Bob Miller wanted to be a pilot from the time he was 10. Riding as a passenger in a Cessna 150 while his older brother was flying, he would memorize flight manuals to the point where he could recite the information.
That passion didn’t leave him. While at Arizona State University and serving in the U.S. Air Force, he put himself through flight school using personal loans. One banker took a chance on him and continued approving his loans until he earned his pilot license.
“They used to give you personal loans,” Keirene Miller says. “That’s how he could afford to fly. A banker believed in him.”
Bob went on to build a career in aviation and now flies as a 787 captain. Remembering how financial support made it possible for him to pursue flight training, he and his wife, Keirene want to give that chance to other aspiring pilots.
The Millers’ gift, made as part of the Changing Futures campaign, was prompted by a conversation during a tour of the Simulator Building on ASU’s Polytechnic campus. Their student guide shared that he had to change his major to a different aviation concentration because he couldn’t afford the additional costs associated with the flight program.
That conversation inspired the Millers to create a scholarship opportunity for professional flight students in The Polytechnic School, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU. Bob Miller was impressed with the aviation program and the hands-on opportunities available to students on the campus that once served as Williams Air Force Base.
Giving aspiring pilots a chance to fly
Philanthropy and giving back to the community are nothing new to the Millers. For 23 years, they operated a nonprofit organization called United Fantasy Flight that provided deserving children a “trip to the North Pole.” The experience also included a donation from their foundation to each child’s school.
ASU student-athletes participated in the event, giving the children opportunities to talk with them about going to college. For some of the children, college had not seemed like an attainable goal. Those conversations with the student-athletes helped them see new possibilities for their futures.
The Millers see the scholarship as an extension of that same commitment to helping others pursue opportunities that might otherwise feel out of reach.
Over the course of his career, Miller has seen how financial resources can determine who gets the opportunity to become a pilot. Many of the aspiring pilots he’s encountered have the means to pay for their training, while others with the same passion to fly but didn’t have the financial means to do so. He’s hoping that their scholarship will help some deserving professional flight students continue pursuing their aviation goals.
“There’s a lot of kids out there who don’t have money who would make great pilots,” says Bob Miller.
While planning a future estate gift to ASU, the Millers realized they wanted to make an impact they could see during their lifetimes.
“We are never going to see the result of our estate gift,” Bob Miller says. “By giving this scholarship now, we can see how we are helping someone today.”
More time in the cockpit
One of the three students awarded this scholarship is Andrew Miller, who is currently in the professional flight program and wants to become a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. He is enrolled in the U.S. Air Force ROTC program at ASU, where he’s honing his leadership and aviation skills.
“I decided to pursue professional flight because of the influence of my grandfather, who served in the United States Navy,” Andrew Miller says. “He shared stories with me about flying aircraft used for submarine hunting, and hearing those stories inspired my passion for aviation.”
The scholarship enabled him to quit two of the three jobs he had been working and focus more fully on his education and flight training. That additional time helped him progress further in his training over the summer, completing his instrument rating and half of his commercial pilot license.
“Without this scholarship, balancing work, school and the financial demands of flight training would have been much more difficult,” Andrew Miller says. “This opportunity has allowed me to spend more time in the cockpit and make significant progress toward becoming a professional pilot. I am extremely grateful to the Robert and Keirene Miller Aviation Scholarship for investing in my future.”
Seeing the impact today
Scholarships specific to the professional flight program are relatively rare, making this support especially meaningful to the students.
“Scholarships for professional flight students do more than help offset the cost of flight training,” says Greg Files, an assistant teaching professor and chair of the professional flight program. “They give students the freedom to focus on becoming skilled, confident aviators while reinforcing that there is a community invested in their success and their future in the profession.”
For the Millers, that impact is ultimately what makes supporting students through scholarships so meaningful.
“There’s a need and if you address that need, it changes people’s lives,” Bob Miller says.
