The Christmas tree that will sit on display this holiday season on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building will be traveling through Southern Illinois starting around 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 16.

The tree will be met by Illinois State Police at the Illinois-Missouri state line, where it will be escorted on Highway 64 East to Interstate 57 South before continuing onto Interstate 24 East. From there, it will be handed off to a different escort for the next leg of its journey.

Midshipman leadership positions have been announced for the spring semester of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and the list includes Illinois’ own Midshipman 1^st Class Sydney Barber, who hails from Lake Forest. Barber will become the Academy’s first African American female brigade commander.

Nov. 8 is National STEM Day! STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The I-STEM Education Initiative at the University of Illinois aims to foster accessible, effective STEM teaching and learning—from preschool through graduate education—at local, state and national levels. I-STEM strives to prepare a diverse STEM workforce to tackle pressing global challenges. This campus coalition wishes to foster STEM citizenship through communication and public engagement, foster ungraduated and graduate STEM education reform, and advocate for STEM education.

Two Illinois universities made it into the top 25 best universities in the world in 2021, according to U.S. News and World Report.

University of Chicago came in at No. 15, with Northwestern University in Evanston following close behind at No. 24. University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana placed at No. 60 and the school’s Chicago campus came in at No. 212.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education is awarding $3 million in grants to nine colleges and universities in the state to help achieve equity in recruitment and retention.

The funding comes from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund for use over the next year. Universities and colleges receiving these grants will utilize the funds to recruit and retain first-generation, low-income, underrepresented and rural students.