News Releases
- 11-4 Neil Simon Classic to Hit SWIC Belleville Stage This Month
- 11-3 Check Out SWIC Red Bud Campus at Nov. 18 Open House
- 10-23 Find a Job at SWIC Sam Wolf Granite City Campus Job Fair
- 10-9 Find a Job at SWIC Mini Jobs Fairs in October
- 10-7 Schmidt Art Center to Feature Contemporary Exhibit
- 10-3 Renowned Biologist/Herpetologist to Speak at SWIC on Oct. 15
Archived News Releases
NEIL SIMON CLASSIC TO HIT SWIC BELLEVILLE STAGE THIS MONTH
Neil Simon's funny, yet touching story of a Brooklyn teenager's coming of age in 1937, "Brighton Beach Memoirs," will hit the Southwestern Illinois College stage this November. Performances will be held Nov. 14-16 and Nov. 21-23 in the Belleville Campus Main Complex -Theatre, 2500 Carlyle Ave.
A special dinner theatre performance at 6 p.m., Friday, Nov. 14 kicks off the two-weekend run. Other performances will be held at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 15; Friday, Nov. 21; and Saturday, Nov. 22, as well as 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 16 and Sunday, Nov. 23. To reserve your seats for the show, contact 618-235-2700, ext. 5561. Tickets to all performances except the special dinner theatre at $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Advanced tickets for the dinner theatre are $20 each.
Simon's autobiographical play is a snapshot of life in a struggling Jewish household. You meet Eugene Jerome; his older, experienced brother, Stanley; their mother and father; a widowed aunt and her two daughters. While it has many funny moments, the "dramedy" also tackles serious issues around family dynamics, including sibling rivalry and parental guilt, and dignity through hardship.
"I think Brighton Beach Memoirs is incredible, one of the best plays I've ever read!" notes Director Jeff Blue. "Neil Simon has a gift of creating characters that you can really relate to, characters that struggle just like we do, but at the same time, characters that keep their sense of humor through thick and thin. I've never felt so deeply and laughed so hard."
The play's debut performance came in Los Angeles at the end of 1982. It moved to Broadway in 1983. Brighton Beach Memoirs was made into a film, featuring Jonathan Silverman and Blythe Danner, in 1986.
The SWIC stage production will feature Brandon Bryan of Troy as Eugene, Jenni Wilson of Red Bud as Blanche, Jadienne Nolan of St. Louis. as Kate, Andria Dotigney of Swansea as Laurie, Emily Mollet of New Baden as Nora, Ryan Loughman of Belleville as Stanley and William Conklin of Granite City as Jack.
The play is presented through special arrangement with Samuel French.
CHECK OUT SWIC RED BUD CAMPUS AT NOV. 18 OPEN HOUSE
The Southwestern Illinois College Red Bud Campus, 500 W. South Fourth St., will swing its doors wide open to residents of the district from 5-7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18 for a Red Bud Campus Open House.
"People can discover why the campus is the right place to pursue their education. They can learn about academic programs and student services, take a campus tour, meet with Enrollment Services staff, learn about financial aid, meet current SWIC students and begin the enrollment process," said Enrollment Services Specialist Lyn Waller.
Special sessions will be held for parents, as well as high school juniors and seniors.
Reservations for the Red Bud Campus Open House are required. Seating is limited; a light supper will be served. Contact 800-222-5131, ext. 5664, to reserve your spots.
Opened in 1985, the Red Bud Campus offers a host of credit classes through a variety of flexible scheduling options, including Block Schedule and Friday Only courses. Credit classes prepare you to transfer to a four-year college or university or gain skills to move directly into the work force. A partnership with Southern Illinois University makes it possible for students to transfer smoothly to their SIU institution of choice. In addition, a partnership with Monroe-Randolph Transit makes getting to classes cheaper and easier.
For more information about the campus, mark your calendar to attend! Can't make it? Call Enrollment Services at 800-222-5131, ext. 5526, or e-mail Enrollment Services Specialist Lyn Waller at lyn.waller@swic.edu or Sonia Fischer at sonia.fischer@swic.edu.
FIND A JOB AT SWIC SAM WOLF GRANITE CITY CAMPUS JOB FAIR
If you are looking for a new job or just want to explore your employment possibilities, it is time for you to attend the Fall Job Fair at the Southwestern Illinois College Sam Wolf Granite City Campus.
The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 6 in The Commons, 4950 Maryville Road. The event is sponsored by the SWIC Career Activities and Employment Center and the Granite City Rotary Club.
The fair is free and open to the public. You are encouraged to dress professionally and to bring several copies of your résumé. You will have the opportunity to make business contacts or land an interview that can get you started on a new career path.
A complete list of participating employers is available from the SWIC Career Activities and Employment Center Web site, wbi.swic.edu/careerplc. Click on the Calendar of Events for a current list of employers.
Among the employers scheduled to participate are Ameren, AmeriCorps St. Louis, Anderson Hospital, Avon, Babies 'R' Us, Barnes-Jewish College, Challenge Unlimited/Residential Options, Cracker Barrel, Edwardsville Nursing & Rehabilitation, Granite City Fire Department, Home Instead Senior Care, Illinois Army National Guard, KJSL/KSTL Radio, Mad Science of St. Louis, Madison County Employment and Training, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Merry Maids, Midcoast Aviation, Premier Designs, Primerica, Regions Financial Corporation, Richmond Heights Community Center, Sabreliner Corporation, Scott Base Exchange, Slate Missouri Career Center, Springfield Police Department, St. Louis County Police Department, Stifel Nicolaus, The Bridges of Columbia, UPS, U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.
