Helping others has been one of Knox's core values since the College's founding, and this past spring, Knox students carried on this historic tradition. Knox's Best Buddies chapter received the Community Partnership of the Year award from the Illinois Health Care Association. An initiative by students to distribute surplus cafeteria food to local charities resulted in a first place award in the national RecycleMania competition. And Knox students pushed for the removal of plastic straws in the cafeteria and Gizmo, making Knox the second college in the country to take on this sustainability initiative. Well done, students. Well done.

Especially if you consider yourself a "SMC rat," spare a kind thought for all the literal Rattus norvegicus that currently call the Umbeck Science-Mathematics Center (SMC) home. These hard-working occupants of the psychology and neuroscience labs are extremely sensitive to noise and other disturbances. As the College prepares to renovate SMC's central core, faculty realized the rats will need a more comfortable place to live during renovation. After much deliberation, they decided to house the rats in a special trailer outside the building. So let's send them some good (but very gentle!) vibes.

What happens when you mix torrential rains, a 100+ year-old campus, and nearly 400 first-year and transfer students? New Student Orientation 2018! That's right—Galesburg received more than four inches of rain in 24 hours, causing transformers to blow, tunnels across campus to fill with water, and steam to billow. And, to top everything off, the main power line between the T. Fleming Fieldhouse and Ford Center for Fine Arts literally "burned out." All just two days before new students were set to arrive. But thanks to the heroic efforts of staff across campus and the patience of new students and parents, we were all able to, as President Amott said, "Keep Calm and Knox On."