Category Archives: News Briefs

Illinois Emerging Poets Prepare for Writing Competition

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•April 4, 2018•

Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White announced today that entry forms are available for the 14th annual Illinois Emerging Writers Competition. Winners will receive the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award.

“We created the Illinois Emerging Writers Competition to promote creative writing and provide an outlet for talented writers,” White said. “Great poems have the ability to enrich and enhance our lives, and I am looking forward to celebrating talented poets with this year’s competition.” Read More

Two SHS Students Attending Boys State

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Two SHS Students Attending Boys State
Students from Sullivan High School who have been selected to attend the Illinois Premier Boys State program this summer at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston are juniors Spencer Johnson and Brody Goss. They submitted applications to Sullivan American Legion Post 68 along with school transcripts, lists of extracurricular activities and a one page letter on why they would like to attend this program.
The American Legion Boys State Program was founded in 1935. As with all programs of the American Legion, patriotism is an important aspect at Boys State.
Each participant will learn the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of citizenship. The core of the week’s activities is learning the basics of the electoral process. There are three levels of government that are formed through elections during the week: city, county, and state.
From being candidates for office, to being election officials, to actually voting in the elections, the students will have the opportunity to participate in every aspect of the election process.
Sullivan American Legion Post 68 and the Sons of the American Legion Squad #68 are co-sponsors for Johnson and Goss.

The Little Theatre on the Square is Seeking Area High School All Stars

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•April 4, 2018•

Auditions for the LTOTS high school all star ensemble will be held from 5-8 p.m. Sunday, April 8.

This new initiative gives high school age students from across the area the chance to perform on the stage of The Little Theatre On The Square in Sullivan and be directed by professionals.

Designed to give young actors both experience and exposure, auditions are open to all students entering high school in the fall as a freshman through those who will graduate this spring. The All Star cast will appear in six performances of “Aladdin, Jr.” from June 8-16 at The Little Theatre On The Square. Read More

SHS students visiting Booth Library

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Submitted Photo
SHS students visiting Booth Library: First row from left to right are Kaitlynn Snelling, Laine Cameron and Maddie Dickens; second row: Lindsay Jones, Abby Cravatta and Winchester Phelps; third row: Kaleigh Wilson, Gillian Lange and Atticus Harris; fourth row: Katie Webb, Bailey Root and Isaiah Plank; back row: Trevor Elder, Jacob White and Josh Stutzman.

Okaw Valley Dual Credit Students Visit EIU

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Okaw Valley Dual Credit Students Visit EIU
Okaw Valley High School dual credit students visited Eastern Illinois University March 23 to learn more about the campus and interact with their dual credit professors. Okaw Valley currently offers 15 credit hours that are dual credit through EIU. The classes are Speech and English 3 - Brit Lit - Sean Kirksey, Environmental Science - Sarah McDowell and History - two semesters - Brad Ackers. OVHS offers another 60 hours of dual credit through Lake Land College and Richland Community College.
Pictured during EIU visit: (Left-right) Ethan Macklin, Natalie Jeffers, Molly Phillips, Anna Wooters, Quinn Brooks, Shelby Hagerman, Hayden Francisco, Trey Yarnell, Elizabeth Herbord, and Brayden Primmer.

Remember When? 3-28-2018

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25 Years Ago This Week

The meat department at the Sullivan IGA was named second in the nation over 3,400 stores as part of an annual Beef Roundup competition. The competition is based on sales quotas and promotions held in each store in October. Kyle Lehman is the store manager, and Barry Golden is the manager of the meat department. Pat Thompson, Irene Kroll, David Elzy, Roger Burtcheard and Dustin Wallace are employees in the meat dept.

Bethany and Gays post offices get new postmasters. Jeannie Ashley of Bethany will take over Bethany post office and Gerry Nolen of Sullivan will relocate to the Gays Post Office.

Foreign exchange student Marilyn Dominguez of Panama City, Panama spent her school vacation as a student at Sullivan High School. She found learning a second language somewhat challenging. While she was here she developed a fondness for basketball after watching the Redskins play. She resided with Homer and Joyce Russell. Read More

Easter Week Services

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•March 21 2018•

The News Progress will publish special Easter service information in the March 28 edition. The deadline is noon Monday, March 26. Submit by email to: mbrothers@newsprogress.com call 217/728-7381 or bring to 100 W. Monroe, Sullivan.

Sullivan First United Methodist Church will conduct the re-enactment of The Last Supper (Passover Meal) “Lord, is it I?” at 7 p.m. Maundy Thursday, March 29.

On Good Friday, March 30 the Allenville Christian Church will hold a Community Worship Service beginning at 6:30 p.m. The Rev. Al Rennert will be the speaker.

Faith Lutheran Church in Sullivan will have Easter Sunday worship at 10 a.m. April 1. Saturday Worship Services: 5 p.m. Sunday Bible Classes: 9 a.m. regular Sunday Worship Services: 10 a.m.

WHS FFA Learns Poultry Judging

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WHS FFA Learns Poultry Judging
The Windsor FFA Chapter sent seven of its members to the Poultry Judging CDE hosted by the Shelbyville FFA Chapter on Wednesday, March 14th. The members were tasked with the evaluation of live birds, carcasses, poultry products, as well as the interior and exterior of market eggs. The members also tested their knowledge with a test and the identification of cuts of meat. The members in attendance were Tristan Boehm, Whitney Pepperdine, Brandon Milligan, Hannah Morlen, Kendra Reed, Haylee Reynolds, and Gage Sattler. Tristan placed in the top 10 individuals of the contest.Pictured front L to R: Whitney Pepperdine, Kendra Reed, Haylee Reynolds, Hannah Morlen. Back L to R: Brandon Milligan, Gage Sattler, Tristan Boehm.

Remember When? 3-21-2018

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25 Years Ago This Week

The Bethany school board has voted to ask Sullivan schools to consider forming a co-op football team due to low participation in the last years program.

Sullivan High School’s first journalism class, instructed by Becky Lawson, will print its first edition of the SHS Signal at the News~Progress this week. Jodi England, one of the managing editors, said it was a lot harder than they realized. The last school newspaper, The Smoke Signal, was put out in 1975 by Don Lewis, Carla Keown Messmore, and R.R. Best.

Sullivan resident Julie Wilkerson will be singing the National Anthem for two Minnesota Twins games later this month. Read More

WHS FFA Attends Judgings

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•March 21 2018•

On Friday March 16th 14 members of the Windsor FFA Chapter participated in the Marion County Livestock judging contest. The members evaluated 12 classes of varying types of stock from cattle to goats. Members were tasked with evaluating the stock on performance data, confirmation, and physical appearance of characteristics.   Read More