Illinois State University joined 16 other universities and community colleges in launching the “Prepare for Illinois’ Future powered by Kaplan’s All Access License” program in February. The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) and the State of Illinois partnered with Kaplan, an educational service provider, to make this program possible. Illinois is the first state to provide this type of program to students. The program provides free graduate admissions test prep and other courses for both graduate and undergraduate school, licensing and skills development. Over 40 courses are available at no cost to ISU students, including preparation for the GRE, LSAT and MCAT. “The ‘Prepare for Illinois’ Future’ program presents a transformative opportunity for students in Illinois,” said Illinois State Sen. Dave Koehler. “It helps remove financial barriers and creates pathways to high-demand careers in fields such as healthcare, education and technology.” Kaplan Vice President of University Partnerships, Kim Canning, further discussed the impact of removing the financial barriers to these resources for students. “By removing this barrier across the public school system in Illinois, it’s really leveling the playing fields for all students,” Canning said. “As students transition from university, regardless of what steps they’re making, they have these resources and they have the understanding of what these resources can do,” Canning continued. Koehler expressed the importance of Illinois funding this program. “By investing in [students’] futures, we are also building a stronger and more resilient workforce that benefits every community across our state,” Koehler said. Since launching the program, there have been over 3,000 enrollments, saving students almost $6.5 million. “Something important to know about that number is that as we go through the year, students will have access to these resources during the summer too,” Canning said. Canning said the enrollment process is quick, easy and that students can gain access to the provided resources almost immediately after enrolling. “This is really a year-round resource that can support students at multiple times throughout their college career,” Canning said. “We’d love to see more students take advantage of this.” Students can register here.

Illinois State University students and staff gathered April 11 to give a tail-wagging welcome to the ISU Police Department’s newest member—Pawfficer Korg. ISUPD’s therapy dog program began in 2019, with the late Pawfficer Sage—an honorable black lab who upheld the law around campus. Following Sage’s retirement in 2024, the department had big paws to fill. ISUPD Sergeant Michael Gardner said that Korg has already brought enough “love, support and happiness” to campus and the surrounding community. “You would expect there would be some growing pains or things like that, but I’m here to tell you that Korg has done very well with adjusting to his new handlers and his new surroundings,” Gardner said. During his official welcome event, Korg sat in the middle of the room, eager to receive pets and give love to all visitors. Angel Shrader, a freshman music therapy major, enjoyed stopping by to see ISU’s new four-legged friend. “The event was super open and there was enough room to meet Pawfficer Korg,” Shrader said, “They had everything fun like the merch and coloring books off to the side as well.” Reina Violette, a junior special education major, was “very excited” for Pawfficer Korg’s debut. “I was a big fan of Pawfficer Sage, and I was very sad when she retired. I thought Korg was very friendly,” Violette said. “There were some little kids who came in to say hi, so I thought it was great how anyone could come and meet Korg.” Through Korg’s position as ISUPD’s face of the Community Engagement department, he will provide emotional support, stress relief and companionship to students in need. Gardner shared the benefits Korg will bring to the therapy dog program. “The continuation of this program with Korg coming right behind Sage is going to help keep our campus emotionally safe, stress-free and at least a little bit happier,” Gardner said. “Sage was the first, and she was very successful for us on the social media side of things with gaining an audience,” Gardner continued. “When something really important happens, we now have an audience to reach out to.” With Korg’s wagging tail and loveable personality, he is a vital part of ISU’s commitment to mental wellness and community connectivity.

Excitement ran through campus as a tentative contract agreement was reached on April 4 between the United Faculty of Illinois State University (UFISU) and the ISU administration. With concerns of a potential strike looming over the heads of all members of the Redbird community, there were debates as to whether they wanted classes canceled. “I was pretty confident a strike would happen if a resolution wasn’t [met],” said Mallory Fairbanks, a sophomore special education major. “I had heard quite a bit about it [and] spoken about it with some professors after class, so it seemed pretty likely.” “There’s always a part of you that doesn’t want class to happen, but ultimately, I wanted a resolution for the teachers to reach a point of agreement,” Fairbanks continued. Throughout the madness, many education majors said the University’s misrepresentation of professors hit particularly close to home. “I want my professors to be happy in their jobs. Before I came here, I was a teacher in an elementary school,” said Rachel Goodman, a first-year master’s student. “Being fairly compensated as educators, it really affects how we show up for our students.” “As a student, I would want my professors to feel like they’re compensated fairly for what they’re doing so that they can show up for us as students and we can have a better education,” Goodman continued. Lexi Woods, a sophomore middle education major, echoed the sentiment. “It was a very sticky situation, but I can see all different sides of it, especially going into education and having my teachers talk about it from their experiences,” Woods said. “Overall, I’m glad they came to an agreement.” Despite education majors being the most personally impacted, other students expressed similar opinions. “I did not want [a strike] to happen,” said Charlotte Mahalla, a freshman animal science major. “But if my professor did strike, I would’ve gotten to take my test at a later date, which I was kinda hoping for.” “I want them to get all that they want because I want good teachers who are willing to teach,” Mahalla continued. For many, the agreement brought a sense of relief, but also a reflection on the effort it took to get there. “Big picture: I don’t want strikes. I feel like it’s really difficult, just because it does put students in a very weird situation,” Woods said. “Especially if you look at how Chicago Public Schools are right now.” Freshman special education major Briar Zimmerman felt a similar mix of concern and hope. “I’m glad they came to an agreement,” Zimmerman said. “If they didn’t get what they wanted in the end, then I did see a strike happening. I think in the end, everyone deserves a fair contract.” The arbitrations drew hundreds to protest on the Quad throughout the spring semester. Domenico Lacamera, a freshman business administration major, pointed out common issues with strikes in general across the country. “Personally, I don’t like strikes because usually in America, we don’t know if people will protest peacefully,” Lacamera said. “I just want everything to be peaceful. If it were more peaceful, we could have more protests.” Fortunately, UFISU demonstrated peacefully and respectfully on the Quad amid ongoing negotiations. The new agreement has reignited optimism among ISU students. “We always look to the future and want to make more positive change, but it’s up to us as the people to make that future happen,” Lacamera said. “We have to make a positive future instead of a negative outcome.”

Euphemism is a student-led online creative arts journal at Illinois State University. They will be hosting a fundraiser from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, on the Quad near Schroeder Hall or on the first floor of Stevenson Hall if weather does not permit outdoor operation. Euphemism will be selling pre-loved books and spring knick-knacks to raise funds for their publications and events. They will accept payment through cash, Venmo, PayPal and Zelle.

With juggling acts and jazz hands, Illinois State University’s Gamma Phi Circus came back for its 96th year. This year's theme of “A Journey Through the Fine Arts” incorporated elements of various multimedias including old and new Hollywood film and historically popular artists. The stories were all told via poetry, as a little girl in a pink tutu journeyed through the colorful eras. Between each era of fine art, clowns provided a silly skit following a central theme of mischief, playfulness and amusement–from fighting to pulling silks out of the breast pockets on their shirts. The various acts worked together to create visual art, which gave the effect of art coming to life through the performances. One of the main acts was about the painter Frida Kahlo and featured traditional Spanish songs with maracas and flor del muerto, or “flowers of the dead.” Another main act was titled, “The Vitruvian Man" and was based off a drawing by historical figure Leonardo da Vinci. One last act was a classic red carpet that was rolled out for infamous celebrities like Janet Jackson, Audrey Hepburm and Judy Garland as she was seen in “The Wizard of Oz.” “The people hanging from vertical bars in the air by just their upper body strength. It was a really memorable act and the amount of sheer strength it requires is so admirable from the performers,” said freshman psychology major Donovan Pope, describing his favorite act. Freshman psychology major Gio Casamento attended the circus for the first time this year. “My favorite act was during the movie star and Hollywood theme. They jumped on a board and flipped into a sheet of aerial silk,” Casamento said. Freshman psychology major Madelyn Kunesh praised the same act as Casamento. “It could have been so dangerous and they were so brave and executed it perfectly,” Kunesh said. The Gamma Phi Circus is expected to return again in April 2026.

