East St. Louis Center

If you ask Courtney Parker’s four children, they will say their Belleville mom is the best! When the Illinois Head Start Association (ILHSA) was asked, they agreed – two times in a row. Courtney Parker, president of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start Belleville Center’s Parent Association, has been selected as the 2021 Illinois Head Start/Early Head Start Parent of the Year. 

Parker was awarded the top parent prize during ILHSA&#8217...

Visits to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, National September 11 Memorial and Museum, National Civil Rights Museum and Slave Haven Museum were educational, exciting and all virtual for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center Collinsville’s Upward Bound Scholars Academy (UBSA) program students.                                

USBA students traveled virtually to Tennesse...

Breast Cancer awareness will be heightened and access to services increased for underserved populations thanks to a $20,000 grant from Komen Missouri to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing’s WE CARE Clinic, located in East St. Louis.

“Susan G. Komen is not only dedicated to finding the cures for breast cancer through research, but also making an impact directly in our communities,” said Komen Missouri Acting Executive Director Dawna Currigan. &#8220...

Creating, cutting and arranging pictures into patterns, completing math-related puzzles in the nick of time and answering questions arranged in a popular game format, were some of the activities that Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) students completed during their first virtual (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) STEAM/Pi Day on Thursday, March 25.  

“We are so excited to virtually offer our first STEAM/Pi Day,&...

In pursuit of the ongoing well-being of employees, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start administrators attended the National Center on Health, Behavioral Health and Safety’s (NCHBHS) virtual Staff Wellness Institute from Tuesday-Wednesday, March 23-24. 

“The overall wellness of staff remains a high priority, which is why we were delighted to participate in the conference,” said Lisa Tate, SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start assistant program ...

Birthed and nurtured as a dancer in the dynamic, rhythmic world of Dunham Technique and driven to shape other dancers in the same legendary, compelling method, Ta’Shayla Montgomery now teaches in the same performing arts program, located in her hometown of East St. Louis, where she began her training at the age of nine.  

Montgomery is the assistant director and dance consultant at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center (ESLC) for the Performing Arts...

For the purposes of keeping preschoolers on track, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start program opened in-person services on Wednesday, March 10. Six of the seven managed SIUE Head Start Centers have at least one classroom open for in-person services, according to Carolyn Jason, interim program director. 

“SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start’s goal is to provide as much comprehensive in-person services as possible,” said Jason. “We ...

Black women and their melodic inspiration and remonstration have been a strong, riveting and constant soundtrack in response to pain, struggle and oppression, as far back as Africa, according to Tammy Kernodle, PhD, distinguished professor of music at Miami (Ohio) University in Oxford and president of the Society for American Music. 

Kernodle discussed “Black Women, Black Music and the Mythology of Post-Racism in the Age of Obama” during the Southern Illinois University Edwards...

A change in perception, narrative and values – among other things – is needed to create a new educational mindset and system that will unapologetically nurture and encourage Black males. Tyrone C. Howard, PhD, and his son, Jaleel R. Howard, presented the virtual seminar, “Radical Care to Support Black Boy Joy in School,” to administrators, instructors and other stakeholders of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) on Friday...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Denise Cobb, PhD, has announced that Lydia Jackson will serve as an assistant to the provost for library and community engagement and an associate dean in Library and Information Services (LIS).

In this split appointment, Jackson will focus 60% of her efforts as an assistant to the provost and 40% as associate dean.

As assistant to the provost for library and community engagement, Jackson will provide cr...

Blacks account for 43 of 677 faculty members, 323 of 2,431 staff members, and 317 of 3,433 undergraduate and graduate degrees at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 

Statistics and analytics, panelists’ experiences and viewpoints, previously conducted and live interactive surveys, and strategies and recommendations were shared during SIUE’s second annual State of the Black Union, sponsored by the Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA) and moderated by BFSA member Tar...

