35741_04-15_OTB Summer 2005.qxd 3/14/14 4:11 PM Page 9
O N
u
T H E
u
B L U F F
We forget sometimes that athletic scholarships change lives. We forget that, under the roar and glow of the students’ grace and diligence. So here is Korey Theileke. He was raised in Bakersfield by his grandparents. His parents were lost in drugs and crime. He has been shot at, robbed, beaten, threatened with death for playing basketball well. He was once beaten for wearing red in a neighborhood where the local gang wore blue. Friends of his were shot dead. Often he had one meal a day, a poor one. He and his siblings stole to stay alive. He has played basketball for the Pilots for four years now. He will graduate in May with a communication studies degree. “I won’t always play ball for the University, but I’ll always be a Pilot,” he says. His life changed here. Scholarship gifts made that happen. That’s what the Rise Campaign is about. Want to help more Koreys? All gifts welcome, large or small or eye-popping. Call Diane Dickey at 503.943.8130, dickey@up.edu.
Spring 2014 9