NORMAL — The Heartland Community College Board of Trustees has approved borrowing up to $35.3 million to continue upgrading campus facilities. In others matters at Tuesday's meeting, the board also heard a budget update for fiscal 2025, which began July 1, and a year-end summary for fiscal 2024.
The general obligation debt certificates, which are similar to bonds, will help fund projects in the college's 20-year facility master plan that were initially presented in fall 2020 without raising property tax bills, officials said. Among the projects will be continued renovation of the Workforce Development Center (WDC) to consolidate student services into one building. The biggest part of that would involve moving enrollment services and counseling services into a new space on the second floor of the WDC, said Steve Fast, assistant to the president and public information and communication director.
Other capital improvement projects such as deferred maintenance, technology needs, student and instructional space enhancements and environmental sustainability also are being considered. Noah Lamb, vice president of finance and administration, said the certificates and bonds are interchangeable aside from stipulations surrounding when the college is obligated to pay back the money and guidelines surrounding whether the interest paid to the lenders is taxable or tax exempt. "There are stipulations, regulations around most of this funding and how long we can sort of sit on these," Lamb said.
"So especially (those) tax-exempt bonds and projects, we must use at least 75% within the first two years." Lamb said the certificates are on a 10-year repayment plan that would start in fiscal 2026. The college is not obligated to use all $35.
3 million, but the money would be available, he added. Fast said this is similar to when the board approved selling $21.5 million in bonds in May 2023 for capital projects and upgrading facilities.
Those projects included the Advanced Manufacturing and Technical Center, the Agriculture Complex, the Hawk Café in the WDC, and a new student center down the line. The college previously moved student leadership, the Student Veterans Center, the bookstore, food services and student engagement to the WDC, Fast said. These facilities, all going into the first floor, are set to completed this year.
Lamb said that after this debt certificate issue, the college still will have a significant amount of debt capacity and will be in a good position in terms of its overall debt load. This funding strategy will not affect the college's policy to maintain a steady tax rate, meaning there will be no increase on tax bills due to this measure, Lamb added. Budget plans The board also saw the $39,414,169 budget for fiscal 2024 is projected to close out with a surplus of around $3.
1 million. Heartland received more money than expected from the state in its equalization grant and benefited from growth in the value of its property tax base. The state gives community colleges equalization grants to counter disparities in property tax bases.
Lamb said the money will bolster reserves and help areas in need of additional support. The college's 2024 audit is underway and an update is expected sometime this fall. The trustees also received a final update to the $44,458,210 fiscal 2025 budget, which will move forward for final approval at the Sept.
17 board meeting. The updated budget assumes an 11% increase in total taxable property values and a 2% increase in base state funding as well as the state's equalization grant. It also projects about $3 million from the equity tax, which allows Heartland to levy additional money in order to bring it in line with other community college districts throughout the state.
The board has previously approved a $2 per-credit-hour increase in tuition and a $1 per-credit-hour increase in student fees for 2025. Expenses are expected to increase due to salary raises, the state minimum wage increase, departmental needs, reduced enrollment and inflation, Lamb said. The budget is expected to be balanced with a surplus of $203,517.
Dave Bishop, left, shows his excitement on Tuesday during the dedication ceremony marking the donation of a restored 1927 McCormick-Deering tractor for display at the college Ag Complex. Will Morgan and Anna Cone practice at band camp for the Normal Marching Band. Both are students at Normal Community High School.
Junior Nina Paolucca leads the band in dance block during marching band camp at Bloomington High School. Paolucca is the clarinet section leader. Senior John Phillip goes through drills during marching band camp for University High School.
Penny Albertson practices with the color guard during marching band camp for Eureka High School. Senior Zoe Wietlispach, second from left, goes through drills during band camp at Bloomington High School. Macy Wettstein practices with the color guard during marching band camp for Eureka High School.
