BIG RAPIDS – Cory Myrie (PET ’01) loved Ferris State University hockey, the Plastics program and being an engineer. That is why after he lost his long battle with brain cancer in 2009 his parents established the Cory Myrie Memorial Scholarship Endowment.
Starting in 2010, the yearly scholarship will be available for Ferris junior or senior level Plastics Engineering Technology students who have a minimum 2.5 GPA, with preferences given to historically under-represented populations on campus.
“At a young age, Cory knew that school was important, but it didn’t come easy for him,” Peggy Dennis, Myrie’s mother said on why the family started the scholarship.
Diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was 6-years-old, Myrie overcame many challenges with what he had to go through, said Larry Schult, Ferris associate professor and program coordinator for Plastics and Rubber Engineering Technology.
Myrie had always persevered through hardships and was proud of completing the program, Dennis added.
Since graduating in 2001, Myrie worked for Special Devices in Mesa, Ariz., working on moldings for airbags. He came back to Michigan to work for the II Stanley Company in Battle Creek as a project engineer. While at II Stanley, he was instrumental in having a new automated system installed that brought about millions of dollars in cost savings.
College of Engineering Technology Dean Thomas Oldfield reflected on how this memorial scholarship validates a Ferris education. “Knowing that we as an institution, faculty and staff made an indelible mark on a student such as Cory means that we have done our jobs well.”
Ferris is home to Michigan’s only Bachelor of Science in Plastics Engineering Technology degree, which is housed in the largest College of Engineering Technology in the nation.
For more information or to make a gift to the university, please contact the Ferris Foundation at (231) 591-2365 or fsufdn@ferris.edu. Details about establishing scholarships or endowments may be obtained from the Advancement Office at (231) 591-3825.