NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State track & field and cross country senior Jake Gillum was announced as one of 14 Illinois State University students selected as a Robert G. Bone Scholar for the upcoming 2020-21 school year.
The Bone Scholarship, the highest university-wide honor given to undergraduate students, includes a monetary award from the Bone Scholarship endowment. The scholarship is named in honor of the late Robert G. Bone, president of Illinois State University from 1956-1967.
Gillum, an Exercise Science major, has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average through his first three years at Illinois State, while juggling the time commitments that come with being a Division I student-athlete.
A member of the 2018 and 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Indoor Championship team, Gillum has played a vital role in the Redbirds' recent success as a team. Gillum was a member of the 2019 MVC Indoor Champion distance medley relay team and the 2020 MVC Indoor Runner-Up distance medley relay team, making him a two-time All-Valley performer.
Beyond the track, Gillum has found great success in the classroom as an AFNI Honor Roll member, a member of the 2019 and 2020 MVC Track & Field Scholar-Athlete Team, a two-time MVC Honor Roll member. He has also earned the MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award and the Illinois State School of Kinesiology and Recreation's Clifford E. Horton Scholarship Award.
"We're very proud of Jake for earning the Bone Scholarship," Director of Track & Field/ Cross Country, Jeff Bovee said. "He is an All-Valley performer in track and field and a big part of our cross country team as well. He is a competitive student-athlete the entire academic year and so this says a lot about him to be able to successfully juggle all of his academic commitments, campus and community activities, as well as a year-round training and racing schedule."
Bone Scholars are selected through a rigorous campus-wide competition based on their scholarly achievements and their engagement and leadership in activities in the university community and beyond. Invited finalists submit a comprehensive portfolio including several essays and statements, a project, and five letters of recommendation.
A native of Metamora, Illinois, Gillum is one of 29 ISU student-athletes and seven track & field/cross country student-athletes in ISU history to be named a Bone Scholar and is only the third student-athlete on the men's track & field/cross country team to earn the prestigious honor. Gillum is the third track & field/cross country student-athlete to be named a Bone Scholar in the last four years. He joins women's basketball student-athlete Mary Crompton as the only two student-athletes to earn the honor for the upcoming 2020-21 school year.
Track & Field/Cross Country Bone Scholars:
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