Behold, the Wonders of Peoria!

I figured since I informed you all about my Spring placement campus at FGCU, that I should keep you all informed with some information about my Fall placement campus, Bradley University! I will be serving on Team Bradley alongside Jacob and Joy Laskowski, Brett Drvol, Joanna Brady, and Amy Brammer. The campus is smaller than ISU and smaller than I had imagined, but possesses some really great features & accolades. Here are some fun facts about Bradley University:

• Founded in 1897
• Founded by Lydia Moss Bradley
• Located in Peoria, IL
• Faculty: 389
• Team: Braves
• Students: approx. 6,100
• 38 Sororities & Fraternities
• St. Joseph Newman Center houses seminarians during the summer.
• founded in memory of Bradley's deceased husband and six children
• rated as one of the Top 25 Most Connected and Top 25 Most Entrepreneurial Campuses according to The Princeton Review and Forbes.
• notable alumni include:
  -Jack Brickhouse: former announcer for the Chicago Cubs
  -Neil Flynn: actor--the Janitor from Scrubs
  -Bobby Joe Mason: Harlem Globetrotter
  -Kirby Puckett: Baseball Hall of Famer
  -dozens of current and former professional baseball, basketball, and soccer players.
  

As mentioned before, Bradley happens to be located right in the heart of an extremely historic town, Peoria, IL. Since Peoria has such a rich history and contains many notable features, I figured I would list some as well. Peoria, IL :

• named after the Peoria tribe.
• settled in 1680
• Used to be a saying in Vaudeville, that if it could succeed in Peoria, it would succeed anywhere. "But will it play in Peoria?" has now become a commonly used metaphor.
• Hosts the headquarters for Caterpillar Inc.
• mass production of penicillin developed here.
• Peoria Chiefs, Class A minor league team, is affiliated with the Chicago Cubs.
• home to baseball legends: Kirby Puckett, Mike Dunne, and Jim Thome (they are proud of this one, there are signs everywhere boasted about Thome, haha)
• site of The Peoria War in 1813
• site where in 1854, Abraham Lincoln declared that the United States should move towards restricting and eventually eliminate slavery.
• In 1926, Charles Lindbergh included Peoria as 1 of 4 cities on his air-mail route.
• Legend has it that he offered Peoria the opportunity to sponsor his trans-Atlantic flight which would have named his plane The Spirit of Peoria.
• Theodore Roosevelt referred to Grandview Drive as the Worlds Most Beautiful Drive.
• Hosts the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception.
• Hosted Mother Teresa's visit in 1995.
  
• Archbishop Fulton Sheen served as an altar-boy at the Cathedral of St. Mary's and his cause for canonization rests under the direction of Bishop Jenky of the Peoria Diocese.

Well there you go. WAY more information than you probably expected. Kudos to Wikipedia for supplying pretty much all of these facts. This city is full of history, beautiful architecture (feels like a mini Chicago), and I cannot wait to serve FOCUS and God in this city. Please continue to pray for Team Bradley and the students of Bradley University! Go Braves!

St. Joseph, Pray for Us!