Central Catholic High School teacher Randy Huberman is looking forward to taking three of his students to hear former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev speak Friday in Peoria.

"It's unreal," he said. "This is such an opportunity for these students - to be able to see a living, breathing figure from history like that," he added.

The three students he selected to hear Gorbachev's speech were born in 1991, so the history of the Soviet Union and the Cold War era is something from textbooks, he added.

Tickets to the speech go for $200. But area businesses and individuals who donated at least $5,000 toward the event received extra tickets to share with area high school and college students, according to a news release from Eureka College.

Huberman, who teaches a contemporary American history course, learned a week ago an anonymous donor had given him four tickets.

Gorbachev will speak at 8:30 p.m. in the Peoria Civic Center ballroom as part of Eureka College's Ronald Reagan Day Dinner and Peoria Creve Coeur Club's George Washington Banquet.

He also plans a Friday morning campus visit to Reagan's alma mater Eureka College.

Huberman and his students will join other students at a pre-speech educational program in Peoria. They'll dine on pizza, while learning about the famous Cold-War friendship between Gorbachev and Reagan. The educational event is organized by the Peoria Area World Affairs Council.

"I think that when you talk about Gorbachev, certainly his relationship with Ronald Reagan is paramount to that period known as the Cold War," said the teacher.

District 87 and Unit 5 high schools, as well as University High School, also are sending small groups, as are Pontiac Township High School, Deer-Creek Mackinaw High School, and Eureka High School, Illinois Wesleyan University and Eureka College.

Several Peoria area schools and colleges also will be represented.

For more information about the event, contact John Morris at (309) 467-6477.