The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommend universal indoor mask-wearing in K-12 schools and early education settings in low or medium COVID-19 Community Level areas, announcing...

Staffing shortages, said Superintendent Kristin Weikle at the Oct. 17 School Board meeting, are “one of the biggest challenges [the district] is facing” this school year. Unit 5’s struggles to...

Teen mental health is an ongoing issue, one made worse by the pandemic. Beyond the regular stressors of the teenage years, an estimated 10-20% of adolescents globally, according to the World Health Organization...

Superintendent Dr. Kristen Weikle announced in an email to Unit 5 families that four-day in-person instruction for 6-12th graders will begin on Monday, April 5. The email, sent Monday, March 8, lays...

With Illinois reverting to Phase 3 of the ‘Restore Illinois Resurgence Mitigation Plan’ on Friday, Nov. 20 for the unforeseeable future, small businesses face another round of mitigation requirements. The...

Before IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson’s Nov. 19 announcement that “all high school sports and activities will cease by November 20 for … a short-term pause” low risk winter sports were...

With stay-at-home orders and social distancing mandates, college-bound seniors planning their futures in an uncertain world are finding the process difficult to manage.  “The pandemic has upended...

Dr. Jackie Lanier would love to see her five siblings on November 26. However, there will be no holiday get together this Thanksgiving. “It’s going to look really different, and it should unfortunately,”...

With the transition back to remote learning effective Wednesday, Nov. 18, NCHS students and faculty weigh in on how successful remote learning has been thus far. For Social Studies teacher Mr. Kevin Shackley, remote learning hasn’t been easy. The fifth-year teacher compared teaching remotely to juggling, adding, “I don’t know how to juggle.”  Orchestra teacher Ms. Melissa Siebenthal shared Shackley’s struggles with teaching remotely. It has “been really, really hard, especially given the nature of orchestra,” Siebenthal said, who conducts on Zoom as muted students play along.  While “every day is a technical difficulty” for Siebenthal. She recognizes that “we’re really in unchartered territory, we’re just kind of pioneers, and it’s groundbreaking, actually, because people have never done this before.”

When faced with the inability to perform on stage this year, the Bloomington-Normal high school theatre programs proved "the show must go on," according to NCHS theatre director Mrs. Kevin Vernon as...

Unit 5 Superintendent Dr. Kristen Weikle announced Friday, Nov. 13, that the district would return to remote learning effective Wednesday, Nov. 18. Students will not be in attendance Wednesday to allow...

Isolation. Stress. Anxiety. Depression.  All side-effects of a global pandemic. Teens across the country face unforeseen challenges as they navigate school, jobs, and relationships during the ongoing...

With last year’s cancelation of the IHSA spring sports season, the 20-21 athletic seasons were uncertain. For athletes like Ironmen pitcher Andrew Briggs, this season was one they had been looking forward to for years. “Growing up,” Briggs said, “I dreamed about being able to suit up my senior year for the Ironmen.” That dream was one that at times looked like it might not come true, or at least not in the way he once imagined. 

The longest season in NHL history ended with the Tampa Bay Lightning hoisting the Stanley Cup on September 28, after defeating the Dallas Stars 2-0. After COVID-19 forced the NHL to suspend the 2019-2020...

NCHS students return to in-person learning, starting with 9th graders on Monday, Oct. 19, and 10-12th graders on Oct. 26. Unit 5 will be staggering the students’ return over the two weeks to “adjust...