Rameen: Coming up on City Spotlight, with five episodes left in season eight, we head to Arthur.

First, we'll talk Arthur Lovington, Atwood Hammond Schools, with superintendent of schools, Shannon Cheek.

Shannon tells us about how the last two years of the pandemic have impacted the staff and students of the ALAH school district.

Plus, an update on proposed facility upgrades for ALAH schools.

Then, we'll have a feature with sight and sounds from the strawberry jam festival.

We're back in Arthur for another on location episode of City Spotlight.

[music plays] City Spotlight is supported by Consolidated Communications.

CCI is honored to salute the cities and their leaders in the area, as well as providing TV, Internet, and phone service for the local homes and businesses.

We live where we work, and are proud to support the communities we serve.

More information available at consolidated.com.

And welcome to another edition of City Spotlight.

As you can see, we are out of the studios of WEIU.

We continue with another on location episode here in season eight, and we find ourselves taping here in Arthur on May 23rd.

We are taping here in the district office of Arthur Lovington, Atwood Hammond Schools, and we are pleased to welcome back to the program, the superintendent of Arthur Lovington, Atwood Hammond Schools, Shannon Cheek.

Shannon, it's great to have you on again.

Shannon: I appreciate it.

I appreciate you having me.

Rameen: And we are taping back here at the school buildings.

Glad to be back here in Arthur schools.

I think the last time I taped with you was over there in the village hall area.

Shannon: Yeah.

Rameen: Because the timing of when we taped with Shannon last, which was the fall of 2020, obviously that was a much different time in the world of COVID that we know of, but how are things going in comparative to when we last taped seems like forever ago?

Shannon: It seems like forever, right?

A couple years seems like it's been forever for various reasons, but things are going well honestly.

We, like all school districts in the state, went through some pretty rough and challenging times and we weathered it I think pretty well.

And we have a great staff, great communities, and it's been nice here the last few months to get back to some sense of normalcy.

Rameen: Okay.

Very good.

Again, we're taping here near the end of May.

Folks at home are seeing this episode for the first time second half of June.

We're nearing the end of this current school year for you Shannon.

Tell us how this school year's gone.

Shannon: I mean, I mentioned earlier we've had some challenges as many have, but we've continued to forge ahead.

We've continued to not only just, I think survive all the challenges we've been faced with, but I feel like our districts done a great job and have actually thrived.

We've been doing some curriculum work.

One of the big projects that we've done really started my first year here and that was with facilities.

We've been looking at our facilities.

We've been trying to do as much as we can of gathering some information from all stakeholders, our community, students, staff.

And we're really at a point in that process where we have a 30.6 million dollar proposal that'll be on the ballot in June and excited to see what happens with that.

Rameen: Okay.

We'll get to those facility changes, or prospects, moving forward.

I know that's something that we talked with Shannon, the first time we talked with you about 18 months ago, that's that study and looks like you're putting that study to work.

What do you think these last two years have...

I don't know the word taught is the correct word.

I know we're in the school, but what have the last two years taught your students and staff about themselves and getting through these last two years?

Shannon: Yeah, that's a great question.

I mentioned the word challenge earlier, that's obvious, right?

We've all been faced with challenges, but I think that trying to put a positive spin on that, it's taught our staff, our students, and really our communities, to come together and to find different ways to do business or to do school.

We had students that were in and out on quarantine.

We had staff that were in and out on quarantine.

We were able to work with our staff and do some online teaching and have an online presence for those students that were quarantined or those students that chose to be online full time.

Rameen: Right.

Shannon: It's really, I think, again, challenge, but it's also taught us to persevere and to do things differently.

We all would rather have not probably gone through this, but I think that there's lessons to be learned and there can be some positivity that's gained through this too.

Rameen: And I know in our last episode that we talked with Dr. Tom Mulligan in Arcola, getting back to normal recently with some of the mask mandates being lifted.

Have you noticed people, maybe body language, you feel a little bit better about maybe what pre-pandemic conditions were like?

Shannon: Yeah, I think for sure.

Again, getting back to somewhat of a sense of normalcy has been great for our kids, and for our staff, and our communities.

Absolutely.

Rameen: Very good.

All right, let's get back to what you were alluding to there, the facility work.

Shannon: Sure.

Rameen: That Shannon talked with us the first time we talked with him in the fall of 2020, and obviously you have a very old building in Arthur Lovington, Atwood Hammond high school, and you kind of had a study there to see what could possibly happen down the road.

18 months have transpired since we taped and give us an update on things moving forward.

Shannon: Yeah.

Pretty exciting.

We hosted a series of community engagement sessions where we hosted, again, open forums for community to come in and provide input and give some feedback.

And we really wanted to develop a plan that didn't just address the cosmetic pieces of our buildings, but was more of a functional study where we tried to look at programs and opportunities that we were providing currently and what could those programs and opportunities look like if we did some renovating of our facilities?

Again, went through that entire process this year with those community engagement sessions and kind of landed on what I feel like is a solid recommendation from our community.

And that is that we'll potentially, if the bond passes, would be looking at a significant renovation of this building.

This building, as you mentioned, is dated, but it has good bones and our consensus was that we wanted to keep the building and maybe repurpose.

You'd be looking at doing some HVAC work here in this building, because it's without air conditioning.

Rameen: What older school hasn't gone through some HVAC work?

Shannon: Sure, but the most significant piece of that project would be an addition onto this building.

Rameen: Okay.

Shannon: And that addition would be on the west side of the building and would continue west.

Rameen: Okay.

Shannon: And what we would be looking to do would be to move our high school students into that new portion of the building.

Rameen: Okay.

Shannon: And then we would like to be able to take the older part of our building, do a little bit of renovating of those spaces as well, and move our 6-8 students all under one roof.

We essentially would have a 6-12 building here on this site.

Currently, as you're maybe aware, we have three pre-K-8 buildings.

We have a pre-K-8 building in Lovington, of course a pre-K-8 building in Atwood and then a pre-K-8 building here in Arthur.

Rameen: Wow.

Shannon: Those would obviously be pre-K-5 buildings, which the renovating we would do here, which would allow us to bring those 6-8 students under this roof.

Rameen: Wow.

Yeah.

Shannon: Would free up space in those other buildings as well, for us to be able to do some STEM labs and some other creative activities in those buildings as well.

Rameen: Certainly enhance and advance, I guess maybe is a better word.

Shannon: Yeah.

[crosstalk].

21st century learning spaces is really what we were looking for, right?

We wanted to make sure we were able to provide our kids with those types of learning spaces.

The other piece of it that we're looking at, again, that's a major portion of this project, but we will be touching every building in the district with some minimal work here in phase one.

And that would be trying to do the best we can to enhance the safety of those buildings by creating... Our entryways would be more secured.

We'd be touching each building in a sense to try to help with the secured entries.

Rameen: I'm kind of a history buff.

I'm going to put you on the spot.

This is not on my list of questions, but when was the last major renovation or addition change to this high school?

Shannon: To the high school?

I don't know that I have an answer for you, but I know that there was some work done at Arthur grade school.

Rameen: Okay.

Shannon: A few years ago to the junior high piece, but I'm not sure.

You did put me on spot and I don't have a good answer for you.

Rameen: I guess the answer is it's definitely needed.

Shannon: Yeah.

This building, again, is an older building, as you're aware.

It's pretty dated.

The district, the board, the communities have done a great job of maintaining the building, it's just a tired building.

Rameen: It's a building that anyone that's lived in Arthur or the surrounding area, the Arthur area as we call it sometimes, everybody's gone through this building.

To see it probably will make everybody feel very comfortable at that.

I want to touch upon maybe some newer things in the district.

Our WEIU news watch crew recently did a story on the Arthur Lovington, Atwood Hammond, is it the bass fishing team?

I've been hearing about those popping up in different places, seems to be a newer sport for some high schools in the state of Illinois, talk about that new addition, that's kind of cool.

Shannon: It is kind of cool.

It's relatively new and it's gaining interest.

I don't know when the first year we had our team officially, but it's gaining popularity.

We have some great community that are willing to support.

As you're aware, you have to have a boat to bass fish, or it's helpful, right?

Rameen: Right.

