He's A Pepper: Pacific Student Shines In Nationwide Tuition Giveaway

Jacob Boyce ’27 never dreamed that his football ability would earn him a scholarship.

Not only did his ability to throw a football earn him a payday but it also earned him a trip to December’s Southeastern Conference (SEC) Football Championship game in Atlanta.

Boyce, a Pacific University kinesiology major from Aloha, Oregon, was one of eight finalists in the 16th annual Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway, conducted at halftime of the four big Division I-Bowl Championship Subdivision conference championship games on Dec. 7.

With a $100,000 scholarship on the line, finalists had 30 seconds to throw as many footballs as they could into targets in a large Dr Pepper can on the field. Boyce was the runner-up in the SEC Championship contest, walking away with a $20,000 scholarship.

While Boyce had practiced in the garage of his parent’s Aloha home for two months before the contest, the bright lights of Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the crowd of nearly 75,000 people brought out the nerves.

“When I was actually there it was half excitement and half nervousness,” Boyce said. “There were so many people and everyone was watching me. There were cameras everywhere and they were all pointed at Christian (the other finalist) and me.”

Boyce was among 12 college students selected from thousands of nationwide entries to advance to competitions at the four conference championship sites. The groups of three students competed in a preliminary round on Friday, Dec. 6, with the top two advancing to the halftime competitions on Saturday.

The experience included a four-day whirlwind trip to Atlanta, where Dr Pepper treated Boyce and other finalists to several pregame events and the opportunity to watch the matchup between Texas and Georgia from a suite. The trip only had one hang-up: It was in the middle of Pacific’s undergraduate finals. Thankfully, Boyce’s finals schedule allowed him to make the trip with minimal difficulty.

“My first final was on Monday (Dec. 9), so it all worked out,” said Boyce, who studied for his finals on the plane flights to and from Portland. “I studied on the plane and did a Zoom call with Paige Baugher, my human anatomy professor, because I had some questions on the material. She was more than willing to do a quick Zoom to talk about it. That was really nice of her.”

Entrants in the Tuition Giveaway submitted a 60-second video explaining how the tuition giveaway would help advance their educational and professional goals. With the help of his mother, Boyce shot and produced a video chronicling his journey as a football player and how a career-ending injury in his senior year of high school turned him on to a career in athletic training. His video was complete with photos from his high school playing career, shots of his work in Pacific’s athletic training room, and a shot of the iconic Boxer statue in Vandervelden Court.

Boyce is a student in Pacific’s accelerated five-year Kinesiology and Athletic Training 3:2 program, which allows students to matriculate into the Master of Athletic Training program after their third year of undergraduate work. Last fall, Boyce was hired as a student assistant in the Pacific Athletics sports medicine department and assisted the athletic training staff during football season.

He credits the certified athletic trainer at Aloha High School, Shelly Jones, for inspiring him to consider athletic training as a profession after injuries ended his football career and for recommending Pacific to further his education.

“She and I started talking and I started to help her out,” Boyce said. “I would do minor things like taping wrists or fingers. I was already on the sidelines because I was still a part of the team, but I would hang out with her and if someone hurt themselves, I would watch her diagnose it and see how she did it.”

So why enter the Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway? While Boyce has several scholarships to help pay for his studies, his family does not have a lot of savings to aid his educational journey. Like many students, he is carrying loans. He also works full-time during the winter and summer breaks. Every little bit counts.

He admits that while being the finalist in a national contest didn’t seem plausible when he entered, it became quite real when he was handed the large cardboard check at the end of the competition.

“My hands were a bit tingly. It felt really cool to hold that giant check,” Boyce said. “I’ve seen people do it on TV, but I didn’t think it was a real thing that people actually did. It had my name on it, which was crazy. I don’t know what I will do with it, but it is a cool little keepsake.”

Photos by AP Images for Dr Pepper and used by permission.