The Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School Academic Foundation Annual Dinner will be held on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at the Kankakee Country Club beginning at 5:30 p.m. The Academic Foundation is proud to recognize both the 2020 and 2021 award recipients.
Mike Downey, Class of 1980, was chosen to receive the 2020 Alumnus of the Year award. Mike’s passion and desire to make BBCHS a better school is evident. He served as a member of the Board of Education for BBCHS from 1993-2019. He began working in the criminal justice system in Kankakee County as an Adult Probation Officer advancing in his career to his current position as the Kankakee County Sheriff. Family is very important to Mike. He and his wife have two children who graduated from BBCHS. He is a Boilermaker through and through.
Adam Karr, Class of 1989, will receive the 2020 Outstanding Achievement award for recognition in his field. Karr is the managing director at Orbis Investment Management. He and his wife Tonia have endowed scholarships focused on providing support to students of color interested in teaching at inner-city schools at Northwestern, Stanford, Harvard and BBCHS. The Foundation received a $15,000 grant from the Karr Charity Foundation. Through the generosity of the Karrs the Foundation began the First Generation Student of Color scholarship. Flower Foreman, BBCHS 2020 graduate, was the first to receive the annual $1,000 scholarship. The district and Curriculum department’s Equity and Inclusion initiative will receive $14,000 in support.
Bruce Adams, past mayor of Bradley, will be recognized as the 2021 Alumnus of the Year. Adams, a 1971 graduate, served the community as a Bradley Village Board trustee for 12 years and was the mayor of Bradley for 10 years. For 25 years, Bruce held a unique position at BBCHS volunteering for the football chain gang. Bruce’s dedication to the community and BBCHS is second to none.
The BBCHS Academic Foundation awards $25,000-$30,000 in classroom grants annually and provided 19 scholarships last year alone. The foundation’s mission is to enhance academic programs at BBCHS for classroom projects that are not in the regular school budget. All of this is made possible through the generosity of BBCHS alumni, parents and community members.
The BBCHS Academic Foundation is proud to recognize these outstanding BBCHS Alumni.
Boiler Up, Hammer Down!
Contact Laurie Blake, in the alumni office for more information about the BBCHS Academic
Foundation. To make a reservation for the annual dinner, call Laurie at 815-937-3707 x 6003 or email her at lblake@bbchs.org.
