Excerpt from Tom Wilson’s column in the Register-Mail:
As Knox College prepares for its 163rd commencement, the honor scroll of speakers seemingly is a “Who’s Who” of American celebrities. It has been a commendable tradition since the early 1900s to accommodate students’ suggestions in the process.
Actors, journalists, economists, activists, authors, comedians, military leaders, congressmen, university presidents, poets and even a U.S. President have passed on words of wisdom to an endless array of Siwash and Prairie Fire graduates. There has been a United States poet laureate, a president of the American Bar Association, a war correspondent, a pharmaceutical executive, president of a railroad ice company, a publisher of the New York Times, the chief executive of Standard Oil and the president of the United Nations General Assembly.
Excerpt from the Register-Mail:
Scott also has been a long-time Obama supporter, becoming actively involved in his Senate campaign in 2004. She also had the opportunity to interview the young senator while he was in Galesburg to speak at Knox’s 2005 commencement.
She said Obama spoke about his position as both community servant and civil servant while working for the government.
“He sees the government as an extension of his community service,” she explained. “He is there to help make the government work for his constituents. What I’ve always loved about him is that, when he’s campaigning, it’s all about making government work better … and it’s about how we all work together.”
Excerpt from the Northwest Herald:
Ben Wetherbee had a lot to consider the past few months regarding his future in basketball.
The Woodstock senior looked at walking on at NCAA Division I Wisconsin-Milwaukee. There also was a similar opportunity at D-II Florida Tech. And, there was the matter of a family legacy he could follow to D-III Knox College in Galesburg.
Wetherbee, who led the area in scoring (18.8 points a game) and free-throw percentage (88.2 percent), decided he would rather take a shot at the surest thing and this week told Knox coach Rob Purlee he would play for the Prairie Fire.
“The bottom line was, I figured I wasn’t going to make a career out of basketball,” Wetherbee said. “I didn’t want to have to work my butt off to get in and maybe play a little bit when I could play four years somewhere else.
“I have four years left to play, so I want to spend it playing and not sitting on the end of a bench. I want to see my hard work pay off.”
Knox will get a supreme shooter in the 6-foot-2 guard. Wetherbee hit 63 three-pointers, which was third among area players even though he missed Woodstock’s last 10 games. Wetherbee attended one semester of his senior year in Sydney, Australia, before coming to the U.S. last summer.
