College Now Orientation for 2024-2025 starts next week

Orange rectangle with the LLCC College Now logo on the right side.LLCC is hosting orientation sessions in April for Springfield-area high school students planning to participate in College Now during the 2024-2025 academic year. Students and their parents/guardians are invited to attend a session on Monday, April 8, 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 13, 10 a.m. or Monday, April 15, 6:30 p.m. in Menard Hall, Room 2202 on the main campus in Springfield.

College Now allows students, who are least 16 years old and in good academic standing, from high schools that are partnering with LLCC to earn college credit by taking morning or afternoon classes at the college during their normal school day.

LLCC currently has partnerships with the following high schools in the Springfield area: Auburn, Calvary Academy, Glenwood, Greenview, Lanphier, Lutheran, New Berlin, Pawnee, Pleasant Plains, Riverton, Rochester, Sacred Heart Griffin, Springfield, Southeast and Williamsville.

At the orientation session, participants will receive registration assistance, learn about success coaching, meet with faculty and discover the supports and resources available to them as LLCC students.

Registration and more information are available at www.llcc.edu/college-now or by calling 217-786-2582.

Lynn Gerton begins work as coordinator of concurrent enrollment

Lynn GertonLLCC Academic Services is happy to announce that Lynn Gerton began work in the new position of coordinator of concurrent enrollment for main campus on Nov. 1. In this position, she will serve as the liaison for students, parents and high schools for those schools in the Springfield campus area of responsibility for dual credit and College Now offerings. Lynn brings some experience helping with these duties in her previous position as administrative assistant to the vice president of academic services. She was instrumental in helping register a large number of dual credit students this fall, and she has been working to maintain effective and cordial relationships with our high school partners.

In the news

Patrick Moore, director of concurrent enrollment, was a guest on “The Work,” the podcast of the Capital Area Career Center. He spoke on the partnership between CACC and LLCC to offer dual credit to career and technical students.

LLCC dual credit students win national map contest

Jacksonville High School recently won first place in the national Esri Map Contest. Jim Chelsvig teaches Introduction to GIS and Advanced GIS as LLCC dual credit courses at JHS. The winning story map plotted data related to traffic accidents in Jacksonville. There were 440 entries from across the country. Dean Butzow, professor of geography, and Rey De Castro, adjunct instructor of geography, serve as the Illinois state leaders for the Esri Map Contest.

College Now information sessions

LLCC will be holding information sessions on the College Now program in January and February.

Information sessions will be offered for:

  • Taylorville area high school students and their parents/guardians — Wednesdays, Jan. 18 and Feb. 1, at 5 p.m., LLCC-Taylorville, 800 S. Spresser St.
  • Jacksonville High School students and their parents/guardians — Wednesday, Jan. 18, and Thursday, Feb. 16, from 5:30-6 p.m., Jacksonville High School Auditorium, 1211 N. Diamond St.

College Now allows high school students who are at least 16 years old and in good academic standing to earn college credit by taking afternoon classes during their normal school day.

Registration and more information are available online or by phone:

Congratulations to Matt Blomquist!

Matt Blomquist, LLCC adjunct and dual credit instructor of construction and Taylorville High School building trades teacher, recently won a national teaching award — the 2022 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence. The 2022 prize had a record 768 applications and included three rounds of judging. The prize includes a $15,000 award for Blomquist and $35,000 for his program at the high school. Read more from NPR Illinois.

LLCC-Jacksonville invites high school students to College Now information sessions

High school juniors and seniors and their parents/guardians are invited to attend upcoming information sessions on LLCC’s spring 2023 College Now program. The sessions will be held at Jacksonville High School, 1211 North Diamond St., on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 5:30-6 p.m. and Thursday, Oct. 6 at 5:15-5:45 p.m.

College Now allows high school students who are at least 16 years old and in good academic standing to earn college credit by taking afternoon classes at LLCC-Jacksonville during their normal school day.

Registration and more information are available at www.llcc.edu/jacksonville or by calling 217-243-6699.

Lanphier dual credit students visit campus

Kim Wilson with Lanphier High School dual credit students
Birds, science experiments and snakes … it was a day of hands-on learning for Lanphier High School dual credit students! The Advanced Biology class taught by Laura Bohlen visited LLCC and learned about the bird banding process, collected water samples from Lake Macoupin and tested the samples in a lab. A few brave students even held a snake! The day’s activities were coordinated by Becky Croteau, professor of biology, and Vern Keen volunteered at the bird banding station.

Students looking at banded birdBird taking flight from a student's handStudent sampling water out of Lake MacoupinStudents analyzing water sampleStudents holding a snake

LLCC-Jacksonville hosting College Now information sessions

High school students and their parents/guardians are invited to attend upcoming information sessions on LLCC’s College Now program.

The information session will be offered twice: on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. and Thursday, Oct. 14 at 4 p.m., both at LLCC-Jacksonville, 32 N. Central Park Plaza.

College Now allows high school students to earn college credit by taking classes at LLCC-Jacksonville during their normal school day.

Registration and more information are available at www.llcc.edu/jacksonville or by calling 217-243-6699.