Fowler Scholars Program Student Spotlight: Davis Boring

Davis Boring, Fowler Scholar Class of 2022

The Fowler Scholars Program was created to educate and prepare a select group of Fowler College of Business students for accelerated and lasting leadership roles in global business and society. Each year, the college selects a new group of freshmen from the local San Diego area to become Fowler Scholars. The students who are selected for the program have demonstrated leadership, ethical conduct, and exceptional academic and collaborative abilities. 

Davis Boring, a class of 2022 Fowler Scholar, is a junior majoring in finance and minoring in interdisciplinary studies. Boring has been involved in several on-campus organizations, including Zip Launchpad, Entrepreneur Society, Weber Honors College, Residential Life as a Resident Advisor, and the Mission Bay Aquatic Center as a Wakesport Instructor. After graduation, Boring hopes to find a career that combines his passions for business, entrepreneurship, ingenuity, and serving others. Boring discusses his college experience, describes what being a Fowler scholar means to him, shares advice for current Fowler students, and more. 

Q: What does it mean to you to be a Fowler Scholar? 

Being a Fowler Scholar has taught me to put a new lens on the way I approach every decision in my life from an ethical standpoint. With the program’s emphasis on business ethics, I believe it is training me to be a better citizen in my community and teaching me how to bring a positive impact to others with a great moral compass supported by a concrete skill set.

Boring with fellow Fowler Scholars at a weekly Fowler Scholars Program meeting. At this meeting, the students met Jim Sinegal, the founder and former CEO of Costco. From front to back: Davis Boring, Azareel Canizales, Khai Nguyen, and Landon Delgadillo.

Q: Can you describe a little bit about yourself and how/when you decided to pursue finance as an area of study?

I am a very passionate entrepreneur, and I have been the owner and operator of my woodwind instrument repair business for the past six years. A passion for instrument repair originates from my years in marching band at Mira Mesa High School and the volunteer work I do fixing San Diego Unified School District’s band instruments. My business influenced my interest in studying business finance and fostered my love for marketing, search engine optimization and customer service.

Q: If you’re involved in SDSU student organizations on campus or affiliated with any organizations off campus, can you share why you got involved and what your experience has been like so far?

As an avid entrepreneur, I was drawn to the ZIP Launch program, a startup incubator that helps students launch their ideas into companies. I was quickly taken on a team that I connected instantly with. Our company is called “till,” and we partner with local restaurants to help them sell food at the end of their day so they do not have leftovers that they throw out. Here is a description I just wrote for the app store this evening, “On the till app, we provide you discounted meals from restaurants who are excited to save food, give you a great meal, and help make the world greener. Find new local deals and restaurant specials through till. Choose the meal you want, pay through the app, go to the restaurant at the pickup time, and enjoy your meal as takeout. Order food, save money, and help our planet!”

Facing issues such as applying for venture start-up funding, determining corporate ownership, division of responsibilities, contracts with real business in the community, and navigating complications with international team members here on student visas have been extremely challenging and rewarding. Every step of the way, I use the skills and thought process developed in our FSP weekly discussions. I have even been able to bring together FSP mentors to meet with my ZIP Launch team, and they have given us extremely valuable feedback and insights.

Boring’s company till has received funding through national pitch competitions as well as SDSU’s Lavin Start-Up fund. This photo shows the till team on campus in front of Hepner Hall.

Q: What experience in the Fowler Scholars Program has been the most impactful?

Meeting with and hearing from CEOs of various businesses and Ron Fowler himself has been very inspirational. Learning about their career paths, what drives and motivates them, how they have handled successes and failures along the way has been eye opening. One main theme successful business owners agree upon is that choosing an ethical route when facing tough business decisions is always the right course of action, and will lead to prosperity of the company. This has been a great “take-away.”

Q: Who inspires you and why?

My older brother, Jake, is a huge inspiration to me! He has an incredible work ethic and is not afraid of following his passions and taking chances. My brother is a film composer in Los Angeles, and he studied Economics, Saxophone Performance, and Musical Composition at UCLA. My brother shows me that if you shoot for the stars and do your absolute best at everything you attempt, you will have success. I like the quote from Thomas Jefferson that says, “I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” My brother chose to pursue a career path in music that has many challenges. There is undoubtedly some luck involved in becoming a world-renowned songwriter but he has shown me that hard work is much more important than luck, and hard work has a direct correlation to the amount of opportunities and successes that come your way.

Q: What has been your favorite SDSU memory so far? 

Many of my favorite memories from SDSU have come from my job working at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center as a Wakesports instructor. I met the two visionaries/founders of till, our company in the ZIP launchpad while teaching them wakeboarding at Mission Bay. I have been exposed to so many fun opportunities through this job, such as shadowing the sailing department instructors and becoming a windsurfing and sailing teacher. Because the Aquatic Center is owned by SDSU, most of the students and instructors are SDSU students or Alumni. I have been able to meet incredible Aztec alumni who are now business owners, donors, and inspirational people, all while teaching them how to wakeboard or renting them a kayak. The alumni network is so rich and powerful from SDSU, and people of all ages seem to light up with happiness when chatting about their time at SDSU.

Boring meeting Gary Ridge, the CEO of WD-40, after winning the Live Life Hands On WD-40 Brand contest with his “live life hands on” submission video.

Q: If you could go back to your freshman year, what advice would you give yourself?

Dare to be yourself! I warmed into this mantra and have even spoken about “branding yourself” at Resident Life programs and other SDSU speaking engagements. However I wish I wouldn’t have wasted a single day being shy or hesitant to be myself!

Q: What career aspirations do you have following your time at SDSU?

I hope to find a career that combines my passions for business, entrepreneurship, and ingenuity, with a sense of purpose and serving others. I hope to be in the position to give back to my community and SDSU later in my professional life.

*All images with groups of people were taken prior to COVID-19.