East St. Louis Center

With the looks of surprise, bewilderment, shyness and pleasure, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) students walked down a red carpet on their first day of school, Monday, Aug. 13, to the cheers and high fives of CHS and SIUE administrators, faculty and staff. 

“It’s an exciting day, and we wanted to begin the school year on a celebratory note,” said School of Education, Health and Human Behavior Interim Dean Paul Rose, PhD. ...

U.S. Army veteran Patricia Jackson came to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Veterans Upward Bound VetMATCH College and Career Fair on Thursday, Aug. 9, with the hopes of finishing what she started years ago.

“I came to find out about re-enrolling at SIUE to complete my bachelor’s in psychology,” said Jackson, of East St. Louis, who served from Oct. 1978-July 1985. “I also want to find out about new avenues and opportunities available for veterans. Someti...

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center’s Veterans Upward Bound Program will host a fair for career and training opportunities for veterans in the region. 

VetMATCH Career Fair will be held from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9 at the SIUE East St. Louis Center (ESLC), 601 James R. Thompson Blvd., Building D in East St. Louis. 

“Veterans will be able to explore career options for higher wages, look into additional free eligible resources and lea...

For six Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center Upward Bound (UB) East St. Louis and Cahokia (EC) program alumni, their means of “paying it forward” involves cashing in on past opportunities afforded to them. 

Donating a scholarship of $500 each to Kalay Lucas and Edgar Williams were UB alumni Eric Cooper, Brandon Jackson, Donnell Johnson, Donald Roberson, Jeremy Sanders and Craig Slaughter. Cooper, Jackson, Roberson and Sanders made the presentatio...

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center (ESLC) for the Performing Arts Program made their audience feel as if they were at a Broadway show instead of sitting in the East St. Louis Senior High School’s Performing Arts Auditorium. 

Performing Arts concluded its summer program with “Salute to Broadway 2018” on Friday, July 27. The students, ages 6-17, danced, sang, acted and played instruments to various Broadway tunes as Disney’s The Little...

Lack of resources, negative cultural attitudes and slow physician responses can impede the healthy management of mental health conditions facing African Americans, according to Kim McClellan, National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) project coordinator. 

McClellan gave three presentations at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center (ESLC) during July, which is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. 

“The African ...

Be careful what you share online. Work to be secure within yourself. Practice being a leader. These and other messages were illustrated through ethnodramas that dealt with bullying, and were written and performed by students from the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center (ESLC) Upward Bound Math and Science Cahokia Madison (CM) Program. 

“Ethnodrama was used to help students improve their writing abilities to write for change,” said Sarah Hobson, PhD, ...

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center for the Performing Arts will present its free summer concert, Salute to Broadway 2018, at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 27 at East St. Louis Senior High School, 4901 State St. 

“Our students and instructors have worked hard all summer to bring a show that is in keeping with our tradition of excellence in the performing arts,” said Program Director Jack Williams. “The Broadway theme will showcase the wide talents...

With handmade, colorful masks of a brown bear, a red bird, a yellow duck and more, preschoolers from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start Helen Davis Center participated in an activity to observe the birthday of famous children’s designer, illustrator and writer Eric Carle. 

Carle is best known for designing, illustrating and writing The Very Hungry Caterpillar and for illustrating Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Carle has written/and or illu...

While some of them may have heard it before, a group of high school students in the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center’s Upward Bound East St. Louis and Cahokia (EC) program listened to one of their own tell how planning, persistence and positive support can result in college success. 

Upward Bound EC alumnus Eric Cooper spoke to the students Thursday, July 12 about how the program made higher education accessible for him and paved a pathway to success.&#...

There was a time when Radricka Olden could not imagine watching a cadaver being medically probed on an examination table. But that was before the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center Upward Bound Math and Science (UBMS) student signed up for the Saint Louis University Scholars Program and learned of the research significance behind such work. 

Olden was one of four UBMS (East St. Louis, Cahokia and Madison high schools-ECM) students who participated in SLU Schola...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Andy Theising, PhD, professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of The Rise and Fall of an Industrial River Town – Made in U.S.A. Theising took time on Thursday, June 21 for an “Across the Years” presentation during the SIUE East St. Louis Learning Resource Center’s Success and Continuing Knowledge (S.A.C.K.) Lunch and Learn program to discuss East St. Louis history that is detailed in...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will welcome alumnus Timothy Staples, EdD, back to campus as director of its new Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. Staples will assume his new role on Monday, July 16.

SIUE’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion will serve as a support and advocacy center for underrepresented students through programming, services, student retention initiatives and professional advocacy. The new center will raise awareness for the SIUE Community ab...

A class project involving a quilt made of hands has brought outbursts of creativity, a time of excitement and a sense of community for the students of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center’s Project Success Program. 

Bringing the quilting class to Project Success students for the third time is The Hands of Children, a project conducted by volunteer quilters to share the art of quilting with youth in the region, according to Pamela Coaxum, project coordinator...

Five-year-old Taylor Hopkins gasped and her face brightened when, upon the sixth or seventh attempt, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center (ESLC) Kindergarten Readiness Program student accomplished her task and got the right answer to her teacher’s persistent questioning of how to spin a small wooden top. 

Taylor is one of 32 students in the Kindergarten Readiness Program that is offering STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities...