Graduate Assistant Spotlight: Hope Masiado
4/5/2024 2:00:00 PM | General
Boise State Athletics is spotlighting the graduate assistants who work to help each department within athletics run smoothly while obtaining their master's degree. These features will tell the stories of graduate assistants while also giving information on what each department within Boise State Athletics does.
Hope Masiado is a second-year graduate assistant (GA) working in the athletic personnel services (APS) department at Boise State Athletics while pursuing a degree in the Master of Athletic Leadership (MAL) program.
The APS department is responsible for providing the necessary resources to Boise State staff members while also recruiting, hiring, growing and retaining staff and coaches throughout the department so it can enhance the student-athlete experience.
"Our objectives as a department are more internally-driven and staff-oriented," said Masiado. "My specific position is more focused on the growth and retention aspects of it, and I help catch everything that may fall from an administrative perspective because my office line is the main phone line to Boise State Athletics."
Some of Masiado's responsibilities at the athletics front desk include managing the van process for all sport programs, handling and tracking the trade program and supporting Boise State's APS team with any help it needs during staff events. She is also the liaison for all of the deliveries and mail that comes in for the athletics department and assists the senior staff team on a day-to-day basis with any special projects it is working on.
"When people have asked how I've gotten to the position that I'm in right now, I say that it's one, hard work, two, doing the things that nobody else wants to do, and three, making the relationships," said former Boise State women's basketball student-athlete, senior associate athletic director of APS and athletics chief of the staff, Heather Berry. "Nobody dreams of sitting at the front desk but the amount of relationships I created from sitting there is what helped get me to where I am today.
I've talked to Hope about this aspect of the job and that has been the coolest part of watching her transition from being a student-athlete to, now, being a professional that's built all these different relationships to provide opportunities for what's next for her."
Prior to working as a graduate assistant, Masiado was a student-athlete at Boise State, competing in gymnastics for four years. During her senior year, she talked to a former teammate and the team's athletic trainer, Keita Shimada, about the MAL program, which both parties had positive experiences in.
Since she was pursuing an undergraduate degree in human resources, Masiado reached out to former Boise State gymnast Katie Tuller Dores, who is now the assistant athletic director of APS, about her role in the department.
From there, Masiado spent five weeks job shadowing Dores, getting the opportunity to work with her, now supervisor and special assistant to the athletic director, Allie Lepori, who was a graduate assistant enrolled in the MAL program at the time.
In the spring of her senior year, Masiado applied to the open GA position in APS, ultimately receiving the job.
"I learned a lot during my two years in the MAL program, especially since I did my undergrad in health sciences, which was very research-heavy while the MAL is more focused on gaining real world experience," said Lepori. "It's been a total full circle moment getting to now mentor Hope because she's in the same place I once was. I now get to take everything the MAL taught me about being a leader and help her grow into the professional she wants to be."
As part of the program, MAL students are asked to come up with projects during the fall semesters of their two years that will benefit the athletics department. With this in mind, Masiado decided to work on creating an award show that would celebrate the student-athletes at Boise State.
"The idea came when I started looking into what we were missing that other universities were doing to celebrate their student-athletes' successes," said Masiado. "I saw universities across the nation putting on these award shows that were creating interaction among the different sport programs and building a comradery."
Masiado pitched her idea to the athletics department and stakeholders and received immediate positive feedback. She then partnered with BroncoLife, the student-athlete development department, and they began collaborating on the event, 'Best of the Blue', with BroncoLife helping financially.
Masiado and BroncoLife worked with several departments, including the creatives services, marketing, media relations and senior staff teams, to gather all of the necessary pieces they needed. By mid-April in 2023, the first 'Best of the Blue' was ready for student-athletes to attend.
"There was a lot of anticipation leading up to us putting on that first 'Best of the Blue'," said Masiado. "It turned out extremely successful though, and the MAL really helped me with being able to use different leadership techniques when working with so many different personality types. I learned that my leadership philosophy is all about inclusivity and giving everyone that's involved a voice or say in what goes into a big project like this one."
Boise State Athletics will be hosting the 'Best of the Blue' again this year on April 22 at the Egyptian Theatre in downtown Boise.
While Masiado does not know what specific area of athletics she wants to work in after she graduates from the MAL program, she knows she wants to remain in athletics. She's spending her time now navigating what's next, while making sure the position she works in will challenge and develop her professionally.
"The best part about my last two years here has been working with my APS team and being able to connect with my cohort from the MAL," said Masiado. "I enjoy how the program is designed, and that we've been able to continually grow as leaders alongside our classmates. We're able to lean on one another as we're going through this challenging yet exciting time of developing as young professionals. It's been great having this built-in support system from students, faculty and staff that I know I can trust and depend on."