Normal Community's Quinton Nelson performs during marching band camp at Normal Community High School. Director John Landes works with students during marching band camp for University High School. Director Todd Stalter talks to the Eureka Marching Band during marching band camp.
From left to right, senior Briannon Snyder, junior Lydia Carroll and senior Nessiah McGill practice during marching band camp at Bloomington High School. Junior Isaiah Wear practices percussion during marching band camp for Eureka High School. Director Max Chernick works with students during marching band camp at Bloomington High School.
Students practice during marching band camp for University High School. Senior drum major Allison Wetzler directs the band during marching band camp for Eureka High School. Junior Allie King, left, goes through drills during marching band camp for University High School.
The Bloomington High School Marching Raiders go through drills during band camp at the school. Alyssa Hitchins practice the flute during marching band camp for Eureka High School. Normal Community's Jacob Aldeman, front, during marching band camp at Normal Community High School.
From left, senior Morgan Petersen, senior Liam Taylor and sophomore Miles Roth await instructions during marching band camp at Bloomington High School. Students practice during marching band camp for University High School. The Normal Marching Band color guard practices during band camp.
BLOOMINGTON — With a new school year on the horizon, most high school students are getting the last bit of summer freedom in before the semester starts. But hundreds of area marching band students are hard at work refining their skills and memorizing music in these last few weeks. High school bands across Central Illinois are wrapping up their band camps and preparing for a season filled with Friday night football games, parades and competitions.
Bloomington Marching Raiders Director Max Chernick talks about season for Bloomington Marching Band Max Chernick, band director for the Bloomington Marching Raiders, said the band includes about 140 students who will perform music like "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia and "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper in their show titled "Patchwork," which will follow a theme of assembling different scraps into one beautiful quilt. "We have giant spools of thread on the field, about 51⁄2 feet tall, that our soloist will perform from the top of. We'll have 8-foot scraps of fabric that will move around the field as the fabric gets torn apart and .
.. our uniforms are patchwork quilts of different patterns in red, which will be a new color for us," Chernick said.
"They have really been adding a lot of themselves to the performance and it's been fun to see it come together with the drill and the choreography." Junior Nina Paolucca leads the band in dance block during marching band camp at Bloomington High School. Paolucca is the clarinet section leader.
Chernick said the band has learned all of its music already and is two-thirds of the way through learning the drill formations on the field, with choreography to be added later. "We have a lot of new staff this year, including a new assistant director of bands, and we want kids to understand that 'different' doesn't mean 'better' or 'worse,' it just means different, and we're still going to be our very best regardless of the changes," Chernick said. The freshmen are the first group of students that did not have a fifth grade band experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have adapted well to marching, Chernick said, and the upperclassmen have been supportive in making sure they are all brought into the fold.
Senior Zoe Wietlispach, second from left, goes through drills during band camp at Bloomington High School. "We're able to put leadership positions in here and teach these kids about life," said Jarrett DeFields, the new assistant band director at BHS, and also a 2015 graduate of the school. "Band is kind of like life, and marching band is not always the most fun thing that kids like to do, but I tell them all the time that they're going to remember all these memories for years to come.
" Lindsey Carstens, a senior drum major for BHS, said she likes the show's concept of individualism, and how it captures every instrument's section and intertwines them together through movement to show them as one big team. From left to right, senior Briannon Snyder, junior Lydia Carroll and senior Nessiah McGill practice during marching band camp at Bloomington High School. Carstens said her goal this year is to keep the band's visual performance at a high level, and she also hopes for everyone to form friendships with each other, as she has over the last four years.
"We've all gone through our waves, our bumps and sharp turns, and we're still here, we all come to band and we work hard every time," Carstens said. "These are my people. I don't know what I would do without some of the people in this band.
