Mic Seifert, a veteran physical education teacher in Davenport, has exercised a new muscle this year he never thought he had before – computer literacy. Like all teachers nationwide, Seifert, 47, was forced by the Covid-19 pandemic this past spring to come up with virtual content for his classes at Madison Elementary School. He’s in his 22nd year of teaching and virtual fitness lessons have become an international viral sensation. His YouTube channel, P.E. with Mr. S, can be found at https://www.youtube.com/c/PEwithMrS/videos. Since May, Seifert has made 40 videos, and already the channel’s... Read More

Western Illinois University students Hannah Akers (Cambridge, IL) and Samuel Ogali (Flossmoor, IL) have been chosen as the 2020-21 recipients of the William H. and Eva Little Graham Libraries’ Student Assistant Scholarship. Akers and Ogali, both student employees at University Libraries, will each receive the $500 scholarship for the Spring 2021 semester. The scholarship is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated excellence in the performance of their assignments, and the funds are applied to the selected students’ tuition. Akers is a junior early childhood education major. She... Read More

A Western Illinois University music major has been awarded first prize in an international music competition; the only student from the United States. Madalyn Pridemore, of Macomb, a sophomore violin performance major, is one of 21 finalists in Asociația Culturală Arta Sonoră’s “Rezonanțe Sonore Online” International Festival. She is the winner of the violin category and one of the winners featured on the George Enescu Museum’s website. The competition included 137 participants from Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United States, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. A total... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University’s live mascot, “Ray,” and his retired brother, “Rocky,” are getting into the holiday spirit, trying to raise at least $1,000 to buy food and treats for animals housed at the McDonough County Animal Shelter. The effort launched seeking 200 people to donate $5 each, and the food and treats will be purchased from local and small businesses. Ray and Rocky have also partnered with the Old Dairy to buy homemade, gourmet dog treats as part of the event. This is the last week for the fundraiser so the treats can be delivered... Read More

An effort to create a public art project, co-founded by a Western Illinois University history professor to commemorate the lives lost during the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, has received a grant from Illinois Humanities to further the project and related events. WIU Professor Peter Cole and Franklin Cosey-Gay, executive director of the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Protection, co-direct the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19). Its goal is to create and install markers at each of the 38 locations where a life was lost in 1919 – still the deadliest incident of racial violence... Read More

Saturday In The Arts is a weekly look at a personality, place, trend or topic of interest to the Quad-Cities. It runs every Saturday morning on your site for fun, free, local entertainment and features, QuadCities.com. The traveling exhibit “Race: Are We So Different?,” in 2019 at Davenport’s Putnam Museum, had a profound impact on visitors, staff and those who took part in many related discussions. Building on that success and a Quad-Cities-wide effort to improve racial equity this year – amidst national reckonings regarding racial injustice – Putnam president/CEO Rachael Mullins has... Read More

The Western Illinois University Social Media Lab, connected to the Department of Communication, is helping promote a program to raise money for teachers in the Macomb School District who are teaching remotely during the pandemic. As K-12 classrooms across the area transition to online learning, the local teachers are spending their own money to purchase and adapt online learning materials. The Community for Classrooms program was born from this need and the Social Media Lab is helping promote the fundraiser. WIU senior communication major Elizabeth Lutz, of California, MO, is creating and posting... Read More

The YWCA Quad Cities is celebrating a surprise holiday gift this week. It is among 384 charities throughout the United States that have received a donation from MacKenzie Scott, a 50-year-old American novelist, billionaire, and venture philanthropist. She has donated $4.1 billion to nonprofit organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and the YWCA is just one of two recipients that serve the Quad-Cities – the other is Goodwill of the Heartland. “These 384 carefully selected teams have dedicated their lives to helping others,” Scott explained in a Dec. 15 post on Medium,... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — Western Illinois University has extended the $30 application fee waiver for undergraduate, graduate, and international students who apply to WIU (wiu.edu/apply) through Dec. 31. Graduating high school seniors and transfer students, dual enrollment students, graduate students and international students, as well as those applying through the Bachelor of General Studies(BGS) program, who apply for admission to Western for the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 semesters, will have the application fee waived through 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31. In addition, the WIU Office of UndergraduateAdmissions... Read More

Western Illinois University Agriculture alumnus Bryon Kirwan considers it a source of personal pride to give back to his alma mater and its School of Agriculture, including helping with research at the Allison Organic Research and Demonstration Farm. The 1980 graduate was recently named a national economist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). He had been serving as the state economist in Illinois, but his new position allows him to oversee work in 15 states. It will also necessitate him commuting between his home... Read More