In case you missed our headlines last week

Jan 14, 2024 03:14 am  .::. 
Commentary | Jan. 6 was an example of networked incitement

Jan 13, 2024 07:20 pm  .::. 
Over 270 St. Joseph-Ogden students earn 2nd quarter academic honors


Jan 13, 2024 12:36 pm  .::. 
Youth Orchestra to perform on Sunday


Jan 12, 2024 12:51 pm  .::. 
Area winter storm cancellations & changes


Jan 12, 2024 11:57 am  .::. 
Prep Sports Notebook | Rockets, Spartans win conference games


Jan 11, 2024 06:55 pm  .::. 
Photo Gallery | Smith & Spartans stunned at Shootout


Jan 10, 2024 08:28 pm  .::. 
Urbana Park District Toddler Art Play Group starts tomorrow


Jan 10, 2024 08:01 pm  .::. 
Hospital recommends virtual visits due current Covid spike and rise of RSV


Jan 10, 2024 05:53 pm  .::. 
Turn your bathroom into a spa-inspired oasis


Jan 10, 2024 01:52 am  .::. 
Unity Junior High School second-quarter High Honor Roll


Jan 10, 2024 01:52 am  .::. 
Unity Junior High second-quarter Honor Roll


Jan 09, 2024 10:46 pm  .::. 
Pre-workout supplements not for teen and youth athletes, a healthy diet is safer


Jan 09, 2024 08:35 pm  .::. 
Dirty nails and mouths don’t mix


Jan 09, 2024 11:13 am  .::. 
Smart light combats screen eye strain from screen time


Jan 09, 2024 09:28 am  .::. 
Tolono chess club is forming


Jan 09, 2024 09:11 am  .::. 
Making space:Freestanding units are a popular choice for people who want more room


Jan 08, 2024 07:41 pm  .::. 
This week's SJO sports calendar


Jan 08, 2024 02:27 pm  .::. 
This week's Unity athletics calendar


Jan 08, 2024 03:29 am  .::. 
Five earn Player-of-the-Game recognition at Christie Clinic Shootout


Jan 07, 2024 12:52 pm  .::. 
24 area runners compete at Siberian Express


Jan 06, 2024 03:47 am  .::. 
Photo Gallery | 14-0 Rockets continues to blast opponents, beat Trojans by 31


Jan 05, 2024 07:29 pm  .::. 
Prep Sports Notebook | Back to business, area teams start 2024 with wins


Jan 05, 2024 06:29 pm  .::. 
Gift-giving platform makes dreams and wishes come true


Jan 05, 2024 04:08 pm  .::. 
Clinical trial for people who can't sleep with CPAP in progress


Jan 05, 2024 03:47 pm  .::. 
Get an early start on building a new deck for your home this Spring

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Fundraiser for future local Olympic figure skater ends next week

ST. JOSEPH -- Catia Schulte, of St. Joseph, has been invited to compete at the 2022 Excel National Festival in Boston. To help cover her expenses to compete at this national ice-skating event, she is doing a Laundry/dish soap fundraiser.

If you would like to help out, you will need to place your orders by Tuesday, February 1. Follow this link to view the available products.

Catia fell in love with figure skating at an early age. Now she has the opportunity to compete against some of the best skaters in her age group from around the country.

"I enjoy how this sport combines the physical challenges - jumping and spinning on the ice - with the grace and beauty of the choreography while skating to music. I really like competing," she said. "From the moment I first stepped on the ice, I felt that this is what I am supposed to be doing."

She added: "My dream is to make it to the Olympics, or even to the US Championship! I love the feeling of putting on my skates and skating my routine."

Catia working hard toward competing at the highest level.

"She stepped on the ice for the first time in January 2019 and received first place in her first competition that summer," said her mother, Carrie Gillespie-Schulte. "Catia is training in preparation of rigorous USFS Moves in the Field and Freeskating tests. Passing these tests gives her the opportunity to participate in qualifying competitions that give her the chance to participate in the events we hear more about: US Championships, World Championships, Olympics, etc." "

The Excel Series competitions bring together skaters of all ages the opportunity to get the feel of a nationwide competition while they improve their technical ability and skills on the ice. Catia's trip to Boston will bring her one step closer to becoming yet another Olympic athlete from St. Joseph.

Time is running out to help. For more information or to place an order to help send Catia to the Excel Series message Carrie Gillespie-Schulte on Facebook.