Note: This list may not include all companies attending and may contain companies unable to appear due to last minute cancellations.
Call the SWGCC Career Activities and Employment Center at 618-931-0600, ext. 6638, for more information.
FIND A JOB AT SWIC MINI JOBS FAIRS IN OCTOBER
If a new job is something you're after this fall, check out the two mini job fairs at Southwestern Illinois College this October. The fairs will take place Wednesday, Oct. 22 and Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the SWIC Belleville Campus, 2500 Carlyle Ave.
Both job fairs run 9 a.m. to noon in the Main Complex First Floor Lounge. More than 40 employers searching for individuals to fill available vacancies in their companies will be on campus for the first mini job fair, and slots are quickly filling up for the second fair.
You will be able to meet with representatives of AFLAC, Avon, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Cracker Barrel, Eden Village Retirement, Extra Help Inc., Family Video, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FedEx, Illinois Department of Corrections, Illinois Army National Guard, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Metro East Saturn, Midcoast Aviation, NAPA, Navy Officer Programs, PetSmart, Radio Shack, Regions Financial Corporation, Scott Air Force Base, St. Clair Distributing, St. Louis Arc, The Pampered Chef, United Insurance Group, U.S. Army Medical Recruiting and many more.
The SWIC Career Activities and Employment Center offers these tips to individuals on a job search: ensure that your résumé is accurate and up-to-date; ask someone else to review your résumé to make sure information is clear; check for typographical or grammatical errors; research any company you're interested in speaking with; and come dressed professionally with plenty of résumés in hand.
A complete list of participating employers is available from the SWIC Career Activities and Employment Center Web site, wbi.swic.edu/careerplc. Click on the calendar of events for a current list of employers.
If you need assistance creating a winning résumé or want more information about the upcoming job fair, contact the SWIC Career Activities and Employment Center at 618-235-2700, ext. 5562.
SCHMIDT ART CENTER TO FEATURE CONTEMPORARY EXHIBIT
An art installation you can walk through and landscape paintings are just some of things you will see at the latest Schmidt Art Center exhibit at Southwestern Illinois College, 2500 Carlyle Ave., Belleville.
These environmentally-inspired exhibits will run from Oct. 16 until Dec. 13. The opening reception will take place from 6-8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 16. All Schmidt exhibits are free and open to the public.
The first exhibit, "A Human Geology," will feature Swansea artist and 2001 SWIC graduate B.j. Vogt. He also is the founder and director of Maps Contemporary Art Space of Belleville. For his installation, he has stacked shapes to create a cavernous topographic landscape. The walls are comprised of cardboard, various types of foam and foam board. According to Vogt, not only do these materials visually reference layers of sediment, ice and soil, but they also reference their very source - the Earth.
For this exhibit, Vogt created a site-specific installation with the Schmidt Art Center in mind. He overlaid images of brain slices onto the gallery floor plan to create the installation's layout. This detailed and time-consuming process required extremely precise measurements, light observations and anticipation of the visitors' movements.
"'A Human Geology' is comprised of works that explore the concept that human evolution and structure of the human body are directly linked to processes inherent in geology, plate tectonics and vulcanology," says Vogt. "These are all tied together by the histories of their structures and biological compositions."
The second exhibit will highlight paintings by St. Louis artist Ken Worley. He creates landscapes by using oil pastels to make sketches and then mills his own oil sticks in the studio for painting. By applying layers of color and then scratching into the surface, he arrives at his final image, which is very rich in color and texture.
Worley's paintings have been described as very theatrical. His landscapes usually feature trees shown in a very dramatic light, which gives them a surreal, quiet and almost lonely feeling. Some say his paintings are about the absence of people from the landscape, and not just about the landscape itself. They are like stage sets, just waiting for something to happen.
"Landscapes are sensory things," says Worley. "They are always changing. One has no control over a landscape. And there's a mystery to them. Viewing a landscape is like looking at chaos and discovering order by making some sense of it. There's so much adventure in there, so many possibilities."
For more information, call 618-222-5278 or visit www.schmidtartcenter.com.
RENOWNED BIOLOGIST/HERPETOLOGIST TO SPEAK AT SWIC ON OCT. 15
If a frog warned you about possible health risks, would you listen? Biologist and herpetologist Tyrone Hayes' primary research - including extensive field studies - has focused on the role environmental factors play on the growth and development of amphibians.
Hayes will present a lecture entitled "From Silent Spring to Silent Night: What do frogs tell us about human health?" at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 15 in the Southwestern Illinois College Belleville Campus Varsity Gym at 2500 Carlyle Ave.
In a Web posting, Hayes explained: "Through my research, I have come to realize that the most important environmental factors affecting amphibian development are synthetic chemicals (such as pesticides) that interact with hormones in a variety of ways to alter developmental responses…and how these studies predict effects in other wildlife and humans."
SWIC Associate Professor of Biology Cinnamon Van Putte is excited to have a scholar of Hayes' stature visiting the college. "It's no small feat to have been tenured at UC Berkeley before the age of 35," said Van Putte. "I've followed his work for the past 15 years, and have found him to be an individual of true merit, strong ethics and family commitment."
The event, part of the college's Science and Math Committee Lecture Series, is sponsored by SWIC Instructional Services, College Activities and the Math and Science division.
For more information about this event, please contact Science and Math Committee Chair Robin Anderson at 618-235-2700, ext. 5148 or robin.anderson@swic.edu.