisor for the next two years. Being a Resident Advisor was demanding, but she developed a lot of skills and became a campus leader. It was through this position that Katey realized how every student had his/her own challenges, and she found it very rewarding to get to know the students. Her involvement on campus didn’t end with her Resident Advisor duties, she was also a cheerleader, the student government Vice President, a teaching assistant, a peer writing mentor, a member of the Sustainability Club, and a member of the Queer Student Alliance.

 

Katey’s mother has always been a role model to her; therefore, Katey wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps, become a teacher, and give back to her community. When she started her education classes, she realized she was not passionate about the curriculum. She did, however, find a strong connection with the coursework for English and Peace and Justice. After consulting with her peers and teachers, she changed her major and felt her academic career come alive. This change opened her worldview and reignited her initial goal of wanting to pay it forward and give back to the community. The Peace and Justice major was a blended study of humanities, history, and sociology and how that intersected with oppression and resistance throughout American History. Katey graduated with a double major in English and Peace and Justice.

The pandemic affected her education because she really loves community and thrives with in-person interaction. She found it was difficult to attend classes online, and the relationships she cherished were tough to maintain. Everyone felt so isolated. After the lockdown, Katey appreciated and valued the time together, in person, with other students.

Currently, Katey is living at home with her mom, sister, and stepdad, working at the Highland Haven Creekside Inn, and applying to grad school. Her ideal job is to return to her original career choice of teaching, and she would like to teach English in a university setting. One of her inspirations to teach came from the year she spent as an AmeriCorps educator in rural Montana near the Flathead Reservation. This experience gave her insight into the challenges kids face without literacy. She loved working with the students and watching them grow so much that her new goal is to increase literary access for all students.

​When Katey reflects on preparing for college, she realizes that she had a lot of anxiety about how the family could afford it to pay for her education. Bootstraps helped reduce her anxiety because of the funding she was provided. The scholarship she received helped eliminate the need for large loans. She was also able to work less and focus more on her studies. Katey believes that Bootstraps helped protect her hope and inspiration.