Retired Paralympian to Deliver Parkland Commencement Address
Commencement will be held on Thursday, May 15, at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Retired U.S. Paralympian Nichole Millage will deliver the keynote address during Parkland College's 2025 Commencement Exercise, on Thursday, May 15, at 7 p.m. at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana.
Born and raised in Champaign, Millage graduated from Centennial High School in 1995 where she had an accomplished volleyball and fast-pitch softball career. After a short detour at SIU in Carbondale, she returned to Champaign and began taking classes at Parkland College in the summer of 1997.
During her time as a student at Parkland, she was in a boating accident at Clinton Lake. After being struck by the propeller, her left hand was severely injured, and her lower left leg was amputated. After a year of rehab, she returned to and graduated from Parkland College in May 2000.
After graduation, while volunteering at a camp for children with disabilities, she discovered sitting volleyball and quickly developed a passion for the game as a way to continue her lifelong love of sports. Her dedication and skill within the sport grew over the next few years and she was the given the opportunity to join the United States National Sitting Volleyball team in March 2005.
In January 2007, she moved from Champaign to Edmond, Oklahoma to train full-time at the Paralympic facility at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). While training and playing, she attended UCO, graduating in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She then earned a master’s degree in business administration from UCO in 2012.
She participated as a Paralympic sitting volleyball athlete in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics (silver), 2012 London Paralympics (silver), 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (gold), and 2020 (2021) Tokyo Paralympics (gold). She officially retired from Team USA after the Tokyo Paralympics in October 2021. In September 2024, she served as an analyst for NBC Sports at the Paris Paralympics, working alongside a play-by-play commentator to call the sitting volleyball matches of her former team. In addition to four Paralympic Games, she played in twenty-one other international tournaments over her sixteen-year national team career, winning fifteen.
During her time as a Paralympian, she moved back home and began working at the Public Works Department for the City of Champaign as an environmental sustainability specialist. Her primary duties include managing the city’s recycling programs, services, and events, including hosting bi-annual electronics collection events at Parkland College. She currently lives in Champaign with her fiancé, Ryan Faust.
Millage will also receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Parkland’s 58th Commencement will include a welcome from college administration and the Board of Trustees. An honorary associate degree will be presented to Carly McCrory-McKay, executive director of the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC) and chief partnerships officer of the Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing (iFAB) Tech Hub.
Student presenters include Tassel Turner, Lauren W. Mobo, and Student Trustee Pascalinegrace N. Phongo.
The ceremony will also feature music selections by the Parkland College Wind Ensemble and an invocation and benediction by Pastor Barry Hinkle of Christian Life Church in Rantoul. A reception will begin immediately following the ceremony in the Krannert Center lobby.