More than 300 students from 19 high schools in the LLCC district participated in the Worldwide Youth in Engineering and Science regional level academic challenge at LLCC Tuesday. Students competed as individuals and as teams testing in their choice of two of seven different subjects—biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering graphics, English, mathematics and physics. The tests are written by teams of college and university faculty and are designed to present a challenge to high school students. For a list of participating schools and those teams going to the sectional competition read more HERE.

The National Weather Service is offering a free two-hour “Severe Weather Storm Spotting” class at LLCC-Springfield Monday, Feb. 27 starting at 6:30 p.m. The event is being held in the Student Union, Menard Hall and is open to the public.

The session, the only one in Sangamon County in 2017, is being led by Ed Shimon, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Lincoln. The class will cover the formation and movement of tornadoes and other severe storms in addition to personal safety considerations when severe weather is threatening. The program will also offer attendees the opportunity to become official NWS spotters.

For individuals who wish to become certified storm spotters, Shimon will provide information about the types of data the Weather Service needs to better inform the public about the severity of the storm and what can be expected as it moves along its track. Some of the observations they need reported include hail, estimated wind speed, flash flooding and tornadoes. Tornadoes have occurred in Illinois during every month of the year but the peak period is from April through June.

The program is co-sponsored by LLCC and the Capital Area Amateur Radio Emergency Response Team (CAARERT). There is no age limit for those who wish to attend; however, attendees must be at least 18 years old to receive storm spotter certification. Pre-registration is not required. Those with special needs should send a request to Chris.Miller@noaa.gov no later than Wednesday, Feb. 15 so that LLCC can accommodate the request.

For more information, contact Dean Butzow, LLCC professor of geography, at dean.butzow@llcc.edu or 786.4923. You may also go to the NWS Lincoln Office “Severe Weather Spotter Training” web page at: http://www.weather.gov/Lincoln/spotter.

The LLCC Bird Banding Station opened up for the fall banding season last Monday, Aug. 22. This past Friday we had a very good day (73 birds of 20 species) considering how early in the season it is! The most notable capture was a pair of Belted Kingfishers (the first ever caught at our banding station)! Follow the Lincoln Land Community College Bird Banding Station on Facebook to see photos and updates from the station.  Most notable is the picture of student Stevie Emmons with the 2 kingfishers.

The banding station will be open Monday-Saturday, sunrise to about 11a.m., thru mid-November. All are welcome to join us!

Tony Rothering, professor, biology

This is the final report for the spring 2016 banding season here at LLCC: Final Report – LLCC BBS Spring 2016. It was another very successful season! We banded 1,858 birds of 79 species over 56 days this spring, averaging out to 33.2 birds banded per day.  We also had 198 “returns” (birds captured that had been banded in a previous banding season). Over 8 banding seasons (starting in fall 2012), we have banded just under 13,000 birds! Some highlights from this year include:

• the most abundantly banded bird this spring was the Dark-eyed Junco (494 banded)
• we banded 2 new species for the station (Prairie Warbler and Dickcissel) bringing our cumulative total to 115 species
• we had a very successful grand opening of our new banding facility

Thanks again to all who have visited and/or provided support for the banding station! Our fall banding season will begin August 22. Hope to see you out there!

The Lincoln Land Association of Bird Banders would like to invite LLCC employees and their families to visit the LLCC Bird Banding Station this Saturday, April 23, in honor of International Migratory Bird Day. The Banding Station will be in operation 7-11 a.m. (weather-dependent). Participants can expect to see a number bird species as spring migration is in full swing. Banders and trained assistants will explain the process of capturing and banding birds and the value of the information that is gathered. This is a family-friendly event, and participants may get the chance to release a banded bird! If you have any questions, please contact Tony Rothering at tony.rothering@llcc.edu or 786-4933.

On Tuesday, April 19, biology classes of David Cox will be fishing on Lake Macoupin behind Menard and Sangamon Halls between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.  Professor Cox invites the LLCC community to join them. Some rods and supplies will be available for use.

Dean Butzow, professor of geography, took four LLCC students to SIU-E to visit the geography department and meet faculty on March 29. LLCC is finalizing a 2 + 2 agreement in geography with SIU-E and students Megan Cantrall, Patricia Biggers, Alex Scheller and Jordan Lahey are all interested in majoring in geography at the university. The group attended an upper level geography class, toured the geography department and met with three former LLCC students majoring in geography.