May 2025
Commencing With Sharing Spring Campus News
Highlights
Caps Off to Our Graduates
It was a record-setting year at commencement. This spring, more than 500 students participated in Heartland’s 33rd Annual Commencement Ceremony, held at Grossinger Motors Arena. As we looked back at the year, we also celebrated Tom McCulley and Rebecca Schaefer as this year’s Outstanding Faculty and heard from student speaker and nursing graduate Reaghan Stair. Every commencement is cause for celebration, but this year’s event was extra special for several Heartland employees as they were able to hand over the diploma (cover) to their own children. So if you see Amy Pawlik, Jen O’Connor, Terrance Bond (now known as Dr. Bond), Kevin Crutcher, Zach Petrea, Chris Downing, Steve Riesenberg, or Heidi Sample, congratulate them on their kids’ achievements. What a great way to wrap up the year!
Making the Whole Room Shimmer
If you read last month’s Hawkfeed (and if you haven’t, we’re side-eyeing you), you know this is the season of awards. Well, the wins just keep coming! Marketing Coordinator Nathan Cameron won the Central Illinois Communication Association’s Emerging Communicator Award. He received the award on April 17 at the organization’s annual banquet. The Emerging Communicator Award recognizes outstanding work in communications in the first five years of a nominee’s career. The professional who receives the award embodies potential and their work inspires those around them. Nathan was nominated for his work and partnership with Enrollment and Admissions, specifically his expertise in using Element451 to create campaigns to reach prospective students. Way to go Nathan!
Skilled Students
The Heartland Community College SkillsUSA Chapter won several awards at “The Championships: Illinois Elite Career Competitions” in Peoria and took home many awards. Five Hawks will be moving on and representing Illinois at the “National Leadership and Skills Conference” in Atlanta at the end of June:
- Andy Irving – Telecommunications Cabling
- Damon Keister - Principles of Engineering-Technology
- Matthew Marciniak & Nick Mock – Mechatronics (team of 2)
- Cami Nowlin – T-shirt Design
The Heartland Community College SkillsUSA Chapter won several awards as well. They took home the Gold Membership Growth Award for “unparalleled dedication and remarkable contribution to the growth of SkillsUSA Illinois.” They also earned the Chapter of Distinction Silver Level designation.
Tee-riffic Season
When it comes to wins, we can’t “fore-get" our student athletes! This spring the men’s golf team won the Region 24 Golf Championship. But that’s not all. Heartland Hawk Tommy Gneiser won the individual Region 24 championship as well. Kudos to them. It’s a fair bet that these Hawks had their share of birdies. (We’ll see ourselves out now.)
Baseball Team Taking on the World
The Heartland baseball team is also making some waves in the post season. The team was crowned the Region 24A champs and had a successful campaign at the Central District Championship in Missouri. Now our Hawks are headed to the NJCAA DII World Series! Looking forward to a good report from Enid, Oklahoma soon.
Also Award-Winning
While our athletic teams are racking up some post-season kudos, several of our athletes earned individual honors as well. National Cross Country Champion Nora Brady isn’t just impressive on the run. She’s also a star in the classroom and the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA) has taken notice. The group named Brady as their Scholar Athlete of the Year. She will be recognized at the NATYCAA Convention in Orlando next month.
Not to be outdone, fellow Hawk student-athlete Mairen Mannon has earned a pretty impressive honor herself. The volleyball player has been named the recipient of the NJCAA Lea Plarski Award. This prestigious award is given to an NJCAA student-athlete who exemplifies sportsmanship, leadership, community service, academic excellence, and athletic ability. Mannon will be honored at the 2025 NJCAA Hall of Fame and Awards ceremony in Charlotte next month.
Softball has also entered the awards chat. HCC player Shayne Immke has been named the NJCAA Region 24 Softball Player of the Year. Congratulations to all these impressive student-athletes!
Birky Pond Bonus
After the successful groundbreaking, and subsequent opening, of the Agriculture Complex and the Advanced Manufacturing Center, I bet you thought it was safe for us to put away our shovels. But you would be wrong! The shovels took center stage again on April 23 when we, along with donors and supporters, celebrated the groundbreaking of the COUNTRY Financial Trail, which extends the Constitution Trail by circling Birky Pond. The mile-long trail extension was made possible by a gift from COUNTRY Financial, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and other private donors. Later in 2025 you can lace up your shoes for a scenic walk. Pretty sure there will be no wind at all.
Articulation Everywhere
There’s some good news for our Hawks when they are ready to fly from the Heartland nest. Two new agreements were finalized this spring, making it easier for HCC students to move on to the next step in their educational journey. We announced a new articulation agreement with Illinois State University to streamline the transfer process for those pursuing an online degree in business administration. The agreement ensures that students who earn an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree with a focus on Business Administration at Heartland can transfer up to 60 credit hours toward a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at ISU. Not wanting to feel left out, Millikin University also signed a new articulation agreement with HCC. This agreement will ensure guaranteed admission to Millikin for Heartland students who complete Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, or Associate of Engineering Science degrees. The admissions agreement will put Heartland grads on track to complete a bachelor’s degree within an additional two years at Millikin. The agreement also allows Heartland Honors students to be automatically accepted into Millikin’s James Millikin Honors Scholars program.
Lunch on Wheels
We have some bad news and some good news for your stomach this summer. The bad news is that the campus Subway’s last day of business for the school year was May 8. The good news is that a variety of food trucks will stop by campus to fill the void our bread-baking friends have left. A list of vendors can be found on the Employee Portal Additional food trucks may be added throughout the summer. Keep your eyes open for emails from Jd Davis for more information. If we’re lucky, she might even include a fun meme, too.
36 is the New 40
Our favorite new summer tradition is making a comeback. The College will be observing “summer hours” again this year. That means every Friday you’ll get a four-hour head start on developing your farmer’s tan. Official summer hours will have the College closing at noon on Fridays between June 6 and August 1. For this time period, a full work week will be 36 hours instead of the traditional 40. Flexible work hours may also be a possibility. Work with your supervisor for that and don’t forget to fill out the form.
Still to come...
College Closures
- May 26 - Memorial Day
- June 19 - Juneteenth
- July 4 - Independence Day
Random Knowledge to Make You Just a Little Smarter
In 1974, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis published a paper titled “The Unsuccessful Self-treatment of a Case of Writer’s Block.” It contained zero words.
On that note...
Hawkfeed Hiatus
That’s a wrap on the 2024-2025 school year. Your favorite tongue-in-beak newsletter will be on a hiatus this summer. But don’t fret – we'll return in August with a piping hot issue. Mostly because...August in Illinois. Nevertheless, it will be a must-read!
Let's Get Social
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