May 2023

The school year may be ending, but the good news just keeps flowing.

Highlights

Pictures of Mary Campbell and Cecelia Long

Welcome Back to "New" Board Members

Congratulations are due to Mary Campbell and Cecelia Long on their successful reelections to the Heartland Board of Trustees. Three candidates ran for the two available six-year terms. Campbell and Long were incumbent candidates and Dave Selzer was a challenger. All three candidates indicated that they were happy with how the College is run and the only issue they see is not enough people know about all the cool things we do. If only the entire district read Hawkfeed...

Group photo of people holding a large check in an unfinished cafe

Service and a Bunch of Smiles

One of Heartland’s priorities is to “serve as a community resource.” That was modeled on April 28th. Almost 300 people devoted more than 800 hours of their time on Heartland’s Annual Service Day. Projects included painting, deep cleaning, planting, making hand-made cards, picking up litter, and more at service sites including Carle Health & Fitness Center, Second Presbyterian Church, Scott Early Learning Center, YWCA McLean County, McLean County Art Center, and Livingston County Human Society, to name a few. Much like with the Alternative Spring Break story, one can’t help but wonder...are these folks available for hire? Asking for that friend again.

Pictures of Luke Sherman and Jono Edmonson

Save Room in the Trophy Case

Two Heartland Esports athletes brought home the National Champion title in their individual games. Luke Sherman captured the title in Super Smash Bros and Jono Edmonson in NBA2K. Congratulations on joining Heartland’s growing list of National Champions!

Speaking of Nationals, good luck to the golf and baseball teams who will compete in their respective national championships in the coming week!

Hunter Becomes a Teenager

Our favorite feathered friend has a big birthday coming up. Hunter Hawk will enter his teen years on June 1 when he turns 13. Make sure to follow our Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram pages to see the teen Hunter reveal. Bring on the Axe body spray and eye roll years!

A Different Hunter Takes the Spotlight

Hunter Spencer was selected to represent HCC as an awardee of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s Student Voting Honor Roll, which recognizes college students for their non-partisan democratic engagement work. He joins a group of 175 students recognized for their voter registration, education, and turnout efforts ahead of last year’s historic midterm elections. The 2022 midterm elections saw one of the highest youth turnout rates for a midterm election in the past 40 years - an estimated 23 percent of young people ages 18 to 29 turned out to vote. Way to start a voting trend Hunter!

Pictures of Film Fest winners with their certificates

Lights! Camera! Awards!

Call it Sundance East. On May 11, Heartland held its own film festival and was able to showcase some up-and-coming new filmmakers. Trevor Matteson’s film, Solitary Eyes, was named Best Film by a Current Student and Joe Garcia’s film, Retrospection, was named Best Film by an Alum. Congratulations to our 2023 Heartland Film Festival winners!

Evan Pfeifer’s film, Not Alone, was the Audience Favorite...and he also won the Outstanding Overall Acting award.

Anthony Pegg garnered the Outstanding Technical Achievement award for his film, Mid-Century and the foursome of Massey Gerth, Jessica Steele, Maya Davis, and Margaret Hoefer received the Independent Spirit Award for their film, Daydreams.

A picture of a group of students outside

Skillfully Done

Five HCC students competed in the SkillsUSA Illinois State Leadership & Skills Conference last month. The students took part in 6 different competitions, earning 1st place medals in everything they entered. In two of those competitions, HCC placed both the 1st and 2nd! The wins qualified them for Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia this summer. Congrats to the following students:

Seth Coughlin: 1st in Advertising Design, 1st in Pin Design, 1st in T-Shirt Design
Tyler Scott: 1st in Photography, 1st in Creative Photography Display
Emmanuel Lopez: 1st in Telecommunication Cabling
Lauren Saul: 2nd in T-Shirt Design
Andy Irving: 2nd in Telecommunication Cabling

SkillsUSA is a non-profit national education association serving middle school, high school and college/post-secondary students preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations.

Photos of 3 nurses and a drawing of a stethoscope

These Nurses Have a Special Place in our Hearts

We might be biased when we say we have the best nursing faculty and students around, but apparently that has been independently verified by an outside source. Evidence of previously-mentioned greatness came with the announcement of two of our nursing faculty and one of our alumni receiving 2023 Pantagraph Heart of Healthcare awards. Congratulations to Dameron Bevery, Vergetta Harris, and Theresa Prosser for being honored!

Read the Not-so-fine Print

HCC got an assist from the Town of Normal recently in the aftermath of the most recent (yes – there has been more than one) semi truck/bridge collision on the main campus. We’re still missing a chunk from the bottom of the walkway joining CCB and SCB, but hopefully these new street signs on Raab Road will discourage any other adventurous truck drivers from entering our campus and thinking “I’m pretty sure this will fit.”

That's a Wrap on 2022-2023

It’s our biggest party of the year! Commencement once again was an evening of celebration for the more than 400 graduates that walked in the ceremony. Student speakers Marlphonsia Kimbembe and Rodney Billerbeck left their fellow students with a few parting words, loved ones celebrated the graduates’ accomplishments, and many of us got to see if we can pull off the square cardboard hat look. More than 1,400 undergraduate certificates and degrees were awarded this academic year, including those who did not participate in the commencement ceremony.

An image of a beach scene with the words Hawkfeed Hiatus - See you in August

Hawkfeed on Hiatus

Speaking of wrapping things up, that’s also a wrap on this year’s Hawkfeed. We’ll be taking a summer siesta in June and July. But don’t worry – we'll be back in August to serve you with more fresh news and a healthy collection of dad jokes.

Still to come...

Image of a Japanese teapot and tea cup on table

Art Gallery Show

Falling In Between will be on display from May 22 through August 5 in the Joe McCauley Art Gallery.

Random Knowledge to Make You Just a Little Smarter

The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backward. This is due to the unique way that they flap their wings at such a high frequency — up to 80 times per second. They beat their wings in a figure-eight pattern that allows them to reverse direction quickly and effortlessly.

Let's Get Social

That's all for now. In the meantime, check out our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for the latest happenings. Spread the love and share our stuff on your own pages.

Raegan Rinchiuso

Associate Director, Marketing

(309) 268-8167

raegan.rinchiuso@heartland.edu