Knox in the News

From the Register-Mail:

The sunshine in Galesburg was pretty much gone by noon Saturday, but the relatively mild temperatures still helped the Community Food Drive for FISH. Galesburg Broadcasting and United Parcel Service teamed up from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to fill up four of UPS’ “Big Brown Trucks” with non-perishable food items for the food pantry…..

“This truck was full when I got here,” he said. “We’re stocking up for the holidays.”

Help for Robinson was on the way, but he said he didn’t want to wait and let too much food stack up before other FISH volunteers began taking the items to the pantry.

“The plan was to start at 2 p.m., but I said ‘I can’t wait that long.’ You can’t predict the flow,” he said.

For example, he said things were busy early at Hy-Vee on Henderson Street and slow at Wal-Mart but then picked up at Wal-Mart.

Robinson said recent food drives by Knox College, Nielson School, Wal-Mart and Mabel Woolsey Elementary in Knoxville have helped restock the shelves at FISH. He showed a reporter a 10-by-20-foot room where the items from Saturday’s food drive were being stored. About one-fourth was filled by about 12:15 p.m., with many wooden pallets waiting for more boxes.

“This will be stacked to the ceiling, front to back, when we’re done,” Robinson said.

From the Register-Mail:

The Knox College swim team will participate in the fourth annual Ted Mullin “Leave it in the Pool” Hour of Power Relay for Pediatric Sarcoma Research, sponsored by the Carleton College swimming and diving teams Tuesday.

The Knox “Hour of Power” will run from 5-6 p.m. The swimmers will enter the pool at 5 p.m. where they will be divided into four lanes. Each swimmer will swim all out for 30 seconds to two minutes, depending on the distance they are going and then handoff to the next swimmer.

From the Register-Mail:

Calvin Zirkle, a junior from Kankakee Bishop McNamarahas been named the Midwest Conference defensive performer of the week for his efforts in Knox College’s 12-7 win over Lake Forest College on Saturday.

It was Knox’s first win of the season.

Zirkle shut down the second-leading receiver in the MWC in Lake Forest’s Dan Carter, and recorded five pass break ups and three tackles.

Zirkle now has 38 tackles for the season, and leads the team with 11 pass break ups.

From the Register-Mail:

On Nov. 15, 1909, a century ago, Knox County student Reuben Johan Erickson won the Illinois Oratorical contest held on the campus of Monmouth College. As a result of his feat, witnessed by more than 300 Knox students and local residents, Erickson became eligible to represent Illinois in the Interstate Contest in Omaha, Neb…..

Before he entered Galesburg High School the structure at Broad and Tompkins Streets was destroyed by a tragic fire. Erickson was a member of the first class to graduate from the newly built school at the same location. He proclaimed on the first page of the first ever known GHS Yearbook that the school colors would be “Silver and Gold.”

Erickson’s greatest contribution to Galesburg High School and its citizens was the first ever school song entitled “The Silver & The Gold”…..

Reuben Johan Erickson, upon departing from GHS, would graduate from Knox College and John Hopkins University. He was a lieutenant in the medical corps during World War I. He practiced medicine in Albany, N.Y., before retiring to Santa Fe, N.M.

Reuben Erickson lived as long as his song was sung at Dear Old Galesburg High School. He passed away on June 5, 1959, following an automobile accident in New Mexico. This coincendentally was the last day of classes at the downtown GHS school site prior to the opening of the current facility on West Fremont Street. Reuben lived as long as his old school.

From the Register-Mail:

Knox College’s campus felt like the scene of a big family reunion Saturday, as alumni from around the nation returned for Homecoming to swap tales of the past and hopes for the future.

Chicago attorney Paul Raya, class of ’95, watched the homecoming game at the Knosher Bowl with his buddy Trey Morrison, a chemical engineer in North Aurora from the class of ’96.

They both said that Knox’s relatively small size made for a tight-knit atmosphere of camaraderie that stays with people long after they leave Galesburg to begin the rest of their lives.

“One thing about Knox that’s different is that when you see an alum you’ll always say ‘hi’ and talk to them and catch up and that’s different if you’re from a big school. Knox is just more personal,” Raya said.

Morrison gets back to Knox almost every year for Homecoming. This year, he arrived in Galesburg on Thursday and met with students to give them career tips. But he noticed that students are more interested in giving back to the community than they were in the past. “There’s really a tremendous sense of volunteerism that wasn’t here when we were here,” he said. “There’s a lot more altruism about.”

Off-campus, Raya said Galesburg had changed quite a bit since his graduation. “When we were here there were no coffeehouses and there wasn’t as many boutiques and Cherry Street was still open,” he said.

From the Register-Mail:

Nearly 40 Knox College students boarded a rented school bus Thursday morning and headed to Springfield to protest proposed cuts to the Monetary Award Program.

MAP provides grants to Illinois students so that they may attend selected Illinois colleges and universities, including Knox, Monmouth and Carl Sandburg Colleges.