Roadrunner Scholarship Fund produced largest fundraising year

An all-time high was raised to support CSUB student-athletes

By California State University, Bakersfield

August 10^th, 2021

Thanks to the incredible generosity of the Kern County and CSU Bakersfield communities, Roadrunner Athletics enjoyed another banner year in fundraising highlighted by record-breaking giving. Thanks to CSUB fans, supporters and stakeholders everywhere, especially within the local community, the Roadrunner Scholarship Fund (RSF) produced the largest fundraising year in school history and has now set a fundraising record in seven of the past nine years.

With the goal of creating scholarship opportunities for all 16 teams and 320 student-athletes, the RSF raised an all-time high of $938,433 during the 2020-21 fiscal year, an increase of nearly 68% since 2012-13, when the total was just under $350,000. RSF contributions led to a department-wide total of more than $2.8 million raised over the course of the past fiscal year, another department record.

CSUB's Director of Athletics Kenneth "Ziggy" Siegfried attributed the increased support of the Roadrunner Scholarship Fund to the hard work of a large group of people including both CSUB staff and members of the Bakersfield community.

"The record setting growth of the Roadrunner Scholarship Fund is another example of what we already know," Siegfried said. "Bakersfield and the CSUB Athletic community are passionate and committed to our future leaders. We cannot thank our supporters or our RSF board enough for their continued investment in our program.”

“I would like to specifically thank RSF Board President, Joel Andreesen for his leadership, time commitment and generous financial support of Roadrunner athletics,” Siegfried continued.

With 16 sponsored sports, CSUB provides about 200 of its `Runner student-athletes - many of whom are first-generation college students - with support, meaning most of the department's student-athletes are receiving only a partial scholarship.

CSUB student-athletes continued success academically and athletically during the 2020-21 academic year was a direct result of community support. The `Runners produced a cumulative GPA over 3.0 for the 13th consecutive term, while 52% of all CSUB student-athletes earned Dean’s List honors.

In competition, despite financial limitation, CSUB coaches and student-athletes continued to excel, consistently making their mark during an adversity plagued inaugural season of Big West competition.

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams earned top-5 seeds at the Big West Conference tournament in Las Vegas, Nev.

The men won 15 games and finished the season as the #5 overall seed with a 9-7 league mark, while the women finished fourth in the conference standings after knocking off California in the season opener.

In baseball, the `Runners shocked the Big West winning 20 games, including a victory over #20 UC Irvine, after being picked to finish last in the league prior to the season.

On the mat, CSUB sent three individual wrestlers to the NCAA Championship, including Pac-12 title winner Dominic Ducharme.

Bakersfield’s beach volleyball season was highlighted by a strong conference season from the top pair of Cameron Solberg and Milica Vukobrat.

“For me my scholarship directly translates to opportunity,” expressed CSUB Volleyball student-athlete Hana Makonova.

“As an international student it has given me the opportunity to study abroad, while continuing to grow as a student, as a volleyball player and as a person exposed to a new culture and a new country. It will also afford me better opportunities after graduation in my career and personal growth as I pursue a career in engineering and support my family. We are all so thankful to all who support us academically and athletically!”

Showing full buy-in to the RSF and the benefit it provides Bakersfield student-athletes, 100% of the CSUB Athletics Department staff made donations to the fund drive. In total, the RSF generated a 10% increase in unique donors over last year’s total.

The Scholarship Fund Board is made up of 20 members of the Bakersfield community. Joel Andreesen, serving in his second year as the Board's President, summed up this year's efforts:

“This year’s record setting fundraising total of $938,433 is a testament to the Kern County community, CSU Bakersfield Roadrunner nation and the Roadrunner Scholarship Board of Directors and their commitment to all current and future Roadrunner student-athletes,” said Andreesen. “The increased donation amount will help Roadrunner athletics get closer to its goal of fully funding all available student-athlete scholarships. I want to express a big thank you to all the Roadrunner donors who helped make this a record-breaking year!”

With the 2020-21 scholarship fund drive coming to an end, the RSF board and staff will begin planning for the year to come and remains committed to fully funding all `Runner programs at the maximum NCAA level, giving those teams the best opportunity to compete on both the Big West and national stages.