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100 participate at MLK Walk for Peace in Urbana

MLK Day
Just over one hundred people joined together to walk from Crestwood Park to Larson Park in Urbana for the MLK Walk of Peace on Monday. The event, commemorating the life and sacrifice of the Reverend Martin Luther King, was co-sponsored by the City of Urbana, HV Neighborhood Transformation, Housing Authority of Champaign County/Youth Build, The Urbana Free Library, the Urbana Park District, and the Urbana Rotary Club. "We know the sacrifices he and countless others made for the betterment of us as African-Americans and society itself," said Maurice Hayes, Executive Director of HV Neighborhood Transformations. "So often, our kids are misled by the wrong things. It will take us as adults in the room to lead them in a different direction to prosperity and to grow success."
Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
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Quote-of-the-Day:
"We know the sacrifices . . ."

MLK Day
Urbana Walk For Peace

Maurice Hayes speaks at MLK Walk for Peace in Urbana

"We know the sacrifices he and countless others made for the betterment of us as African-Americans and society itself....So often, our kids are misled by the wrong things. It will take us as adults in the room to lead them in a different direction to prosperity and to grow success."
~ Maurice Hayes
  Executive Director
HV Neighborhood Transformations
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Six reasons to learn another language

By Clark Brooks

There are several reasons for learning a second, third or even fourth language. In Europe, with smaller nations and nearly unrestricted travel between them, it is not uncommon for residents to pick up another language or two and be able to communicate effectively. Nearly every country in Europe requires students as young as six to learn a foreign language, usually English, according to The Pew Research Center.

Generally speaking, most high schools in the America offer foreign language classes, but only 15% of our country's elementary schools do the same. Except as a college requirement, there is not national US mandate like in Europe to acquire second language ability.

Sadly, less than one percent of American adults who studied a foreign language are remotely capable of carrying a conversation in that language. It isn't because Americans are dumber - although some might dispute that after the last two presidential election cycles - or less capable, but because the educational system's approach is fundamentally flawed, which is a topic for another time.

I gutted out three years of Spanish in high school and now some 40 years later, I am admittedly not in that one-percent club. I can order a beer in Español and ask where is the nearest bathroom, mostly in that order because that's just how life works. I have always held mad respect for anyone who can speak two or more languages fluently.

While caring for a relative who was suffering Alzheimer's and assessing my own risk in the next 20 or so years, I learned research has shown that people who are bi-or multilingual experience a delay in the onset of symptoms from dementia by 4-5 years when compared with monolingual patients. Why didn't they know that information back when I was struggling in Señor Kruzan's junior-year Spanish class?

Despite incredible resistance to the endeavor and the insistence everyone within our borders speak American, there are dozens of reasons to learn to speak one or more languages. Regardless of whether you want to slow the degeneration of your cognitive ability or want to increase your upward career mobility, here are six practical reasons to learn a new language that make absolute sense.

1. Learning another language stalls the onset of Alzheimer’s & dementia.
While there is no absolute guarantee, multiple studies suggest that degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia advance at a much slower pace than those how are multilingual. In one published study researchers found a small but significant protection for people who speak more than two languages. However, no significant benefit was seen in those who were bilingual.

2. Learning another language opens opportunities in high paying careers
If you can speak and read in one or more languages in addition to English, there are endless exciting opportunities in government service sector, law enforcement and the military. A woman I know has the perfect pandemic job. She charges $40 an hour tutoring high school and college students in Spanish.

3. Speaking a second or third language comes handy when you want to have a discreet conversation
You are having a great time at Barraca, a dance club in Valencia, Spain, when you meet the next Mr. or Mrs Right - or at least Right Now - and you need to fly solo. No better way to tell them to drop back or peel off than in another language. Oh, and there is no better way to share your displeasure on your boss' latest silly workplace edict with co-workers know or studying the same language.

Friend 4. Make new friends from around the world
Learning to communicate in other languages opens the door to meeting interesting people from other parts of the world and forging future personal and business relationships. Best of all when you visiting their city or country, you'll get the inside scoop on where to go and what to do off the well-worn tourist paths for a unique, memorable trip.

5. Improve your memory & cognitive performance
Studies have shown bilingual people have better working memories, superior speed when switching between different tasks and have an easier time learning new things. Like doing bicep curls to build strength, learning a new language strengthens brain functions.

6. Learning a new language is fun
Learning to speak another language is fun, just not so much in a high school and college setting. Unfortunately, both the methodology and process used by the educational system in the US is whacked. What's fun about speaking another language? It's anything from ordering food in that language to the look on the faces of native speakers when they realize you speak their language pretty well. It's moments watching movies and TV shows when you realize you don't need subtitles.

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Photos this week

Photos from St. Joseph-Ogden's November 2022 playoff football game against Olympia. Despite a solid team effort against a high-powered offense and much-improved football program, SJO's football season came to an unfortunate end after a 60-28 road loss to the Spartans.

See the entire photo collection from the here