" Director Max Chernick works with students during marching band camp at Bloomington High School. The Bloomington High School Marching Raiders go through drills during band camp at the school. Normal Marching Band Normal Marching Band co-directors Paul Carter and Ryan Budzinski talk about upcoming 2024 season Ryan Budzinski, co-director of the Normal Marching Band, said this year's band, made up of about 150 students from both Normal Community and Normal West high schools, is playing classics such as "Singin' in the Rain" and "What a Wonderful World," as well as a piece called "A Road, A Path" written by composer Roy Magnuson, a professor at Illinois State University.
Their show, titled "Seed to Bloom," will use plant imagery to describe how humans grow throughout their lifetimes. The show is set in a garden, with props like hedges and masonry, and the students dressed in bodysuits that will resemble plants and change during the show. Will Morgan and Anna Cone practice at band camp for the Normal Marching Band.
Both are students at Normal Community High School. "Being able to portray something on a football field that is meaningful to someone, something that's memorable and something that has an impact on the audience — when you're a performing artist, your biggest hope is that your art reaches other people," said Budzinski, who is band director at Normal West. Co-director Paul Carter said the band has learned the first two movements of the show, with the remaining two hopefully learned by the end of the month.
"If every student is trying to be better than they were individually yesterday, and if we as an ensemble are trying to be better every day, then we're going to continue to move in the direction we're looking for, with the excellence but also with the artistry of what we do, and try to make them into better performers," said Carter, who is band director at Normal Community. Normal Community's Quinton Nelson performs during marching band camp at Normal Community High School. Normal West senior and clarinet section leader Drew Jackson said he likes the artistic approach to this year's show, with everyone focusing on movement and visuals.
More importantly, though, everyone is having fun and making sure they take something out of this experience, he said. "Our sense of community — being two different high schools and showing how we can come together and create a show like this that hasn't been seen before — is exciting," Jackson said. "We just keep going forward, and we want to keep striving for more, but I don't know what that more is yet.
" Normal Community's Jacob Aldeman, front, during marching band camp at Normal Community High School. Normal Community senior and color guard captain Jenny Sanchez Cruz said the show's theme has been reflective of how they have developed as a band this season. She added that she and the other upper classmen have been making sure to enjoy and create as many memories as possible this year.
"I feel like marching band as a whole, especially my color guard section, they're like my second family. It's like we're all united and so close," Sanchez Cruz said. "It just creates a lot of new skills that can help you in life, and it's just an amazing experience.
" In a few months, the band will be heading overseas for the London New Year's Day Parade & Festival , but for now, they are still deep in the parade planning process before they can ring in 2025. U High Marching Pioneers University High Marching Band director John Landes talks about upcoming season Jason Landes, director of the University High School Marching Band, said this year's show, titled "Stronger Together," will have the band starting in one large group before being divided through obstacles until they are brought back together at the end. The music is an original composition called "Boundaries" by Gary Gilroy that has been adapted musically and visually for the show's theme.
The color guard will be integrated into the band for this show, allowing for more group visuals. Senior John Phillip goes through drills during marching band camp for University High School. With about 65 students in band this year, Landes said they will have two movements finished with music by the end of this week, after working on marching fundamentals all summer.
They'll learn the third and final movement later on. "It's always fun when you do have the award success at the end of competitions, but really, the bottom line for me and I hope our students is just how you feel when you walk off that field at the end of every performance," Landes said. "Whether it's a football game or it is a competition, whenever we have that performance, we want it to be our best one, and better than the last.
" Landes said they will continue to work on musical elements like projection and tone to grow as musicians throughout the season, but they'll also be working on visual elements and body control when marching on the field. Director John Landes works with students during marching band camp for University High School. "When you've got all the activities going on in school, marching bands are such a huge part of that school spirit," Landes said.
"That's one of the things that we want to continue to work on in all the programs that we have here, is just that school spirit and pride in our school." Senior drum major Lydia Wilcox said a big goal for her is to have a clean, well-polished look for the band, while also having fun and seeing their hard work pay off with how the show resonates with audiences. Students practice during marching band camp for University High School.
