There are great love stories. Some are about two people, some are about a place, and still others are about a community. Jade Kizer and Sheryl Cossins’ story is all of them.
Neither arrived at South Dakota Mines knowing quite what the school would mean to them, or that it would eventually bring them together. Jade first visited Mines between his junior and senior years of high school and knew he wanted to attend. He liked the small classes and the feeling that everyone was there to work hard. But when the scholarships he expected didn’t materialize and college wasn’t financially possible, he joined the Army instead. Three years later, he returned to Rapid City and finally made his way to Mines. “I always wanted to go back,” he said.
Sheryl’s path was more direct. A teacher introduced her to Mines, she visited campus and knew it was where she wanted to be. Their paths eventually crossed when Jade was an undergraduate, and Sheryl was in graduate school. What started as two students finding their way through a demanding school became something much bigger: a marriage, four children, and a life built together.
“For me, going to Mines is the single most important thing that I chose to do for myself that gave me a springboard to the future,” Jade said. “I absolutely wouldn’t be where I am today without it.”
That kind of gratitude has a way of staying with you. For Jade and Sheryl, it has grown into a desire to give other students the same opportunity they were given. Both paid their own way through college, so they understand the weight of wondering whether you can afford the education you want. For Jade, that question once changed the course of his life.
“It was such a big decision for me to not go to school and to go into the Army,” he said. “So it’s very personal for me to, if I can give somebody that option to not have to do that, that gives me a great sense of purpose and pride.”
For them, a scholarship is about much more than helping pay tuition. It can mean a student doesn’t have to take an outside job while pursuing a challenging major. It can turn “I don’t think I can afford this” into “maybe I can”. It gives a young person the opportunity to dream of what’s possible.
“I hope they can look beyond college and just think about what their life will be like,” Sheryl said.
That is why they’re choosing to give now. They aren’t waiting until some far-off point in life when giving might feel easier. They’re giving while they are still close enough to remember what it was like to be young and uncertain and hopeful all at once.
A significant increase in their employer’s matching gift, from $1,000 to $5,000, gave them the opportunity to make an even bigger impact. “That was a big push for me,” Sherly said. “You go from $2,000 to $10,000—that’s huge.”
Eventually, they hope to establish an endowment that will support a Mines student year after year.
“It’s been great to be able to give back together and be on the same page about everything,” Sheryl said.
It is a fitting kind of legacy for two people whose lives were shaped by Mines. They aren’t giving simply to look back at what the school gave them. They’re giving because they believe in what it can give someone else.
The community. The opportunity. The people who believe in you when you’re still figuring out what you’re capable of.
In many ways, their love story with Mines is still being written. The school gave Jade and Sheryl an education, brought them together, and gave them a place to begin building their future. Now, they’re helping make sure another student has the chance to find a future of their own.
Sometimes a place changes your life, and sometimes, if you’re really lucky, it gives you someone to share that life with.