Downtown Bloomington’s farmers market is officially open for the summer. Saturday, May 5 marked the beginning of the outdoor season. The farmers market, located on Jefferson, Main, and Center Streets, offers an array of locally sourced goods such as produce, plants, and art.   The market...

With summer rapidly approaching, many students are looking forward to a summer spent in places, well, other than the cornfields of Bloomington/Normal. While true, Bloomington/Normal doesn’t offer the same landscapes and activities that destination spots across the country might, there are plenty of...

Unlike most humans, Sarah Kowalczyk’s (10) feet function better on ice than on grass. Though Sarah learned how to skate at the age of three, she gave it up in favor of soccer. After a few years of soccer, however, she quickly discovered that hockey was where she belonged. That’s not to say that...

Mrs. Natalie Shumaker took over Mr. Joshua Fabish’s role as assistant principal after he left for a job opportunity in Florida. Shumaker began working with the NCHS administrative team as an intern this fall, then was hired as Fabish's replacement at the school board meeting on December 3 - officially...

A team of six girls from the Lady Iron swim team attended the IHSA State Swimming and Diving competition last weekend, November 17-19. The team, composed of Grace Ariola (12), Sophie Benson (11), Ashley Bengtson (10), Julia Heimstead (10), Claire Koh (12) and Julia Oostman (12), won 4th place overall...

Spot the difference between these two photos:                     Check the solution here

49 minutes. 49 minutes to take attendance. Settle the class down. Collect homework. Pass out worksheets. Begin a group discussion. Separate the students into groups. Shuffle the desks around. Log in to the computers. Pack everything back up. All this in 49 minutes. Cramming all of this-not to mention...

A new road is being constructed between Normal Community High School and Eastview Christian Church. The construction began in early October and is scheduled to be completed by November 5. Eastview initially proposed the idea of building the road and has funded the project. The church uses NCHS’s...

The road from NCHS's side.

The road from Eastview's side.

The road connects to NCHS's property by the tennis courts.

Normal Community celebrated Homecoming the week of October 2. After a week of activities, dress-up days, and after-school events, Homecoming culminated with an all-school assembly before the home football game against Champaign Centennial on Friday and the dance on Saturday. The assembly featured...

After 13 years of service at NCHS, both as a teacher and assistant principal, Mr. Fabish is leaving Unit 5 to work in Florida. This summer, Fabish accepted a job at Ligonier Ministries, a nonprofit organization that equips churches with materials such as books, podcasts, and teaching series. For...

As part of Homecoming week, student bands competed at Battle of the Bands on Wednesday night. The entries ranged from two sophomore violinists to a group of boys performing punk rock to a trio backed only by piano performing mashups. In the end, The Lugnuts--last year’s Battle of the Bands winner--pulled...

The IMC went through some remodeling over the summer,. The computer lab that once existed in the IMC was removed and replaced with a collaboration center. Mrs. Fox-Anvick, the head librarian, stated that “since everybody has a laptop, we wanted a better use of this space. It was a big, ugly bank of...

Note: The Homecoming week schedule has changed - the new events can be found here.

Can you spot the eight differences between these two photos? Check out the solution here

A vehicle, driven by Joshua Brewster, crashed into a utility pole at the corner of Airport Road and College Avenue this past Monday, April 10 around 5:00 PM. Brewster’s wife, Melonie, along with their three children, ages 4, 3, and 2, were also in the car. Although the accident was not fatal, it...

Ed Sheeran has always drawn from a personal place when creating and performing his music, but his new album Divide takes that same personal, intimate approach to another level. Each of the sixteen songs in Sheeran’s album puts a piece of his culture and past in the spotlight. Every song on the...

First course is whisked out: raw beets in vinaigrette. Next comes the braised salmon with lentils and leeks. To top off the meal, some Brie or Maroilles are served as part of the cheese course. This sounds like a five-star restaurant in the Hamptons, but it’s not. The setting of this fine dining experience...

Over 50 NCHS students gathered at Congressman Darin LaHood’s office to express their disapproval of the immigration ban after school on Thursday, February 2. President Trump signed the executive order on January 27, 2017, suspending entry into America for 90 days for immigrants from Iraq, Syria,...

With the start of a new year comes new opportunities. Many people choose to create resolutions in order to make the most of the new year. Others choose to not make goals, and instead take the year as it comes. These NCHS students share their hopes for 2017.

Veena Yeleswarapu (11) aspires "to increase productivity. Towards the end of 2016 I just kind of lost motivation to do a lot of things and I was just scrambling, so I want to change that."

Sindhu Komaragiri (11) wants to stop procrastinating. In order to achieve her goal, Komaragiri resolves to give her phone to her parents at 9:00 PM so that she isn't distracted by it.

Some students choose to not make New Year's resolutions. Trinity Harris (12), chose to not make a resolution. "I don't keep them," she states.

Addie Smith's (10) goal for 2017 is to make new friends because she wants to branch out more.

Finals: sleepless nights, endless packets, extensive math problems, undetermined grades, constant studying, stress. A lot of stress. Finals are coming. Unfortunately, these end-of-the-semester tests are inevitable (unless you’re one of the lucky seniors that has maintained a B and has less than...

Fashion club founders Sanjana Saxena and Pavani Nukala led the new club's first meeting, with sponsor Mrs. Laura Thomas, on Thursday, September 15. Saxena and Nukala noticed that the school had three fashion courses, yet no fashion club.  Saxena states, “We wanted to be able to do activities...

The Junior agenda is full of various standardized and placement tests in the coming year.   PSAT registration is occurring.  The PSAT offers students the opportunity to gain SAT experience before the actual test happens in the spring.  Students wanting to take the PSAT should enroll by midnight...

The cool September breeze rustles through the thick, green leaves.  The rich smell of soil and basil mix in the air.  Small, red tomatoes hang from thick vines, and green peppers hide between leaves.  A butterfly lands on a flower, and a bird chirps in the distance.  Five children crouch in the...

One goal of the Active Garden is to become as self-sustainable as possible. This water jug will collect rain water that they can use to water the plants.

Grape tomatoes grow plentifully.

Jan Turner teaches a Boys and Girls Club member how to weed.

The Boys and Girls Club is located just a few blocks away from the Active Garden.

A green pepper waits to be harvested.

The garden shed is covered in handprints made by the children at the Boys and Girls Club.

The children from the Boys and Girls Club learn how to plant seeds.

The West Bloomington Active Garden still has about two acres to use and develop.

Ten new teachers were welcomed to the Normal Community High School staff at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. After the 2015-2016 school year, there were several openings due to the retirement of teachers, such as English teacher Mary Jespersen.  With the large number of incoming freshman,...

To kick off Friday night football at NCHS, the varsity, junior varsity, and freshman football players held a scrimmage on Friday, August 19.

Varsity cheerleaders warm-up before the varsity scrimmage. Reagan Volz (11) performs a stunt.

The scoreboard was not functioning during most of the scrimmage.

Freshman cheerleaders rally the crowd.

As the scrimmage finishes, players stop to get a drink as they exit the field.

Freshman cheerleaders stand at attention while watching the game.

Freshman football players finish their scrimmage.

Parents and students watch the game from the stands.

Freshman football players exit the field while sophomore players run on in preparation to play.

Sophomore players complete warm-ups before playing.

Sophomore players huddle before beginning the scrimmage.

Students and parents watch from the stands.

Sophomore players are introduced to the crowd.

Parent volunteers sell school spirit wear.

Student Council sold hot dogs, chips, and a drink for $3 as one of their fundraisers.