•April 28, 2021•
By Sharon Barricklow
Correspondent

They’re loud, messy and everywhere in 2021. Periodical Cicadas are getting ready to emerge from their 17-year embryo sleep, molt, mate, spread their wings and wreak havoc with outdoor activities for a three to four-week period this summer.
Periodical Cicadas, known as the 17-year cicada, are the longest living insect known in the natural world. The eggs are buried in the ground and take almost two decades to reach maturity before emerging and wreaking havoc during their short lives. Also known as Brood X – for Roman numeral 10, the bugs are native to areas with large plains, largely in the eastern half of the United States. In Illinois, Shelby County sits almost on the dividing line between Brood X, more common to Northern Illinois and the 13-year Cicada, known for populating the southern part of the state. The Chicago Botanical Garden says Brood X are not found anywhere else in the world. Read More

•April 28, 2021•
Illinois Farm Bureau will be the financial sponsor of this year’s Illinois Press Foundation mini-grants program that assists existing media programs at public and private high schools throughout the state.
Selected schools receive grants of up to $1,500 from the Illinois Press Foundation to pay for a computer, software or other equipment needed for a high school’s student media program to produce print or online newspapers. School media programs will be receiving application information Monday, with requests due on or before May 14. Funds or equipment will be received in September. Read More

Photo by Crystal Reed
Macie Fleshner uses a compass to measure on her corn hole board project during Sheri Bruyn’s calculus class at Okaw Valley High School. Bruyn was one of two teachers in the area to receive a grant from the Illinois Retired Teachers Foundation.

•April 14, 2021•
By Crystal Reed
NP Writer

Sheri Bruyn’s students are taking what they have learned in her math classroom and using it to build cornhole boards and bags in the shop at the high school. The creation of the bean bag toss game utilizes several math concepts.
Pythagorean’s theorem is used to make the board a perfect rectangle, surface area is used to calculate the amount of paint needed and volume is used for the cornhole bags which are filled with corn. Another math concept, a quadratic function, will be used to record the path of the bags when they are thrown. Students will measure the height and distance the bags travel, transfer it to a graph and then find the quadratic equation relating to the bag’s path. Read More

•April 14, 2021•
The Little Theatre On The Square announced three shows slated to open in the fall of 2021. The King and Marilyn will run October 15 through the 24 for 12 performances. The Marvelous Wonderettes will run November 5 through the 14 for 12 performances. Both of these shows were originally part of the 2020 Summer Season and the Theatre is thrilled to be able to bring them to stage this fall. For Christmas, the Theatre will produce a brand new holiday revue called We Need a “Little” Christmas, running from December 3 through the 19 for 18 performances. Tickets for these shows will go on sale in August 2021.
Even though mainstage shows will not happen inside the Theatre during the summer of 2021, The Little Theatre is producing three free outdoor concerts. The First Friday Summer Concert Series at The Little Theatre will kick off June 4 featuring Lexie Dorsett Sharp and Friends (Jordan Cyphert and John Stephens). Read More