Beatrice Bonner
Community Voices - Editor/ Co-HostBeatrice is the Community Voices Editor for NPR Illinois.
Reach Bea at communityvoices@nprillinois.org.
Previously, she was the Leadership Lived student worker for NPR Illinois during the 2017-2018 school year. Beatrice completed the Capital Honors Scholars Program majoring in communications at UIS in 2018.
Beatrice has acted as a multimedia consultant and co-host at Teen Talk Radio Theater in Chicago.
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Program to celebrate the 10 selected essayists of the This I Believe Essay Program 2023.
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Pamela Lewis Frazier is owner of All In One Laundry Center & Services and All In One On-Site Wash & Detail. Robert Frazier also helps run All In One and is Executive Director of their nonprofit Clean Slate Advocates. Pamela and Robert spoke to Community Voices about their transition from Corporate America to entrepreneurship, the importance of adding the Laundry Center to their services, and their "From Soap to Hope Challenge." They also discuss bridging gaps in the Springfield community.
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Word Up of Central Illinois is an organization that provides tools and board books to low-income families in the community to encourage language and brain development. Founder and Director of Word Up, Linda Johnson, spoke to Community Voices about why the organization started, speech development in children between the ages of 0-3 and the importance of board books. She also discusses how people can donate books.
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4-H Youth Development Program Coordinator Amy Zepp and Youth Development Educator Carissa Davis spoke to Community Voices to discuss the role of the Illinois Extension 4-H program in Logan, Menard and Sangamon County. They also explained the self-driven learning that children engage in through the program. 4-H stands for head, heart, hands and health, and provides an opportunity for children to develop in all four of these areas.
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Rodd Whelpley is an author and poet from Chatham, Ill. He also manages an electric efficiency program for 32 cities across Illinois. He spoke to Community Voices about what led him to poetry, his inspiration and his first full length collection of poetry "Blood Moon, Backyard Mountain."
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“Stamps of Hope II,” showcases Syrian refugee artwork from the Zaa’tari Refugee Camp in Jordan. The exhibit will be at Lincoln Land Community College now through October 13, 2023, before it travels to other community colleges. Rihab Sawah Professor of Physics at LLCC and organizer of the "Stamps of Hope II" exhibit, spoke to Community Voices about life in the refugee camp, the artists/artwork, and what she hopes the exhibit will teach the public.
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Award-winning artist Barb Mason is a Springfield native who now lives in Texas. She spoke to Community Voices about her start in the medical community, and then how she became an artist who travels the world. She also talked about the recent mural she created in Springfield for the Springfield Art Association and how it reflects the diversity in the community.
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Athens native Aaliyah Kissick is Miss Illinois United States. She spoke to Community Voices about her experiences as a business owner, member of the Illinois National Guard, and student, as well as provided insight into the pageant world and beauty industry.
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The Office of Engaged Learning (OEL) provides experiential learning opportunities to UIS students such as internships, study abroad, and more. New Director of OEL Dr. Jessica Flynn and Rob Weis Coordinator and Advisor for Engaged Learning and Partner Initiatives, spoke to Community Voices about what the departments provides to students and employers, innovation and changes to navigating internships, and about the Illinois Cooperative Work Study grant.
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Reverend Doctor Bobbi Dykema is the pastor at the First Church of the Brethren in Springfield, Ill. She spoke to Community Voices about the upcoming Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, as well as the preceding events in Springfield on August 4 and 5, which are sponsored by the Liturgical Arts Festival board and the Greater Springfield Interfaith Association.