First and foremost, Johnetta Randolph Haley was an ardent educator with an impressive character, drive and strength that left no question as to her capabilities, which were vast, and her intentions which were honest and helpful. Haley, whose service at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville spanned nearly 48 years, passed away Sunday night, Jan. 30. 

“Johnetta Haley was my mentor,” said SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook. “She supervised my student teaching experience, pro...

It was out with the old and in with the new – Chromebooks that is – when students showed up for the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School’s (CHS) January school supply pickup. 

New Chromebooks with Wi-Fi hot spots embedded into the device were given to CHS students on Thursday Jan. 28 in the Multi-purpose Room at the East St. Louis Higher Education Campus (ESHEC), according to CHS Director Gina Jeffries. 

“This phenomenal...

Figuratively speaking, there appeared to be a global “timeout” during the year of 2020, and in America there seemed to be constant angst because of political and social unrest, according to St. Louis native actress, writer and director Sophia Stephens, who has starred in such television shows as “Fuller House,” “Dear White People,” “Luke Cage” and “Blackish.” 

Stephens, who starred in the film “What Happened to Girl’s ...

“Liberating self through the pursuit of freedom, while chasing the shadow of justice” is an illuminating descriptor of the pedagogical philosophy, rooted in Critical Race Theory (CRT), held by a young Black educator who has pledged himself to socially-just, community-based teaching, scholarship and activism. 

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Nate Williams, PhD, associate professor in the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior’s (SEHHB) Department ...

Santa Claus gave out trucks, dolls, stuffed animals, games, educational packets and more during the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Bluffview Head Start/Early Head Start Center’s annual Winter Festival, held Thursday-Friday, December 17-18. 

More than 75 families picked up toys for their tots, which were donated by the Marine Toys for Tots program. For those Bluffview Center families who have not picked up their gifts, they can do so when the Center opens on Monday, Jan. 4,...

The Gateway Illinois Chapter of The Links, Inc., helped make Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start parents’ Christmas a little brighter. The service organization’s Services to Youth Facet committee donated $600 in Walmart gift cards. 

Patricia Wharton, a 30-year Links member, presented the gift cards to Head Start/Early Head Start Interim Director Carolyn Jason on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at the program’s administrative offices. 

The donation...

These stories are not from the pages of worn books, old audio tapes or reels of archived film. These accounts of struggle and triumph come directly from the mouths, minds and hearts of Black East St. Louisans who recall living during times that were simple but not easy, close-knit but segregated, and more courteous but racially hostile. 

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center is working on one of its initiative’s ...

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing’s (SON) WE CARE Clinic has secured a $78,751 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant entitled “Nurse, Education, Practice, Quality and Retention – Registered Nurses in Primary Care COVID.”

The WE CARE Clinic is located on the East St. Louis Higher Education Campus, and serves an underserved population that is disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

This funding will allow the Clinic to ex...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start students and families began the school year on Tuesday, Sept. 8 with the same mission to provide quality preschool education, and its staff with an intense commitment to provide programming in various platforms and approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 Through Friday, Oct. 2, the Head Start teaching staff is conducting services such as developmental and social emotional screenings, transportation and pedestrian...

Twenty-eight graduates of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) Class of 2020 experienced their first virtual commencement ceremony Friday, May 26. View the ceremony at siue.edu/esl-charter-school.

CHS Director Gina Jeffries, EdD, extolled the graduates’ virtues and acknowledged it was not the type of senior year they ever could have imagined because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Victory Class of 2020, take a bow and walk with the power ...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start staff members are creatively focusing on wellness as they navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, staff from each of the Head Start/Early Head Start Centers participated in a series of SIUE/STL Art Hives hosted via Zoom where they used artistic expression to connect, relax and decompress.

“It is important for SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start to continue to support wellness of staff, children and families, e...

“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” This portion of a Fred Rogers famous quote is as true now as always. Such helpers are making a dramatic positive impact as people join together, virtually or at appropriate distances, to get through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Early Childhood Center (ECC) and the Head Start/Early Head Start Program are among the helpers. In cooperation with SIUE Dining Services, ...