Hope Masiado is a second-year graduate assistant (GA) working in the athletic personnel services (APS) department at Boise State Athletics while pursuing a degree in the Master of Athletic Leadership (MAL) program.
The APS department is responsible for providing the necessary resources to Boise State staff members while also recruiting, hiring, growing and retaining staff and coaches throughout the department so it can enhance the student-athlete experience.
"Our objectives as a department are more internally-driven and staff-oriented," said Masiado. "My specific position is more focused on the growth and retention aspects of it, and I help catch everything that may fall from an administrative perspective because my office line is the main phone line to Boise State Athletics."
Some of Masiado's responsibilities at the athletics front desk include managing the van process for all sport programs, handling and tracking the trade program and supporting Boise State's APS team with any help it needs during staff events. She is also the liaison for all of the deliveries and mail that comes in for the athletics department and assists the senior staff team on a day-to-day basis with any special projects it is working on.
"When people have asked how I've gotten to the position that I'm in right now, I say that it's one, hard work, two, doing the things that nobody else wants to do, and three, making the relationships," said former Boise State women's basketball student-athlete, senior associate athletic director of APS and athletics chief of the staff, Heather Berry. "Nobody dreams of sitting at the front desk but the amount of relationships I created from sitting there is what helped get me to where I am today.
I've talked to Hope about this aspect of the job and that has been the coolest part of watching her transition from being a student-athlete to, now, being a professional that's built all these different relationships to provide opportunities for what's next for her."
Prior to working as a graduate assistant, Masiado was a student-athlete at Boise State, competing in gymnastics for four years. During her senior year, she talked to a former teammate and the team's athletic trainer, Keita Shimada, about the MAL program, which both parties had positive experiences in.
Since she was pursuing an undergraduate degree in human resources, Masiado reached out to former Boise State gymnast Katie Tuller Dores, who is now the assistant athletic director of APS, about her role in the department.
From there, Masiado spent five weeks job shadowing Dores, getting the opportunity to work with her, now supervisor and special assistant to the athletic director, Allie Lepori, who was a graduate assistant enrolled in the MAL program at the time.
In the spring of her senior year, Masiado applied to the open GA position in APS, ultimately receiving the job.
"I learned a lot during my two years in the MAL program, especially since I did my undergrad in health sciences, which was very research-heavy while the MAL is more focused on gaining real world experience," said Lepori. "It's been a total full circle moment getting to now mentor Hope because she's in the same place I once was. I now get to take everything the MAL taught me about being a leader and help her grow into the professional she wants to be."
As part of the program, MAL students are asked to come up with projects during the fall semesters of their two years that will benefit the athletics department. With this in mind, Masiado decided to work on creating an award show that would celebrate the student-athletes at Boise State.
"The idea came when I started looking into what we were missing that other universities were doing to celebrate their student-athletes' successes," said Masiado. "I saw universities across the nation putting on these award shows that were creating interaction among the different sport programs and building a comradery."
Masiado pitched her idea to the athletics department and stakeholders and received immediate positive feedback. She then partnered with BroncoLife, the student-athlete development department, and they began collaborating on the event, 'Best of the Blue', with BroncoLife helping financially.
Masiado and BroncoLife worked with several departments, including the creatives services, marketing, media relations and senior staff teams, to gather all of the necessary pieces they needed. By mid-April in 2023, the first 'Best of the Blue' was ready for student-athletes to attend.
"There was a lot of anticipation leading up to us putting on that first 'Best of the Blue'," said Masiado. "It turned out extremely successful though, and the MAL really helped me with being able to use different leadership techniques when working with so many different personality types. I learned that my leadership philosophy is all about inclusivity and giving everyone that's involved a voice or say in what goes into a big project like this one."
Boise State Athletics will be hosting the 'Best of the Blue' again this year on April 22 at the Egyptian Theatre in downtown Boise.
While Masiado does not know what specific area of athletics she wants to work in after she graduates from the MAL program, she knows she wants to remain in athletics. She's spending her time now navigating what's next, while making sure the position she works in will challenge and develop her professionally.
"The best part about my last two years here has been working with my APS team and being able to connect with my cohort from the MAL," said Masiado. "I enjoy how the program is designed, and that we've been able to continually grow as leaders alongside our classmates. We're able to lean on one another as we're going through this challenging yet exciting time of developing as young professionals. It's been great having this built-in support system from students, faculty and staff that I know I can trust and depend on."
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