Illinois State University’s mixed martial arts (MMA) team, Redbird MMA, held its second annual Rage in the Birdcage tournament at Kingdom City Boxing Saturday. Redbird MMA has partnered with Kingdom City Boxing, a faith-based boxing gym in Normal, multiple times in the past. There were 15 fights throughout the night in four brackets: jiujitsu, boxing, kickboxing and MMA. “It’s going to be loud. If you have something you want to say to us or to the fighters, you need to yell,” said emcee and promoter Braden Beasley before the fights began. Jiujitsu Freshman business major, Tyler Dahlstrom, fought in the jiujitsu bracket. “I started training jiujitsu about a year before I came to ISU,” Dahlstrom said. Dahlstrom said he is glad Redbird MMA can continue training on campus in spite of health and safety risks. “There’s really no risk of injury. If you think about MMA and you think about UFC, people are getting bloody, but nobody gets bloody when we train,” Dahlstrom said. Freshman physical education major and Dahlstrom's opponent, Jose Aviles, reflected on his loss in the jiujitsu match . “I let the adrenaline get to me. I wasn’t able to think clearly to escape the position I got in,” Aviles said. “I want to get good at everything, but I do wrestling the most,” Aviles continued. Jared Gahm was the referee for the jiujitsu fights. Gahm is also the owner and operator of the partnering gym, PSF Legacy, in Bloomington. “This year, there’s a lot more people doing jiujitsu, and you can see that the level of it has increased. It’s a lot more exciting than last year,” Gahm said. Gahm said he trained about three-quarters of the jiujitsu fighters and that it was difficult for him to be a referee; he couldn’t coach his students simultaneously. Boxing “Just this semester I decided to join Redbird MMA and I thought a boxing match like this would be a great first experience,” said freshman actuarial science major Cyrus Czyz. Czyz won his match in the boxing bracket. “I’ve only been boxing for about two months with Redbird MMA,” Czyz said. “I wish I would have worked on my conditioning more. My opponent and I were both pretty gassed.” Emcee Braden Beasley quickly changed out of his formal attire and into athletic gear to fight in the boxing bracket, as well. “I think it could have gone better, but it definitely could have gone worse,” Beasley said. “This was my first time doing boxing by itself, so it was a new art for me. Overall, it was a great experience.” Beasley said he sprinted, ran and lifted weights almost every day to train. Beasley said he hopes to have the third “Rage In The Birdcage” tournament on ISU’s campus next year. “Braden Auditorium is the goal, of course,” Beasley said. “With 'Rage' being a big charity event, I think it would be better to have it closer to the school so more students can be there. I would also expect there to be more fights and better fights.” Kickboxing Freshman anatomy major at Heartland Community College, Gus Schreiber, used an aggressive kickboxing style during his match. “I did football for 10 years and then I wrestled—including freestyle and Greco-Roman style—for seven,” Schreiber said. Schreiber said he trains at PSF Legacy currently. “PSF is a great place; they accept everybody. [Gahm] got me out of a bad place—at least mentally—and he is great,” Schreiber said. Junior business major and Schreiber’s opponent, Mikael Cedeno, said he was originally supposed to fight someone different. “I was actually in camp for this fight to fight MMA against an opponent from [University of Illinois], but he ended up dropping out about a week ago,” Cedeno said. “So entering the ring—and obviously Gus and I talked about how we’re going to approach it—we knew that we were going to go in there, go to war [and] try to take each other’s heads off. I would be disrespected if he didn’t try to.” Cedeno praised Schreiber on his skills. “He was a wrestler in high school, so his cardio was really good,” Cedeno said. “So I knew I had to try to take out his base for sure. From what I remember, he was very good at baiting my punches and countering.” MMA President of Redbird MMA, Logan Bennett, fought against Treasurer Aidan Pinto in the final match of the night. “I tried to build myself up for this fight,” Bennett said. While Bennett was the winner, there were things he wished he had done differently. “I should have worked on my cardio. He’s a better grappler than me,” Bennett said. Audience members had similar reactions to the fights. “I love MMA. If I had to pick second, then jiujitsu,” said freshman elementary education major, Liv Purcell. Another freshman elementary education major, Nola Carr, also said the MMA bracket was her favorite. “I really like watching MMA; I think it’s really cool,” Carr said. “I love Logan…I also had some money on Mikael.” Redbird MMA will have a field day on the ISU Quad on April 25. “This is really one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. I can’t recommend it enough,” Beasley said.