Community Events - The McKendree Review

17Nov

By Madison BonnerNo Comments

All Treats, No Tricks: Halloween 2025

Written by Madison Bonner Photography by Madison Bonner and Elana Melzer BOO!! It’s Trick-or-Treat! When spooky season rolls around on campus, so does one very special McKendree tradition. This Halloween’s annual Trick-or-Treat was organized by Student Government Association, who opened it to not only students but alumni and the Lebanon community. In order to coordinate with Lebanon's citywide trick-or-treating, the event took place on Friday, October 31 in the circle drive from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. The event consisted of four spooktacular sections: cars, tables, games, and tours. SGA partnered with SAAC, McKendree’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, to host vehicles for athletic teams in the circle drive. RSOs lined up along the sidewalk with booths full of candy to pass out...

31Oct

By Madison BonnerNo Comments

Community Events

Witches’ Night Out 2024

Written and photography by Madison Bonner On Saturday, October 19th, the town of Lebanon hosted its annual Witches' Night Out on the historic brick streets as a celebration of the days leading up to Halloween. People of all ages are welcome to attend this event, and costumes are the highlight of the night! The event commenced at 5:00 p.m. and concluded at 9:00 p.m. for an evening of music, contests, food and shopping. Street shops were open throughout the evening, as were outdoor vendors which lined the streets. This was the 22nd year that Lebanon has hosted Witches' Night Out, and it was held earlier in the month this year in hopes of avoiding the colder weather. As the night grew darker, more witches joined the gathering. Soon a costumed crowd filled the historic brick street and ...

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

28Feb

By Madison RohnNo Comments

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

31Jan

By Megan MeloneNo Comments

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

15Nov

By Madison BonnerNo Comments

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

8Nov

By Megan MeloneNo Comments

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...

18Sep

By Elizabeth BocockNo Comments

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

2May

By Madison RohnNo Comments

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

20Mar

By Madison RohnNo Comments

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...

10Feb

By Kristina FerryNo Comments

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’...