Wilcox said everyone has done an amazing job lifting each other up and being respectful with each other, especially with the new class of freshman, to create a sense of community that they will hopefully foster for years to come. "I choose band because I feel like it's a very important and rare community within a school environment where people feel like they can be at home and be their authentic selves," Wilcox said. "It's a very important environment within a high school to have a safe space for everyone.
" Eureka Hornets Marching Band Eureka Marching Band gets ready for upcoming season Todd Stalter, director of bands at Eureka High School, said this year's show is titled "P.U.S.
H." after the acronym for "persist until something happens." The underlying theme, he said, is that in order to effect change, people have to go beyond what they may be comfortable with.
"We like to think that our work ethic is something that really adds to what we do, and it's essential to our success, and that idea of persisting is something that we try to do," Stalter said. Penny Albertson practices with the color guard during marching band camp for Eureka High School. The music has been curated by Marching Monk, which creates compositions and designs for marching bands across the country, and features unique and emotional high points through the show, Stalter said.
With around 80 students, the band has been able to get a grasp on the first two movements of the show, which Stalter said is faster than he expected, and he's proud to see that. This year is also special, since it will be Stalter's last marching band season before his retirement. Macy Wettstein practices with the color guard during marching band camp for Eureka High School.
Stalter was hired at EHS in 1991, and from 2000 to 2023, has led the marching band program to 15 state class championships at the Illinois State Marching Band Championship s at ISU. "Even though it is my last year, I'm excited to attack it just like any other year that we do, and I'm trying to make it so that it's not about me, because it really is about the students," Stalter said. "There's time to focus on me later.
This is for them, so I'm going to work just as hard or harder to make sure that the focus stays on them." Director Todd Stalter talks to the Eureka Marching Band during marching band camp. Senior clarinet section leader Ciarra Abel said this year's music is more technical than anything they have done before, and since it was first introduced to students, the concept of persistence has been resonating with each of them.
"My real goal for the band would be for everyone to take the message of the show to heart," Abel said. "If all of us persist, and if all of us push ourselves as far as we can go, we can do some really great things." Blake Andrews, senior snare drum and drumline section leader, said he likes the show's theme this year, adding that he felt that last year's drumline was not where he wanted it to be.
So, during the offseason, they practiced every Tuesday and Thursday morning just to get better. Junior Isaiah Wear practices percussion during marching band camp for Eureka High School. "The whole offseason we were hoping for a harder show, and we persisted until something happened, and now we have a really cool show with some of the hardest music," Andrews said.
Andrews said that he, just like anyone else, wants to win the state championship again, but since it is Stalter's last year, he really wants to be the best drumline at Eureka. "I was horrible, and a lot of those offseason practices were kind of, for me, to keep me consistent," Andrews said. "I just want to say that it doesn't matter if you're talented or not, if you work hard enough, you'll beat talent.
" Senior drum major Allison Wetzler directs the band during marching band camp for Eureka High School. Sept. 7: Washington Marching Panther Invitational at Washington Community High School, 115 Bondurant St.
, Washington: Sept. 14: Pontiac Indian Showdown at Pontiac Township High School, 1100 Indiana Ave., Pontiac: Sept.
21: Normal Marching Band Invitational at Illinois Wesleyan University, 1312 Park St., Bloomington: Oct. 5: Morton Marching Invitational at Morton High School, 350 N.
Illinois Ave., Morton: Oct. 12: Lincoln-Way Invitational at Lincoln-Way West High School, 21701 Gougar Road, New Lenox: Oct.
12: Metamora Band Invitational at Metamora Township High School, 101 W. Madison St., Metamora: Oct.
19: Illinois State Marching Band Championships at Illinois State University's Hancock Stadium, 211 N. Main St., Normal: Oct.
26: Illinois Marching Band Championships at University of Illinois Memorial Stadium, 1402 S. 1st St., Champaign Contact Mateusz Janik at (309) 820-3234.
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