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Sylva-Webster graduate Boyce Deitz (far right), for whom Swain County’s football field is named, is helping to leave a different kind of legacy in Western North Carolina with a donation to the Student Success Campaign at Southwestern Community College. He’s pictured here with, from left: Charles Wolfe, chair of the Student Success Campaign, and Mary Otto Selzer, director of the SCC Foundation. |
Even while he was leading Swain County to five state high school football championships, Boyce Deitz noticed the impact Southwestern Community College had on the lives of his former student-athletes.
He also saw how SCC provided his mother and brother with solid educational foundations for their respective careers.
So when he was approached about helping provide opportunities for more students to attend Southwestern, he didn’t hesitate.
He recently gave $1,000 to the SCC Foundation’s Student Success campaign, an effort to bridge the gap between scholarship need and availability.
“So many kids are very intelligent and have a drive about them; they just need a little help getting started at college,” said Deitz, a graduate of Sylva-Webster High and Western Carolina University. “If we can get them started, there’s no telling where they’ll wind up. Every little bit helps. If we all step up a little, it can help some kids out a lot.”
Deitz was inducted into the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame in 2004, one year before he landed in the WNC Hall of Fame. He coached Swain from 1977-97 then took over Smoky Mountain’s program from 1997-2000. He’s also in the Halls of Fame in Jackson and Swain Counties, and Swain High’s football field is named for him.
He served as former U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler’s field representative in WNC for six years and is now working with the WNC Regional Livestock Center.
“There’s no way to measure how many lives Boyce has touched over his years as a coach, educator and field representative for Congressman Shuler,” said Mary Selzer, director of the SCC Foundation. “His gift to our student Success campaign will help more students than ever before get a chance at a high-quality education.”
For the current school year, the SCC Foundation was only able to provide assistance to 43 of the 225 students who applied for scholarships.
In order to give out more scholarships in the years ahead, the Foundation aims to raise more than $1 million through the community’s support and with the help of a Title III challenge grant that matches every dollar (up to $300,000) received before Sept. 30, 2014.
“Mary called and made me aware of the Student Success Campaign,” Deitz said. “I felt like I needed to do something to help the community along, and I’m at a point where I can.”
Deitz said he was in high school when his mother left the textile industry for a career at Western Carolina University after taking some classes at SCC.
And Deitz’s brother Tim has enjoyed a successful career in nuclear and coal-fired energy plants across the nation after earning a degree in Electronics Engineering at Southwestern.
“Tim has done really, really well,” Deitz said. “He got his foundation from SCC, and that has allowed him to be successful.”
For more information about the Student Success Campaign and the SCC Foundation, visit southwesterncc.edu or contact Selzer at m_selzer@southwesterncc.edu or 828.339.4241.
