News Progress

Photo furnished
Walt Disney, a.k.a. SES fourth grader Chance Schoonover, explains how Disney grew from the success of Mickey Mouse.

•May 22, 2019•
Sullivan Elementary School students turned to wax Thursday, May 16.
Fourth grade students became famous people from history during the annual wax museum held in the elementary school gym.
The Wax Museum included four fourth grade classes of Drew Campbell, Kurt Friese, Nichole Hendry and Kay Lehman. Two classes presented in the morning and two in the afternoon.
“The students first selected their characters three to four weeks ago,” Lehman began. “They had to research and prepare a report of the person.”
The work was just beginning as students then developed a slide show on iPads to incorporate into the wax museum display. A presentation board was created along with an authentic costume and a speech.
The weeks of speech writing and practice, costume making and research paid off as the gymnasium filled with wax figures was activated for students, parents and the general public.
“Each student is to stand still like a wax figure until the star in front of their display is stepped on,” Lehman said. Read More

New Independence Camp in July planned

•May 15, 2019•

By Ariana Cherry
for the News Progress

With school coming to a close and summer drawing near kids will have plenty of options for fun at the Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library.
Beginning now, parents may sign up their children for the summer reading program. They may call the library at 217-728-7221, visit the library to register or register online by going to signupgenius.com, click, “Find a sign up” at the bottom of the website and then type in ldavisonx4@gmail.com for the creator. Should there be any questions about the online sign-up process, you may always call the library.
On May 31, the reading fun begins with a kick-off party from 11-3 p.m. outdoors at the library. If there is rain, the party will be moved to the gymnasium in the Sullivan Civic Center. There will be inflatables, crafts, games, cotton candy and snow cones. One of the fun activities includes making a planetarium. The celebration will be free to the public. Read More

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Eagle Scout Christian Hopper and his Sullivan Gun Club project.

•May 8, 2019•
By Ariana Cherry
for the News Progress

An Eagle Scout is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America program. Once a scout has reached this rank, they are to help train scouts under them within their area.
A scout has spent years within the program, usually from the time they are very young until they reach early adulthood. Since the Eagle Scout level was created in 1911, only about four percent of scouts have reached such a rank after a very lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2.5 million youth.
Eagle Scout Christian Hopper has taken his duty very seriously through his time spent in the Boy Scout program for the last 12 years.
“I started as young as you can start and stayed the course the whole way through. It was a great part of my growing up. I started as a Tiger Cub,” Hopper said.
A very important part of being an Eagle Scout is completing an Eagle project. The project must benefit the surrounding community and involve 100 hours of volunteer time to create and carry out. Once the project is completed, it has to have a sustaining impact and also continue to benefit the community for years to come. Read More

Photo by Mike brothers

Look up at the Sun

•May 8, 2019•

By Charlie McCarthy
for News Progress

Once upon a time there were three morels living under a very large tree at the edge of an old wooded area in Sullivan.
Mushroom hunter Mortimer Snerd was coming back through the timber and almost tripped over the 10 inch morel in the photograph.
Snerd’s search continued until he also found the eight inch and four inch morels within steps of the major find.
So far Mortimer’s 10 inch morel is the largest one harvested and brought to the newspaper office this season, but the season is still young.
“Everybody wants to know where to find mushrooms, and it’s pretty easy,” Mortimer began.
“First thing you need to do is put the cell phone down.
“You have to get out in the timber and exercise in order to find mushrooms,” he continued.
“Keep walking, and when you get around a big tree, stop and look down. They will be there waiting to be picked.” Read More