East St. Louis Center

Sometimes when Ester McNeil wakes up, she can hear her son’s measured notes coming from the living room on a piano identified, donated and delivered by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville staff and students. 

“I was surprised to learn that we were getting a piano, and I was excited for him,” said the Cahokia native regarding her 14-year-old son Camaron Johnson, a piano student in the SIUE East St. Louis After School Performing Arts Program. “I was grateful to ...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville faculty, staff and student volunteers provided expert knowledge, confidence-boosting encouragement and inspiring advice to 32 of the 54 students from St. Clair County participating in the NAACP’s East St. Louis ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, Scientific Olympics) program.

Known as the “Olympics of the Mind,” ACT-SO is a yearlong achievement program designed to recruit, stimulate and encourage high academic and cultural ...

Nearly four years ago, when 11-year-old Edwardsville native Rain Jennings told his mother he wanted to learn how to do ventriloquism, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center (ESLC) staff member did not think he would end up on Steve Harvey’s “Little Big Shots” or NBC’s “Show Me St. Louis.” 

Rain’s pre-recorded ventriloquism act will appear on “Little Big Shots” at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 8, according to his moth...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center’s (ESLC) Veterans Upward Bound program will join more than 30 organizations to host the Spring 2018 St. Louis Regional Area Homeless Veterans Stand Down from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 21 at 1521 Market St. in St. Louis. 

“The purpose of the Stand Down event is to provide resources for veterans who are in need,” according to Calvin Yancey, ESLC Veterans Upward Bound program director and Stand Down committe...

Sixty-four-year-old Larry Haney of East St. Louis wants to keep a watchful eye on the numbers that affect his health and learn better ways of improving it. He joined about 20 others recently at a Success And Continuing Knowledge (S.A.C.K.) Lunch and Learn Program at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Learning Resource Center. 

Margie Nahass, registered nurse, physician assistant, and health educator and advocate for the Christian Activity Center in East St. Louis,...

Their job was to keep America strong and safe. Now, for the first time, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center has a program whose mission is to help veterans. 

“Our Veterans Upward Bound Program is going to help the men and women who put their country’s needs ahead of themselves,” said Calvin Yancey, program director and retired U.S. Army Lieut. Col. 

The program will serve 125 adults in St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties in Illinoi...

In addition to their regular class schedules, many East St. Louis Senior High School students are making time to attend a course that will help them better prepare for college. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center’s (ESLC) Upward Bound Scholars Academy is a new program that for the first time brings college instruction to students during class hours. 

“College is a little scary. I don’t know what to expect,” said 15-year-old Taylor Ackins,...

Sitting in a circle in a nondescript classroom, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) students are introduced to Aunt Ester, Citizen Barlow and the City of Bones. 

The 16 students are reading scenes from the famous playwright August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean under the direction and animation of Kathryn Bentley, associate professor in the Department of Theater and Dance, and artistic director of SIUE’s Black Theater Workshop (BTW).&#1...

It takes a lot people linking resources together to help people close in on their dreams. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center’s (ESLC) Vera Jones is one of such dream catcher, as she provides coaching, resources and referrals to people transitioning into education and employment. 

Jones, a career counselor with the ESLC Metro East Accelerated Training & Career Hub (MATCH), was named a 2018 Tribute to Success honoree by Connections to Success. Tribute to Su...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Black Theater Workshop’s (BTW) first ever reunion, “Sankofa: Reclaiming Our Time,” will be a time for dance, learning and celebration. The event will run from Friday-Sunday, March 16-18 at SIUE’s Metcalf Theater. 

“Current SIUE BTW members and alumni will perform original pieces that celebrate the spirit of Sankofa-fetching from the past that which is good and bringing it to the present to evoke positive change,”...

With the permission of school administrators, approximately 30 students from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) assembled at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 14 to memorialize the 17 victims of the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. 

CHS senior student leaders organized a balloon memorial and moment of silence from 10-10:17 a.m. at the Of the River Mounds and Bridges stainless steel statue on the East St. Louis...

Listening to students’ ideas and getting them to identify their purpose in life are at the top of the to do list for the new Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center (ESLC) Upward Bound Program Director Keith J. Ware, EdD. 

“I have been getting to know the students and asking them what they need from us and the program,” said Ware, who began working at the ESLC on January 8. Ware’s UB programs (Upward Bound EC and BEM) cover the high schools a...

“I am proud. I am strong. I am special because, I am somebody,” sang a group of three-to-five-year-old Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start students. 

The preschoolers were part of the black history program, “Because They Did, We Can,” presented Friday, Feb. 23 by the Discovery Center for Little Scholars (DCLS). 

“The Discovery Center recognizes the importance of everyone’s culture and history,” said Heidi Eic...

Two Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start program coordinators, along with approximately 50 other participants from across the nation, were selected to participate in the National Head Start Association (NHSA)/Nike Starting Block Leadership Summit, held Jan. 30-Feb. 2 at the Tiger Woods Conference Center, Nike Corporate Campus in Portland, Ore. 

“The purpose of the conference was to share with emerging Head Start leaders and stakeholders foundational p...

Creativity and innovative thinking abounds at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, but during the Illinois budget crisis, it has been challenging to provide monetary support for numerous innovative and impactful faculty-proposed projects.

That’s why College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Dean Greg Budzban, PhD, launched the CAS Targeted Funding Initiative (TFI). The program utilizes funding acquired through the College’s Winter Session courses and is supplemented with other intern...