Shannon: We have community members that have stepped up and provided the tools necessary, and it's really kind of cool.

It's an alternative activity than the norm and I just think whenever you can add activities in general that help serve kids.

And we have kids with wide range of interest, it's just nice to see.

Rameen: Yeah, talking with educators such as yourself, it's not just the things in the classroom, but those extracurricular activities that might end up being their chosen career down the road.

But it also forms new relationships by having...

I mean, it's an opportunity there that these kids... A, to be able to learn how to fish, I mean, I guess more properly, and B, converse and associate with other kids of similar interest.

Shannon: Yeah.

We talk a lot administratively and as a district about how to connect kids to the school.

And you really did hit the nail on the head, I mean, the academic piece is obviously why we're here, but the other extracurricular activities, albeit basketball, track, Scholastic bowl.

Rameen: Yeah.

Shannon: I mean, fill in the blank.

That's why we do the things we do with those extracurriculars, is because it's important for kids to connect.

And it's just another avenue for a kid to connect to the school or to a positive adult in their life.

And we just feel like those things that they can learn with those extracurricular activities extend far beyond the classroom.

Rameen: Just popped in my head that I've been in this building a few times, several seasons ago on City Spotlight I talked with a former band director, a couple band directors ago here at this building.

I'm kind of a band nerd myself so extracurriculars, band is also one of those.

Shannon: Absolutely.

Rameen: Very good.

Any other new things since we last talked, any other new programs that are being offered here in the school district?

Shannon: I don't know that we have any new programs that are being offered, but we are starting to look at next year, we're going to be implementing a mentor program.

We have a mentor program now that is for our teachers first year, second year teachers that's outstanding.

But what we wanted to do was try to extend some type of an opportunity for our community to come in and get involved with our youth.

Rameen: Right.

Shannon: We've been working hard this year on developing that program and we're looking forward to kicking that off this summer, and hopefully get some volunteers to come in and participate in the youth of our community and our schools.

And again, give those students an opportunity to connect with a positive adult.

Rameen: I think it's without saying, mental health aspect of schools is even more important.

I have kids of my own, seeing with the last couple years have done and other school districts have had maybe some mental health programs maybe a tad longer than you will have had, but again, the importance of being able to really narrow in on the importance of the mental health of the children.

Shannon: Absolutely.

Rameen: Very good.

When is your last day of school?

We're taping again here on May 23rd.

When's the last day of school for the students here in the Arthur area?

Shannon: Last day is Wednesday.

Rameen: Okay.

Shannon: This Wednesday and then last day for staff will be Thursday.

Rameen: Okay.

Shannon, my question for you is, what does the end of the school year mean to you?

Shannon: I think there's always an excitement of heading into the summer of course, but for me there's a little bit of sadness too.

I mean, you got another group of seniors that are going to be leaving and although you're excited for them, of course, and what the next stage means for them and their lives, it's still sad to see them go.

Because we have great kids here and they're really invested in the school and they have a lot of pride.

The buildings are quieter in the summer and you can get some things done, but kids just bring a level of energy in life to the buildings that I'll miss, for sure.

Rameen: And you tapped upon what the summer months are like, give people at home a little insight of what are the summer likes here?

Planning between school years.

Shannon: There's a lot of planning that goes into the summer.

There's a lot of work on the budget.

There's a lot of work on facilities, what we're going to do.

I mean, when you look at our facilities, that's the only time that we have to really deep clean the building.

Kids are gone so it gives our custodial staff an opportunity to get the buildings in shape for the start of school in August.

Summer is sometimes not long enough to get some of those things done.

Rameen: No, it does go by super-fast.

We're talking about the end of this current school year, when does the new school year start in the fall for students here in Arthur?

Shannon: We have teachers report on the 15th, August 15th.

We have two days of in-service.

August 15th and 16th, and our students will be here on that Wednesday, August 17th.

Rameen: It'll be here in a blink of an eye.

Shannon: It sure will.

Rameen: Shannon, I have no other questions for you.

Is there anything else you'd like to add as we...

Pleasure talking Arthur schools with you.

