hett - The McKendree Review

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...

5Feb

By Madison RohnNo Comments

Advice, Campus Events

Are You Prepared for the Career Fair?

By Madison Rohn, Lead Editor Cover image of Career Services from 2023’s career fair retrieved from McKendree’s online photo albums. McKendree’s annual career fair is back and larger than ever! Almost 90 employers and graduate schools will be ready to meet with students at the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts this Valentine’s Day from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Find more information about the career fair at Career Services' webpage. Image retrieved from Career Services. To help students make the best out of their time at the career fair, I interviewed Jennifer Pickerell, the director of Career Services. She gave me helpful advice for students considering going to the fair. In summary, her most helpful piece for students is to “prepare ahead of time.” Jennifer listed five actio...

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...

McKendree Theatre Puts Hilarious Spin on Classic Tale

1Nov

By Madison RohnNo Comments

Arts, Campus Events, Campus News, Entertainment

McKendree Theatre Puts Hilarious Spin on Classic Tale

By Madison Rohn, Lead Editor Photos by Michelle Magnussen McKendree theatre’s fall play, Cinderella Waltz by Don Nigro, is a comedic and insightful retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale that will take the stage this weekend. The play breaks down the archetypes of the original fairy tale and shows them in a new way with plot twists and humor for adults. Cinderella Waltz focuses on Rosey Snow as she tries to make sense of her fairy tale world while putting up with her crazy stepmother, stepsisters, and father. All this happens as she encounters a prince, a troll, a possibly homicidal village idiot, and a fairy godmother who sings sailor songs. Left to right: Mrs. Snow (Marin Jalinsky), Regan (Denaysha Jackson), and Goneril (Madison Rohn) make up Rosey's stepfamily. The cas...

Major General John Bartrum Shares Insight with Students

11Oct

By Madison RohnNo Comments

Advice, Campus Events, Campus News

Major General John Bartrum Shares Insight with Students

By Madison Rohn, Lead Editor Title photo retrieved from McKendree online photo albums Major General John Bartrum spent last Thursday speaking to students as a part of the Hett’s annual Lanter Lecture Series. The Lanter Lecture Series gives McKendree students a chance to hear insight from influential business leaders. As the Mobilization Assistant to the Surgeon General of the Air Force and Space Force1, Major General Bartrum is certainly influential. Major General John Bartrum1 In addition to his military service, Major General Bartrum is the founder and CEO of Brightstar Innovations Group, LLC, which is a strategic advising and consulting solutions firm2. He also served as an Associate Director of the National Institute of Health as its Budget Director for its over $30 billio...

4Oct

By Madison RohnNo Comments

Campus Events, Campus News

Mental Health Matters Fair Returns

By Madison Rohn and Grace Gross, Lead Editors Photos provided by Counseling Services Last Wednesday marked the return of the Mental Health Matters Fair. The fair was presented by the offices of Counseling Services and Residence Life as a way to promote mental health and inform students of the mental health resources available to them. One table provided student-athletes with tips to help their mental health. Tables were set up in the Hett and were run by campus offices, such as Counseling Services, Health Services, and the Student Success Center, along with psychology students and club members, and local counseling groups. Students were given passports to have marked at each station that they could enter to win a raffle. The first table at the fair gave students passport...

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...

20Feb

By Madison RohnNo Comments

Campus Events, Campus News

McKendree’s Record-Setting Career Fair

Photos retrieved from the McKendree University Instagram This past Wednesday, McKendree’s annual career fair was held in the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts. A record number of 76 different employers and graduate schools were registered for this year’s fair. Tables of organizations such as nonprofits, businesses, police departments, graduate schools and government agencies lined the Hett lobby and wrapped around the stage. Many of these organizations were looking to hire part-time or full-time employees or had internships to offer. The fair also gave students an opportunity to practice networking, even if they were not looking for a job or internship at the moment. McKendree’s Marketing and Communications department was at the fair to take professional headshots for students to use...

14Feb

By Elma Oijens SjoelinNo Comments

Sports

Wrestling in the Hett: A Historic Event

Written by and photos taken by Elma Oijens Sjoelin On February 7th, 2023, something historical happened on the campus of McKendree University. For the first time in history, a sporting event was held in the Russel E. & Fern M. Hettenhausen Center for the Arts, commonly known as “The Hett.” The Hett has always had a busy schedule of hosting art events, plays, shows, and fairs, but never before had a sporting event been held in the spacious state-of-the-art facility. The McKendree men’s wrestling team had the honor of hosting and winning a duel against Davenport University on the Hett stage. The wrestlers added another win to their record with a final score of 55 points to McKendree and -1 to Davenport. McKendree totaled five pins and two technical falls in their win against...