UPDATED 4:13 P.M.
PEORIA, Ill. – Students who graduate from Peoria Public Schools now have a little help if they choose to attend Bradley University.
The Gregory Miller Scholarship Endowment will be established after a gift of $3.66 million from the estate of Class of 1962 alumnus Gregory Miller. A statement from the university says Miller also is a Peoria High School graduate, who went on to become a commercial airline pilot after serving in the U.S. Coast Guard. It continues to say Miller returned to the Peoria area numerous times for reunion events.
The endowment will be used to fund scholarships for PPS graduates.
Bradley University President Stephen Standifird says the gift and the endowment will help further the relationship the university has with its hometown.
“The fact that this creates an opportunity for us to embrace our local school system and really make it a more attractive target for them here at Bradley University is something I get particularly excited about,” Standifird said.
Standifird says details of how the scholarships will be handed out and how much each student will receive will be worked out with leaders at PPS. But he says the goal is to have every possible student be eligible to receive one.
“Mr. Miller himself was clear that he wasn’t a straight-A student, so his preference would want to be to make sure that we’re just not giving this out to the straight-A students, but really making it accessible to anybody who is qualified to be at Bradley University,” Standifird said.
Standifird says he is also hopeful that the scholarships will help increase enrollment at Bradley by making it easier for students to afford to attend.
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PEORIA, Ill. – A gift to Bradley University will benefit students in Peoria Public Schools.
The university announced on Tuesday a gift of $3.66 million to provide scholarship support for graduates of the PPS system.
The gift comes from the estate of Gregory Miller, a graduate of Peoria High School and part of the Class of 1962 at Bradley.
The money will be used to establish The Gregory Miller Scholarship Endowment.
Bradley Vice President for Enrollment, Marketing, Communications, and Retention D.J. Menifee says the endowment will help students at PPS go down a similar path that Miller did.
“A scholarship opportunity like this is invaluable to the university as we look to build upon our historically strong ties with the local community and provide opportunities for students who seek a Bradley education,” Menifee said.
After graduating from Bradley, Miller served as a member of the United States Coast Guard and went on to a career as a commercial airline pilot. He would return often for reunions in Peoria and frequently engage with Bradley faculty and staff.
