Student News
Diane Lewis
Congratulations to Honors Program student Diane Lewis who won Bradley's 2022 I.D.E.A. competition in which she was challenged to create an innovative project to address current issues and problems in one or more of the competition topics (Inclusiveness, Diversity, Equality, and Accessibility). Students were asked to design a project to resolve a problem. National Core Indicators state that 50,000 students with developmental disabilities graduate from high school each year without a job or career plan. To help resolve the issue, Diane and her team's IDEA presentation included opening the first lite-manufacturing entrepreneurship training program in Peoria teaching from their new 14-step vocational curriculum that was designed from a five-year study of working with students with developmental disabilities
Lorie Ewert
Majoring in International Studies and French.
Lorie has been recommended as a semi-finalist for the 2022-23 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Her application is under review for the English Teaching Assistant Program to spend one full academic year assisting with English language education at a high school in the Czech Republic. In addition to teaching English, as a grantee, she would organize community outreach to enhance the impact of her stay and integrate into the local school and town better.
During Lorie’s time at Bradley, she has been involved in Fellows, Braves LEAD, and International Affairs Organization. Last summer, Lorie participated in the Washington International Diplomatic Academy. She was also among a highly selective group of student delegates to participate in the World Affairs Councils of America 2021 National Conference in Washington, D.C.
Jamie Furtek
Graduating 2022
Nursing major.
Congratulations to Jamie Furtek, a senior Nursing student, who was chosen as the School of Nursing MVP by OSF Healthcare! During Jamie’s time at Bradley, she has been involved in Bradley Nursing Student Association, Running club, Reslife and the Honors Program. Jamie worked at OSF HealthCare last summer on the Labor and Delivery floor as an Intern. After graduation this May, Jamie will begin working in the Emergency Department as an RN at OSF HealthCare. From there, Jamie hopes to gain vital experience to become a LifeFlight nurse before going on to obtain a Master’s in Nursing to become a clinical instructor.
Marissa Anderson
Graduated 2021
Majoring in both Computer Science with a concentration in Software/Web and Computer Security and Philosophy. Minoring in Cybersecurity.
Marissa was selected from 3,000 applicants worldwide for a ten-week Cyber Security Internship at the Prudential Insurance headquarters in Newark, New Jersey for the summer of 2019. She was the only cyber security intern selected.
She was honored with The Business Value Award from Prudential for being a valuable asset and contributing the most to the company during the summer. At the end of the internship, she was offered a full-time position with the company after graduation from Bradley.
Sierra Doss
Graduated December 2019
Majoring in both Television Arts and Spanish.
Sierra's Honors capstone project When It Rains was selected for the Big Picture Film Festival.
Jessica Moore
Graduated May 2020
Majoring in Public Health Education with a minor in Health.
Last summer, Jessica interned with the non-profit, Bright Hope, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Bright Hope works to bring hope to those living on under two dollars a day through a three-tier holistic approach: hope for today, hope for tomorrow, and hope for eternity. They have a presence in five developing countries (Bolivia, Uganda, Haiti, Zambia, and Kenya) and encourage sustainable programs and assistance. Jessica’s primary responsibility was to create a user guide on Kobo, a data collection, storage, management, and analysis program. She also worked to incorporate past and new surveys/ data into the program. Once the user guide was completed and she had trained the United States staff, she traveled to Bolivia to train Bright Hope's staff there on Kobo.
Logan Phalzgraf
Graduated May 2020
Majoring in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design and minoring in both Marketing and Art History.
Logan has an internship with Big Picture Peoria. For their Arts Festival last October, Logan’s designs and social media work were used on digital billboards to promote the event.
Tom Tomkiewicz
Graduated May 2021
Majoring in Manufacturing Engineering
This past summer, Tom successfully completed his second internship with Caterpillar while also working on four-dimensional printing research and volunteering with the West Peoria Fire Department. During his internship, he was assigned to the Mapleton Foundry as a Manufacturing Engineering Intern. The project he worked on aimed to achieve production readiness of a new process that makes the large sand molds to pour 3600 series and EMD engine blocks, which are Caterpillar’s largest engines and most profitable products. A 3600-engine block casting can weigh around 22,000 lbs. This was a large-scale process that involved introducing the World’s Largest Blown Core Making Machine. In his role, he was given 40 projects and tasks and worked on numerous crucial aspects of the process. Tom is also the President of Bradley’s Society of Manufacturing Engineers and is working with others to start a new club which aims to create a community among students to inspire and motivate them to take steps to ensure their success.
Kyle Prochotsky, Holly Olson, Jakob Ebner, Dylan Konop
Graduating in May 2023
Kyle, Holly, Jakob, and Dylan have been working hard for the past two years to not only design and build an SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Baja car and to revive a past SAE Supermileage vehicle, but to create a club with a foundation to be successful even after they graduate. After restarting the Motorsports Club and creating an official collegiate chapter of SAE their first year, they’ve been working together to promote hands-on engineering outside of the classroom and bring students - honors and non-honors alike - together towards a common goal.