Tuesday, March 19

Community Events

We Were Shining: McKendree Theatre Tells Story of Women Who Sued Radium Dial
Arts, Campus Events, Campus News, Community Events, Entertainment

We Were Shining: McKendree Theatre Tells Story of Women Who Sued Radium Dial

By Madison Rohn, Lead Editor Photography by Michelle Magnussen “This isn’t a fairy tale, though it starts like one. It’s not a tragedy, though it ends like one.” This line begins the play These Shining Lives, which McKendree Theatre will perform from February 29th to March 3rd. The play, written by Melanie Marnich, tells the compelling true story of Catherine Wolfe Donohue, one of the thousands of women hired by the Radium Dial Company in Ottawa, Illinois, during the 1920s to paint watch faces with radium. As told in the play, Radium Dial ensured their watch painters that radium was safe, even though the company knew otherwise. After Catherine and her co-workers contracted radium poisoning, they sued the company. Catherine’s eventual legal victory changed worker safety laws in Am...
Meet the Student Recipients of the 2024 MLK Humanitarian Award
Campus News, Community Events

Meet the Student Recipients of the 2024 MLK Humanitarian Award

By Megan Melone, Writer Cover photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington retrieved from Getty Images Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist and leading figure in the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King advocated for an end to legal segregation through non-violent acts of protest and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.  McKendree University honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by awarding students and faculty who embody King’s philosophy for non-violent advocacy for change and emulate humanitarian principles through their actions and words. Recipients of the MLK Award embrace and advocate for inclusion, social justice, and service to others.  McKendree’s 2024 student recipients of the McKendree Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award are Ma...
Get Involved With Your Faith: Praise & Worship at McKendree
Campus Events, Community Events

Get Involved With Your Faith: Praise & Worship at McKendree

By Madison Bonner, Writer Photography by Madison Bonner and Gwendolyn Southerd Though McKendree University's religious affiliation is with the United Methodist Church, the student body contains a variety of religious denominations. McKendree welcomes students of all faiths and encourages them to grow and continue their spiritual journeys. On campus, Bothwell Chapel serves as an excellent resource for students to do just that. This semester, students met in the lower level of the chapel for an event called Come to the Table. Every first and third Thursday of the month, students celebrate their faith in this student-led praise and worship session. Upon arriving at the chapel, students can sit wherever they like and enjoy the service among their peers. Reverend Beverly Wilkes-...
Lebanon’s Witches’ Night Out: Halloween Fun on the Red Brick Street
Community Events

Lebanon’s Witches’ Night Out: Halloween Fun on the Red Brick Street

By: Megan Melone, Writer Photography by Megan Melone It can’t be said that Lebanon, Illinois lacks Halloween Spirit. Every year, a few days before Halloween, Witches’ Night Out is hosted in downtown Lebanon. The event showcases many local businesses and vendors. Patrons wear costumes and enjoy Halloween festivities. Witches’ Night Out 2023 Opening Ceremony This year, the night began with an opening ceremony on Brick Street. Organizers cast a spell, mixed potions, and announced the beginning of the night as the music started to play. Many of the businesses at the event sold Halloween decor and novelty items like dragon eggs.  Vendors sold decor and crafty Halloween items Plenty of Potions to Pick From The event featured several food trucks. There were barbeque...
Monday Meals at the Joseph House
Community Events

Monday Meals at the Joseph House

By: Elizabeth Bocock, writer Photography: Elizabeth Bocock As someone raised in a family that does not follow a religion, when I first started at McKendree, I was a little apprehensive about a flier I received in my school email inviting me to Saint Joseph for dinner after the first day of school. But with the promise of “MCKENDREE STUDENTS ALL ARE WELCOME” and precisely zero friends, I thought I would take my chances. I was relieved to find that when Joseph House wrote “all are welcome” on their flier, they really meant it. Even though it was hosted by and within a church, the only mention of religion was when they asked my denomination when I signed in at the door. The entire event was purely about meeting people and having dinner together. They only do dinner on Monday nights,...
2023 Academic Excellence Celebration: 10 Years of Excellence
Academics, Campus Events, Campus News, Community Events

