Local artist Mari Yamato invites both college students and area residents to attend her fall ceramics course. “I am very excited about working with the students,” Yamato said. “For the past year, we haven’t had ceramics due to COVID. I taught TRIO students this summer and enjoyed it, but it was a very condensed month-long course. I’m looking forward to this fall when I’ll have four months to teach and work with the students. In a full semester, we can relax and you can see the gradual growth in the students.”

Local quilter Laurie Rist will share her expertise with students during Olney Central College’s 10-week evening quilting course. The non-credit class is open to varying skill levels and will meet at the West Richland Center in Noble from 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays, starting Sept. 14. Beginners will complete a designated quilting project from start to finish while learning how to read patterns as well as cut and prep material. More advanced students can work on a project of their choice with Rist’s guidance.

OLNEY, Ill. — Outstanding students at Olney Central College have received academic honors for the Spring 2021 Semester. Students named to the Chancellor’s List have attained a grade point average of 3.90 or higher, on a 4.0 scale. Those on the President’s List have achieved a grade point average between 3.75 and 3.89, while those students named to the Dean’s List have earned a grade point average between 3.50 and 3.74. Chancellor’s List: Albion: Camden Cowger and Omalee McDonald Allendale: Ashley Carie

Olney Central College Director of Choral Activities Dr. Andrew Pittman is excited to announce the OCC Community Choir is returning for Fall 2021. “After a very difficult year, I’m so excited to see my friends in the Community Choir again, for us to sing, to connect, and to just plain have fun,” he said. Last fall the OCC Music Department made the difficult decision to cancel Community Choir and its annual Christmas Concert due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olney Central College Instructor Heather Sandy’s artwork, Protect and Respect, won first place in the 2021 Art for Health and Unity Competition sponsored by Unity in Action Magazine in Champaign. Sandy used both Procreate, an iPad app, and Adobe Illustrator to create the digital piece, which features four individuals walking together as the COVID-19 virus lurks in the background.

Olney Central College is excited to announce line dancing classes are returning this fall. “I’m anxious to get back,” said Instructor Vickie Smith, who has been teaching the classes since 2003. “A lot of the same people signed up every semester and I have really missed them.” In addition to familiar faces, Smith hopes to welcome new students as classes resume.

Olney Central College Baseball finished the 2021 season with a 34-21 record and was named an Academic All-American Team with a 3.24 team grade point average. Several players earned postseason honors. Those named Great Rivers Athletic Conference All-Conference were: • Peyton Meredith, who finished with a .419 batting average and 29 runs batted in;

Olney Central College Basketball has scheduled its Summer Shoot Outs and Elite Camp. June 4 — 7th & 8th Grade Boys Shoot Out - 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. June 7-8 — Junior Varsity & Varsity Boys Shoot Out - 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. June 11 — Elite Camp. The camp is for high school students who are being recruited for the future.  This is for incoming sophomores in high school through seniors. All freshmen that have signed for next year will be attendance as well.

The Olney Arts Council and the Olney Central College Theatre are partnering again this summer to provide a 3-week summer theatre workshop for students in Grades 3 through entering freshmen. Rehearsals are weekdays from 1 to 3:30 p.m. July 6-23.  Participants will learn valuable skills in the theatrical arts including set design, makeup application, healthy vocal production, characterization, costuming and more. The workshop will conclude with a production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr., presented by all workshop participants.

Olney Central College Assistant Professor of Life Sciences Sarah Bergbower has completed training as a citizen scientist in the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center's Illinois RiverWatch Program. The Illinois RiverWatch is a volunteer stream monitoring program administered by the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC). Established in 2002, NGRREC’s scholars and scientists study the ecology of the big rivers, the workings of the watersheds that feed them and ties to the river communities that use them.