One last gift before labor: How a Wallace Scholar is paying it forward on Founders Day
As Wichita State’s 2025 Founders Day was winding down, Julie-Elisa Acosta Dunham found herself in an unusual place to make a charitable gift: a hospital room.
Unable to sleep while being induced before the birth of her daughter, Valorie, the Wichita State alumna scrolled through social media to pass the time. That’s when she saw a post about Founders Day.
“My best friend had shared some of the Founders Day content,” Elisa said. “I saw it and thought, ‘Oh, it’s Founders Day.’ So I opened it up, made my gift and then went into labor.”
For Elisa, that gift was years in the making.
Growing up, she learned the importance of what her mother called “time, talent and treasure.” “My mom always taught us that if you can’t give treasure, you give time and talent,” Elisa said. “Giving back was always important in our family.”
That mindset stayed with her after graduating from Wichita State in 2015. As a Wallace Scholar and aerospace engineering alumna, she remained connected by volunteering with the Wallace Scholar selection process, supporting alumni programs and serving as a Mortar Board advisor for nearly a decade.
“I’ve been trying to figure out how to give back since I graduated,” she said. Like many young alumni, she wanted to make a difference but was balancing a growing career, home and young family.
Eventually, she realized that philanthropy didn’t have to start with a major gift. “It took me a while to convince myself that even small gifts matter,” she said.
That realization led her to begin supporting the Wallace Scholar Legacy Scholarship, a fund that helps Wallace Scholars complete their degrees and continue pursuing their goals.
Today, Elisa hopes to help others take that same first step. For Founders Day, she has created a challenge supporting the Wallace Scholar Legacy Scholarship. If 20 Wallace Scholars make a gift of at least $25 to any fund on Founders Day, she will contribute an additional $500 to the scholarship.
Her message is simple: every gift matters. “Twenty-five dollars is a lunch,” she said. “But when enough people come together, it becomes something much bigger.”
As a Wallace Scholar, Elisa benefited from the generosity of people who believed in students they might never meet. Today, she’s helping create those same opportunities for the next generation of Shockers.
“The hardest part is getting started,” she said. “Once you do, you realize you can make a difference.”
A Founders Day gift may have been one of the last things Elisa did before becoming a mother, but for future Wallace Scholars, it may be one of the first opportunities that helps them begin their own Wichita State journey.
