2023 Gladys Peeples-Burks Alumni Service Award

Barbara Peeples, a Benton Harbor native, is the first recipient of the Gladys Peeples-Burks Alumni Service Award, named after her late sister.

Barbara graduated from Benton Harbor High School in 1958, earned an associate degree from Lake Michigan College in 1961, and went to Western Michigan University, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1963 and her master’s degree in education in 1969. She taught in the Benton Harbor Area Schools for 40 years, spending 12 years at Morton Elementary School and the rest of her career at the Creative Arts Gifted and Talented Academy. Barbara volunteered at the school long after she retired in 2003, serving as an advisor for the student council and the science fair.

She was a charter member of the Miss and Missus Big Sister Club at the YWCA and the Michigan Association of Black Educators. She volunteered with Y-Teens, Parents as Partners, Girl Scouts of America, Helping One Student to Succeed,
Delta Kappa Gamma, the American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters, and the Benton Harbor branch of the NAACP. Barbara served on the boards of the Twin Cities Arts Council, Krasl Arts Center, and the Bell and White Scholarship Foundation.

She is currently on the boards of the Center[ed] on Wellness Counseling Center, Calling All Colors, Race Relations Council of Southwest Michigan, and the LMC Alumni Association. She volunteers at the Krasl and Berrien Community Foundation and is a member of Charms, Inc., the Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, and Second Baptist Church.