Shannon: No, I'd just like to reiterate that I really am proud of our communities, our staff, and students these last few years, because it's been a challenge, but they've done such a great job of supporting one another.

It's been great to be a part of.

Rameen: And obviously moving forward, we'll have a lot to follow up with you and see the transformation, if all the bonds and everything go through with that.

When can people vote on those bonds?

Shannon: June 28th is when the vote is.

Rameen: Okay.

My math is correct, I think folks at home are able to see this episode just prior to that so hopefully you've gotten some information out of this interview talking with Shannon here.

Shannon Cheek, superintendent here at Arthur Lovington, Atwood Hammond Schools.

Shannon, it's been a pleasure having you on City Spotlight again.

Shannon: I appreciate the opportunity.

Rameen: Thank you very much.

And coming up next here on City Spotlight, we'll continue this episode here on Arthur and we'll have a little feature on the strawberry jam festival, but first let's take a look at some of the upcoming activities going on in Arthur.

[music plays] [paperbag sounds] [scooter moving] Customer: And there's a spoon on the end of this straw.

Customer 2: Yay.

Stephanie: We are cutting up a strawberry angel food cake that Mac Condill out at the Homestead Bakery, the great pumpkin patch, he donated six of us and we're cutting up samples and going to give him away to people that are coming by.

Give them a little taste.

This one's strawberry flavored, obviously, with the strawberry jam.

My name is Stephanie Wierman and I am president of the Arthur Area Association of Commerce.

I'm also the general manager for the Arthur Graphic Clarion Newspaper.

Well, I've been president for five years now and that's just part of the president's duties is putting on festivals in our town of Arthur here.

This festival really started out probably back in the late 1950s.

The downtown businessmen and merchants started this, back then it was called the Sidewalk Day Sales, and the merchants would put all their stuff that they hadn't moved or just needed to move merchandise, turn it, they put it literally out on the sidewalks on tables, and that's kind of where it got its start.

The businessmen Delbert Taylor was probably the forefather of that, obviously with all the businesses he owned here in town, and also being the mayor.

That's probably where it got it start and it's just kind of evolved into different avenues over the years.

It then evolved into Strawberry Jam and that came from having actual jammers on the street corners.

They would play blue grass, and so we kind of changed it from Sidewalk Day Sales to Strawberry Jam, with the jammers here in town.

As the jammers kind of faded away, and that went away, we still kept the name Strawberry Jam Festival and switched and gave some little jars of strawberry jam away.

We could still continue with that name.

And we also tag on with the strawberry social, which is put on out at the Otto Center.

It's a one day event, on Saturday only, of this festival weekend.

But it's kind of our prelude to the festival and fair season.

It's America's favorite fruit.

We have a lot of local growers here that raise their own strawberries.

And again, partnering with the Otto Center and the strawberries social, it just makes sense, and it's the fruit of June to kick off the festival season so it just kind of stuck.

Mother: Well, hey big boy.

[horse walking] Stephanie: Arthur's known for its festivals and events.

It seems like we have something going on every weekend here, whether it's a horse sale or something at the Otto Center, downtown, the Pumpkin Patch, there's always something going on in our town.

But yeah, this is the kickoff season.

Ed: My name's Ed Coller, I'm the director of economic development for Simply Arthur.

Our mission is to promote tourism and advocate for businesses to come to this area, as well as advocate for the businesses that are already here.

The strawberry festival is one of those occasions where we can invite people into this wonderful, unique, special community and show them what we have to offer.

And you can find anything from boutiques to buggy rides, and it's just a fun place to come and spend the day and spend some time looking at what America used to look like with our unique Amish influence here.

The special thing about Arthur is that we embrace kind of that good Midwestern values of hard work.

It's a spiritual community, we have a number of churches and influence us with that.

And not only that, but I think we're just good people.

We treat each other with respect, when someone has an issue has a problem and there's something going on, and there's a need in the community, we all gather together and try to make sure that person and that family is taken care of.

Stephanie: We've got obviously fresh strawberries by the quart.

We have fresh strawberry pies, we've got sales going on, just kind of a laid back feeling in this town.

We just kind of move at a little bit slower pace here in Arthur.

