When Lindsay Garza (BBA 2025) imagines her future, one goal sits near the top of her professional bucket list.
She wants to create an endowed scholarship for first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented students.
It’s an ambition rooted in experience.
Garza is one of three Foster students recognized by Poets&Quants for its annual Best & Brightest Undergraduate Business Major list, which features standout students from the nation’s leading business schools. Together with fellow Foster honorees Jibril Ali-Halane (BBA 2025) and Krisanta Bolante (BBA 2026), she demonstrates the far-reaching impact of scholarships.
Each received multiple scholarships during their time at Foster, allowing them to say yes to opportunities that might otherwise have been out of reach. That support, from generous alumni, supporters and corporate sponsors, helped them study abroad, lead student organizations, and pursue goals both on campus and beyond.
Their stories begin in different corners of Washington State, with Garza helping her family navigate financial hardship, Ali-Halane drawing inspiration from his family’s journey across continents, and Bolante navigating college as the first in the family.
They converged at the Foster School of Business, where each found opportunities that would shape not only their own futures but also the communities and people around them.
Building bridges for those who follow
As a first-generation Mexican-American student from Federal Way, Washington, Garza often found herself navigating new spaces without a roadmap.
Before she became a student leader, scholarship recipient, and accounting professional, Garza was a daughter watching her parents build a life from sacrifice and determination.
Her parents immigrated from a small village in Coahuila, Mexico. Her father later suffered a workplace injury that permanently disabled his right hand. To help support the family, her mother took on extra work, baking cakes, making tamales and empanadas, and doing whatever was necessary to keep moving forward.
Those experiences shaped Garza’s understanding of resilience and responsibility.
During her time at Foster, Garza immersed herself in organizations dedicated to community-building and student success. Through the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), she helped launch the organization’s first mentorship program, establish its first self-funded scholarship, and create new pathways for students to connect with alumni and professionals.
Her leadership philosophy stems from a lesson she learned from her parents: when opportunity comes your way, create more of it for others.
“Outside of the classroom, my mission has always been to create opportunities, provide guidance, and build bridges for my community,” she wrote in her Poets&Quants nomination.
Lindsay Garza, 2025 Poets&Quants Best & Brightest Undergraduate Business Majors.
The scholarship she wants to create
Scholarship support—including the Edward Feldman Endowed Scholarship, Shirley Cheramy Endowed Scholarship, and a University of Washington Study Abroad Scholarship—allowed Garza to pursue experiences she once thought might be out of reach. She traveled internationally for the first time when she studied abroad in Ireland and Italy, and developed a broader understanding of business and leadership through a global perspective.
Years after receiving scholarships that expanded her own opportunities, Garza still talks about paying that support forward. It’s why creating an endowed scholarship remains one of her long-term goals.
One day, Garza hopes to become the donor creating those possibilities for someone else. It’s a goal that speaks to the lasting power of philanthropy. Having benefited from the generosity of others, she hopes to create the same opportunities for future students.
After graduation, Garza began her career as an Assurance Associate with RSM in Seattle.
Lindsay Garza (front row, third from right) returns to campus as an alum to support students at the end-of-year Latine Celebration.
Learning beyond the classroom
For Ali-Halane, some of the most important lessons he learned at Foster didn’t happen in a classroom.
They happened while mentoring younger students, traveling abroad, and building community across campus.
He became involved across campus as a mentor, student leader, and participant in programs including the Brotherhood Initiative, Young Executives of Color, Building Networks, and the National Association of Black Accountants. He pursued internships spanning finance, consulting, nonprofit work, and business operations, and participated in global leadership experiences in Italy and India.
Yet when asked about his proudest accomplishment, Ali-Halane tells the story of a village called Farjan in southern Somalia.
Jibril Ali-Halane, 2025 Poets&Quants Best & Brightest Undergraduate Business Majors.
Creating impact across continents
Ali-Halane grew up in Burien, Washington, as the son of Somali immigrants. He grew up hearing stories of perseverance from his mother, who fled the Somali Civil War before eventually settling in the United States.
After receiving funding through an Eagle Scout challenge project, Ali-Halane directed the resources toward constructing a well in a village in Somalia. For years, community members had traveled long distances to access water. The project provided a lasting resource for a community of roughly 200 people.
“When I had the opportunity to make a significant communal contribution in my home country, I jumped at the chance,” he wrote.
For Ali-Halane, the project embodied the kind of impact he hopes to create throughout his career.
Scholarships played a critical role in making that journey possible. As a recipient of the Thaddeus H. Spratlen Endowed Scholarship, Costco Diversity Scholarship, Frazier Scholarship, Flip Morse Scholarship, and several others, Ali-Halane was able to fully engage in opportunities that expanded both his professional aspirations and his global perspective.
After graduation, he joined Boeing as a financial analyst, with aspirations to earn an MBA and work internationally.
Jibril Ali-Halane (right) posing with Foster staff, Christina Fong (left) and Eileen Guo (center), as he received his Certificate of Completion from the Hovind Global Leaders Program in 2024.
Connection is everything
Bolante has become one of the most recognizable student leaders at Foster.
The first-generation Filipina student from Fife, Washington, has spent her college career building community. Through leadership roles with the Undergraduate Business Council (UBC), peer advising, teaching, mentorship, case competitions, and student organizations, she has consistently focused on helping other students find the support and confidence they need to succeed.
As president of the UBC, Bolante supported more than 30 student organizations and led initiatives to strengthen belonging across the Foster community. Under her leadership, the organization expanded programming, increased collaboration among student groups, and strengthened mentorship opportunities for future students.
The work was deeply personal.
“As someone who came into university with no prior experience or network, don’t let having ‘nothing’ scare you,” she wrote. “Business is a field where connection is everything.”
Scholarship support helped create the freedom to pursue those opportunities. A recipient of the Mary Gates Leadership Scholarship, Nellie Martin Carman Scholarship, J.M. Owsley Endowed Scholarship, Norm and Lisa Bontje Study Abroad Scholarship, and other awards, Bolante embraced experiences ranging from international study in India to national and international case competitions.
Equally important were the faculty and staff mentors who helped guide her journey.
Krisanta Bolante, 2026 Poets&Quants Best & Brightest Undergraduate Business Majors.
The mentors who changed her perspective
Bolante credits international business professor Leta Beard with fundamentally changing the way she saw the world. What began as her first Foster class evolved into a lasting mentorship, including serving as Beard’s teaching assistant and receiving guidance through countless leadership opportunities.
The impact she has had on the Foster community is perhaps best captured by the people who worked alongside her.
Associate Dean Christina Fong describes Bolante as a leader whose “energy is truly infectious,” noting her ability to create spaces where people feel welcomed, included, and valued. Assistant Dean Vikki Haag Day points to her collaborative approach, noting a student who consistently sought opportunities to serve others while strengthening the Foster community.
In the future, Bolante plans to pursue a career in international business and hopes one day to launch her own agency supporting social-impact organizations.
After graduation, Bolante joined Okta’s Digital Success team in Bellevue, where she began her career in marketing within the technology industry.
Krisanta Bolante (left) posing with fellow students wearing University of Washington merch.
The ripple effect of opportunity
Though their paths did not look the same, Garza, Ali-Halane, and Bolante shared a common instinct throughout their time at Foster: when an opportunity was offered, they looked for ways to extend it to someone else.
Their accomplishments are impressive on their own. Together, they offer a glimpse of what can happen when scholarships open doors and students step through them.
As Bolante reflected on her experience, “leadership is less about titles and more about creating spaces where others can thrive.”
Judging by the impact these three students have already made, that work is only beginning.