The Olney Central College Jazz Ensemble and the combined Concert and Community Band will present their Spring Concert at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 6 in the Dr. John D. Stull Performing Arts Center. “We are thrilled to be performing live and in-person again for the first time since the pandemic began,” said OCC Director of Bands Wade Baker. “The students are all incredibly excited to get to perform for the community and the band is sounding really good.”

Lincoln Trail College Process Technology students took third place in the North American Process Technology Alliance’s Troubleshooting Skills Competition in Pasadena, Texas. LTC’s team consisted of Sheldon Myers, Travis Selby, Brandon Blackwell, and Levi Dennison.   

Lincoln Trail College will hold a dedication ceremony for Lackey Music Hall on May 2 at 5:30 p.m. The new addition to the Zwermann Arts Center opened in the spring semester.   The dedication ceremony will feature speeches from people that helped bring the project to fruition as well as a performance of the Lincoln Trail College Alma Mater by a combined choir of the Statesmen Singers and community members.  

Lincoln Trail College announced the winners of this year’s student awards. Chanyoung “Cy” Yun was awarded the Joseph C. Piland Excellence in Scholarship Award. Ike Book and Nicholas Brown were awarded the J. Rod Harmon Excellence in Service Award and Mallory Mundy was awarded the Bev L. Turkal Excellence in Leadership Award.  

Olney Central College served as a host site for the Illinois RiverWatch Network’s Citizen Scientist training on April 2. Illinois RiverWatch is a volunteer stream monitoring program administered by the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. Citizen scientist help identify potentially degraded waters and areas that may need greater protection.

Alani Frederick is serving as the new Associate Dean of Nursing and Allied Health for Illinois Eastern Community Colleges. A native of Akron, Ohio, Frederick comes to the district from Ivy Tech Community College at Sellersburg, Ind., where she was a nursing instructor for three years, serving the last two in a leadership role.

Join the Olney Central College Music Department for a journey through musical theater as the OCC Concert Choir and Musical Theater Workshop students present a Spring Variety Show at 7 p.m. on April 29 in the Dr. John D. Stull Performing Arts Center. Director of Choral Activities Dr. Andrew Pittman said the evening’s entertainment will offer a little something for everyone with musical selections ranging from the baroque period to Broadway and a sampling of short comedies.

April is Community College Month and Lincoln Trail College is joining other community colleges across the nation in celebrating. The primary goals of Community College Month are to improve awareness of the economic, academic, and equity advantages of attending community colleges and to bust longtime stigmas wrongly associate with public two-year colleges. 

Lincoln Trail College is offering a trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis in April. The garden is one of the largest and most well-respected botanical gardens in the world. Top attractions include the Climatron, Japanese Garden, Victoria District, Children’s Garden, and Linnean House. The garden includes two restaurants and multiple gift shops. LTC Dean of Instruction Brent Todd will lead the trip. The trip on April 30 will leave Lincoln Trail College at 7 a.m. It costs $50 and that includes transportation and entrance to the garden.

All Kinds of People, based on the optimism and musicals written by Oscar Hammerstein II, ran on Thursday, March 31st, Friday, April 1st and Sunday, April 3rd. Twenty-four cast members as young as three-years-old and as old as 80-years-old sang about the importance of loving people no matter their differences.