From class project to campus tradition: Shoe drive returns with 200+ pairs donated

A year ago, Boise State track and field student-athlete Julia Kiesler turned a class assignment into something tangible for the community: a campus shoe drive collecting used athletic shoes for local youth organizations.

This winter, she brought it back - and even bigger than before.

Running from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1, 2025, Kiesler's second annual drive collected over 200 pairs of shoes. The project expanded beyond the athletic department with new campus partners, additional collection locations and a growing team of staff and student-athlete volunteers.

"I just saw how much of an impact it had last year," Kiesler said. "And I really wanted to replicate that… and make that change in the community again."

A moment that made the drive worth repeating

Kiesler said the motivation to relaunch the drive came from what happened after last year's donation drop-off, and especially her experience with Freedom Youth Foundation, a local organization that supports young people in foster care.

"The staff, they care so much about the kids and their programs," she said. "They invited us out to lunch after and they were so happy and so thankful. So that was really special."

That reaction stayed with her and pushed her to make even more of an impact in 2025.

What changed this year

This year, Kiesler partnered with Bronco Bold, the athletic department's mental health awareness program. With Bronco Bold's support, the team upgraded their packages with hand-written notes from student-athletes, t-shirts, wristbands, and mental health resource cards.

"It just made it a little more special," she said. "A little bit more of a gift."

Those donations went to Freedom for Youth and the Ada County Juvenile Detention Center, while shoes that were more worn than hoped were directed to Idaho Youth Ranch.

The drive also expanded behind the scenes. Instead of carrying the project mostly on her own, Kiesler said she had a much larger team of 25 supporting in different ways.

A key supporter was Kelly Noone from Boise State Athletics, who helped keep the project moving when Kiesler's schedule got tighter. "She helped me deliver the shoes," Kiesler said, and also assisted with speaking during a drop-off day effort that included filming a video to help spread awareness. "She really helped keep the project on task and was just great with communication."

Beyond athletics, Kiesler said the School for the Digital Future helped connect her with additional campus partners - leading to new collection sites like the library and the Children's Center. The Children's Center became a particularly meaningful drop-off point. "We got a lot of shoes from them," Kiesler said - many of them small children's shoes that matched the needs of some recipient organizations.

A project tied to her future

Kiesler, a psychology major, said the project continues to shape how she thinks about service and what she wants to do after graduation.

"Donating when you can is so special," she said. "It's like a privilege, seeing that difference, it makes me happy and satisfied and content with where my life is going."

She hopes to pursue a master's in counseling at Boise State and said a dream path would be working in the athletic department supporting student-athletes, similar to her supervisor through Bronco Bold.

What's next

Kiesler hopes to continue the shoe drive each year until she graduates, and eventually hand it off so it can keep going.

What started as a class project has become something closer to a tradition: a repeatable campus effort powered by partnerships, student-athletes and a leader who now knows she belongs in that role.

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