The Transformation Marquette Inspires: Chuck, Bus Ad '79, and Amy Billerbeck

When Chuck, Bus Ad '79, and Amy Billerbeck created the Charles J. and Amy L. Billerbeck Endowed Scholarship in 2011, it was easy to decide that it would support first-generation students majoring in entrepreneurship. Chuck's parents were first-generation college graduates, and he saw the effect that education had in his own family and life.

"I came to this place as an 18-year-old kid, having never been outside the state of Illinois, and I left with a degree and an academic success that I didn't realize I could accomplish," says Chuck. "I walked out of Marquette a different guy." Today he works at Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. He and Amy belong to Marquette's St. Ignatius Legacy Society; and while Amy did not graduate from Marquette, she is "proud to be part of it."

Chuck is happy to support the school that provided him with so much. "Giving back to where I went to school, to where a lot of this started for me, was easy. Marquette instilled in me a foundation that really formed a launching place for me professionally, emotionally. When I think about giving back, why wouldn't I start with the place that really gave me that foundation?"