2023 Academic Excellence Celebration: 10 Years of Excellence

McKendree’s 10th annual Academic Excellence Celebration was held on Thursday, April 27th of 2023. Academic Excellence Celebration (AEC) is for students to present their scholarly and creative work to the McKendree community. No classes were held in honor of AEC, instead, students were expected to attend events. First, students presented their research in Holman Library. Next, there were student presentations that took place in Piper Academic Center (PAC). Following the presentations, many honors society inductions took place around campus. Lastly, on this day of excellence, there were musical performances for the community. Peyton Osgood presenting on The Phenomenon of Transitional Objects and College Students. Photo taken by Grace Gross. Poster presentations took place from 8:30 A....
McKendree Theatre Shines Starlight on Untold History
Arts, Campus Events, Campus News, Community Events

McKendree Theatre Shines Starlight on Untold History

McKendree theatre’s spring play, Silent Sky, tells the story of real-life astronomer Henrietta Leavitt. The play, written by Lauren Gunderson, focuses on Henrietta’s time working at Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s as one of their female “computers” – a person who did the math for (mostly male) astronomers – and her efforts to balance her relationships with her quest to understand the universe. Picture of Henrietta Leavitt retrieved from aavso.org. As the play highlights, in real life, Henrietta discovered over 2,000 Cepheid variable stars, which are stars that go through periods of brightness and dimness. Her biggest achievement was the discovery of how to calculate Cepheid stars’ distance based on their brightness cycles.1 This discovery made it possible to determine how far...
McKendree Rotaract Club
Campus Events, Community Events

McKendree Rotaract Club

With the plethora of clubs that are present on campus, there is no shortage of organizations for students to join. One club that is often overlooked is McKendree’s Rotaract Club. This type of club isn’t reserved for McKendree, or even universities in general, but is an international organization. There are community-led Rotary organizations around the globe that are welcome to all members. In fact, it is quite common for community-led branches of Rotary to sponsor and partner with their local university’s club. For example, McKendree’s club is a partner with the Rotary Club of O’Fallon Sunrise. Rotaract Club does a lot of good for the community that often goes unnoticed and underappreciated. One example is that last year while the war on Ukraine was first raging the country, McKendree’...
Fellowship of Christian Athletes: Not just for Athletes!
Community Events

Fellowship of Christian Athletes: Not just for Athletes!

By: Sadie Miyler Photos provided by Caleb Fisher Fellowship of Christian Athletes went national in 1954 and has been in the St. Louis area since 1965. Fellowship of Christian Athletes, also known as FCA, is made up of coaches and athletes on the professional, college, high school, junior high and youth levels. According to its website, FCA focuses on serving local communities by equipping, empowering, and encouraging people to make a difference for Christ. The local McKendree FCA organization has been meeting at Dr. Jazz Soda Fountain and Grille since they announced their permanent closure on January 25th, due to the COVID pandemic.  Paul Krumsieg, father and owner of Dr. Jazz, wrote his final goodbye letter to his customers saying, “It’s time for my journey as Dr. Jazz to c...
William and Mary Dike
Community Events

William and Mary Dike

Submitted by Scott Billhartz  It was in Professor Nell Oppitiz’s sociology class that Bill Dike ’54 met Mary Hurt ’54 on the campus of McKendree College.  Bill was a commuter student and Mary lived in Clark Hall.  After a courtship that included peanuts and Coca-Cola at the school canteen and numerous trips to the O’Fallon Dairy for ice cream, Bill and Mary were married on May 23, 1952, and their marriage was blessed with two daughters and a son.  After working odd jobs and serving churches in Beaver Creek, Hopewell, and Mt. Carmel, Bill felt a further calling to the ministry. They decided to make their first of many moves so he could attend Drew Theological School in New Jersey.  Upon completing his Master of Divinity degree, Bill became an Ordained Elder in the United...