Culture

Guy Sternberg, director of Starhill Forest Arboretum in rural Menard County (the largest research/collection center for the study of oak trees in the nation), is also the arborist for Oak Ridge Cemetery, home to the largest habitat for rare and hybrid oak trees in Illinois, if not the Midwest. Every October Guy recruits more than […]

Victoria’s Secret “Bombshell” perfume Eva Marks Springfield High School Growing up, I wondered why my best friend’s house smelled differently than both of mine. My dad told me that every family just has a different smell, that was all. My mom told me it was because some families buy expensive laundry detergent and dryer sheets. […]

I believe in SpaghettiOs Sara Street Meridian High School “Sissy, I’m hungry,” was always a phrase I heard growing up. My two little sisters would tell me this in hopes I would cure their hunger. I always did. Little 9-year-old me would venture into the kitchen and get a can of SpaghettiOs for my then […]

I believe in destiny Addison Lessen Williamsville High School I believe in destiny. Destiny is truly mind-blowing once you think about it. Destiny can lead people to astonishing things, and for me, destiny brought my family together. As crazy as it sounds, it’s true. I am so grateful for it. My family lost my father […]

Preserving the past Emily Lanter Hillsboro High School I’m 9 years old, standing just behind a velvet rope, and I’m staring up at the skeleton of a dinosaur that is inconceivably old. I’m 11, unable to tear my eyes away from the soft colors in a gilded-framed landscape. I’m 14, the farthest away from home […]

Emerald and onyx Mia Gephart Southeast High School I believe in those bright green eyes peering through the window, floating through the darkness of summer nights. I believe in walking barefoot through dirt, searching under the roof, by the wood pile, for her little black ears, her sleeping form. Walking outside in the summer heat, […]

I believe in reaching out Keaton Morgan Litchfield High School It should've been one of the happiest times in my life. I was on vacation in Wisconsin before the school year began. My mom, sister, stepdad and I were out to eat at a restaurant of my choosing when my mom’s phone began to ring. […]

Soda tabs and soliloquies Nina McEuen Springfield High School I believe in soda tabs. Those shiny aluminum openers that sizzle and pop when you open a soda make me believe in love. Love is a concept that most of us do not understand – whether that be how to obtain it or how to keep […]

I believe in stained glass Alexandria Gasperson Litchfield High School One night in mid-February, I sat in a church parking lot alone, with a black smudged cross on my forehead. The Ash Wednesday service wrapped up about 30 minutes prior and everyone had left. I thought about the sermon and how the pastor had given […]