And this is one of the best festivals we've had in a long time weather wise, we're not too hot, it's not pouring down rain.

Enjoy the beautiful day, enjoy the beautiful countryside.

A lot of people come to the festival.

[drink shaking sounds] Server: There's a strawberry for you.

Ed: That's just a chance for us to show off what some of our produce in the area is, how we take strawberries and make them into cakes, into cookies, et cetera, and sell them right here in downtown Arthur.

Girl: Look how much seeds that is.

Father: Oh yeah.

Ed: Well, it's just important that any time that we have something and the strawberry festival, like I say, kind of kicks off our summer, that we can draw people in and let them know what we have here and what we can offer here.

It's just a pleasant place to come and spend.

If you like strawberries, if you like small towns, if you like meeting people, if you like food, you need to come out to the strawberry festival every year.

Server: Oh, we have strawberry caramel, strawberry banana.

You know what you want.

Customer: Oh yeah.

Server: $3.00.

Kim: You got that picked out.

Customer: Well, too many flavors, it corrupts the intent of the caramel corn.

Server: Okay.

Stephanie: They come from all over, and we've been having vendors that have been coming here for multiple years.

And a lot of them come, like for instance, Aunt Kim's Kettle Corn across the street here, she comes for both cheese and strawberry.

Rameen: What brings you to Arthur to sell your popcorn and product?

Kim: It's nice little quaint town and I just think it's a good environment for everybody.

[stirring popcorn] Kim: We got strawberry popcorn, we got strawberry banana popcorn, and we also have strawberry snow cones.

Stephanie: Now, this year we do have six new vendors.

We've had some vendors due to COVID not come back, they've changed their business and so we're always looking for new vendors.

This is a festival that's a two day festival.

Cheese is a little bit bigger and draws a little bit bigger crowd, but this was intended to just strictly kick off the season.

Rameen: What do you think about the idea of having the festival centered around a strawberry?

Kim: I think it's just a good idea, because it's definitely during strawberry season, so you might as well make a festival out of it.

[bagging popcorn] Rameen: What do you enjoy about it?

The conversing with the folks?

Kim: Yeah, just seeing the people, seeing their reactions when the kettle corn comes down and the smells, and they know when it's fresh.

Stephanie: Well, they're like family to us, we know them.

If they've got something going on with one of their kids or somebody in their family, it's just a big family affair here.

We just love having them back.

They're a big part of us being successful.

Customer: I wanted to do a strawberry shake-up.

Server: Large?

Customer: Small.

Ed: We're very proud and honored to have them come back.

I mean, for them to year after year, come back and want to be here and note that people are going to come into this community.

I mean, we're just a small community, but come festival time, this community grows, and we all enjoy it, and we sure appreciate people coming in.

Stephanie: We have a viable downtown, and we're proud of that and we want to maintain that.

We feel like having these festivals will keep bringing people to downtown Arthur and keep supporting our businesses and keeping our downtown alive.

We're always looking to bring new people to the area.

Through advertising, or word of mouth, or social media now, because we've kind of had to step up our social media presence, things are changing with technology and things like that.

People didn't know we have this festival and a lot of people it's just introducing them to this festival, but for some people, introducing them to Arthur.

And they're always going to come back, that's our goal.

We always have the same people sometimes come back and they say, "Oh, are you going to have strawberry fudge to give away this year?

Are you going to do the strawberry bread?"

And we like to do the free giveaways because then it promotes that business that gave us that strawberry bread, or that strawberry fudge, or that strawberry angel food cake.

When we give those giveaways, people always ask, "Where do we buy this at?"

Then we can send them to that business.

And that's what it's about, is promoting our businesses.

It's just a fun family time.

We haven't had the greatest weather so far this spring so I think it's exciting to just see people get out, moving around, buying some strawberries, purchasing things from our businesses, and seeing our community, and hopefully return to see us for the fair.

And the cheese festival ends labor day weekend.

Rameen: City Spotlight is supported by Consolidated Communications.

CCI is honored to salute the cities and their leaders in the area, as well as providing TV, Internet, and phone service for the local homes and businesses.

We live where we work, and are proud to support the communities we serve.

More information available at consolidated.com.

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