Illinois State track & field and cross country senior Jake Gillum and women’s basketball redshirt sophomore Mary Crompton were announced as two 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.
Crompton, an Iowa City native, holds a 4.0 grade-point average while majoring in physiology, neuroscience, and behavior and minoring in chemistry. She is on course to graduate in just three years in May 2021 and plans to pursue her master’s degree at Illinois State while finishing her athletic eligibility.
The shooting guard played in all 29 games in her first complete season as a Redbird this past year, getting the start in 22. As a redshirt freshman, she averaged 9.0 points and 29.0 minutes per game while shooting 37.2 percent (87-of-234) from the floor. A three-point specialist, 182 of Crompton’s 234 attempted shots on the year were from deep. Crompton set a new freshman record in three-pointers made in a season, knocking down 68 triples on 37.4 percent (38-of-182) shooting.
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. The mean grade point average of this year’s Bone Scholars is 3.96 on a 4.0 scale.
Crompton and Gillum become the fifth and sixth student-athletes to be named Bone Scholars in just the last four years. They are also the 28th and 29th Redbird student-athletes in history to earn the scholarship named after the late Illinois State University President Robert G. Bone. The Karin L. Bone Athletics Study Center, which supports the academic endeavors of Illinois State student-athletes, is named in honor of the late Illinois State first lady.
Bone Scholars are students who combine broad and excellent academic achievement with campus and community engagement while displaying outstanding qualities of character and leadership. The complete list of 2020-21 Bone Scholars can be found here.
