Latest news with #EasternIllinoisUniversity
Edmonton Journal
21-06-2025
- Sport
- Edmonton Journal
Former FC Edmonton executive and local soccer legend Joe Petrone passes away
Article content For decades, Joe Petrone's name was synonymous with soccer in Edmonton, whether he was coaching a high school team or managing a professional franchise. Petrone lost his battle with cancer on Thursday. He was 78. Petrone was 12 when his family arrived in Edmonton from Italy. A young soccer phenom, he made it to the Canadian national team, playing at the 1967 Pan Am Games. Article content He then distinguished himself as a coach, mentor and booster of a game that had always trailed the so-called 'Big Four' in North America. He was an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois University, the same school were Sorrentino's restaurant chain founder Carmelo Rago played his college soccer. He coached the Edmonton Drillers of the North American Soccer League. He was director of soccer operations for the Edmonton Brickmen of the Canadian Soccer League, and the director of soccer operations for FC Edmonton when the team made its debut in the second iteration of the North American Soccer League. 'Joe was the driving force behind professional soccer in this city. He always believed it would work here,' said Jeff Paulus, who served as assistant coach, academy coach and finally head coach of FC Edmonton. 'He knew everything about everybody when it came to soccer in this city. Article content 'So many young players got their chances because of him. So many coaches got their chances because of him. And that includes me. Joe gave me a chance.' Antonio Rago played for FC Edmonton from 2011-13. His dad, Carmelo, and Petrone were friends for 50 years, since they played together for Edmonton's famed Ital Canadians club. 'Joe had four daughters and a son. But my brothers and I were like four sons to him, too.' said Rago. 'I know that when I made my professional debut, it was a proud moment for him.' Petrone also loved the other type of football. In fact, in 1971, he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys. Legend has it that Hall of Fame coach Tom Landry flew to Edmonton to get the deal done. It was time when NFL teams were starting to seek out soccer-style kickers. Still, it was a big deal that an Edmontonian was getting a shot in the Big D. But after the preseason, Petrone returned to Edmonton and bought a house with the signing bonus. Rago recounted what has become family legend: When he was in Cowboys' camp, his teammates made him sing 'O Canada' in front of them. Petrone didn't like being the outcast, the butt of the joke, so he came home. Article content Latest National Stories
Vox
10-06-2025
- General
- Vox
Why is Gen Z getting more religious? We asked them.
is the host of Explain It to Me, your hotline for all your unanswered questions. She joined Vox in 2022 as a senior producer and then as host of The Weeds, Vox's policy podcast. A parishioner prays during a visit to the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on May 8, 2025, after learning that Pope Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago, had been named as first American leader of the Catholic Church.A couple weeks ago, I did something I try to do at least once a month: I went to the church I'm a member of in person instead of online. Growing up, church was a regular part of my life, and not just on Sundays. My father is a pastor, so it was common to spend a weekday evening doing my homework in my dad's office, music from choir rehearsal pouring in as I finished whatever worksheet was due the next day. It's an institution that shaped me: It's where I made a lot of friends, it gave me my first taste of public speaking, and since pastors in my denomination are moved from church to church, it also determined what city I lived in and where I went to school. When I was a kid, attendance was obviously less in my control. If I didn't go to church on Sunday, that meant no hanging with friends the following week. 'If you can't make time for the Lord, how can you make time for something else?' was my mother's refrain. The choice is mine now. I enjoy hearing the songs that were the soundtrack for so much of my childhood. I like saying hello to the people I see week after week. I like the Black liberation theology interpretation of the Bible that I hear every Sunday. And my experience, it turns out, is not unique. As we discussed in the most recent episode of Explain It to Me, Vox's call-in podcast, Gen Z has been finding religion these last few years. It's a phenomenon that reverses some recent trends — and one for which experts are trying to find an explanation. The changing face of religion in America It's a development that Ryan Burge has been keeping his eye on. He was a Baptist pastor for 20 years, and now he's an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University. Burge stepped away from ministry because the attendance in his church was declining: Members were aging, and there weren't a lot of young people to keep it alive. 'It's almost like every year, you expect [the share of Christians in the country] to be one point lower than the prior year, or two points lower than the prior year,' Burge told me. 'Every generation is less Christian than the prior generation, going all the way back to the early 1900s. And what's fascinating is that the drop is very consistent.' According to Burge, Catholicism is seeing a huge rise in young men. Now, though, Burge says that not only is that decline tapering off, but 'on some metrics, this data says that young people are actually more likely to be weekly religious attenders than millennials are. This is huge — we've never seen that before. We always assumed religion's going to continue to decline, and it doesn't look like that decline is continuing.' When we asked Explain It to Me listeners about their own experiences with spirituality, we got a wide array of responses. 'I did not grow up going to church. My family never went to church when I was younger, but I always had questions and felt like something bigger was out there,' one listener told us. 'So as soon as I could drive myself, I went to church and started looking for those answers.' Another — a self-described 'cradle Catholic' who has made her way back to religion — called in to say that, 'I understand why a lot of young people are actually going back to religion. It's because there's no other place to turn to in order to see what's wrong with life.' Why is religion making a comeback? So what's behind this uptick? The hypotheses are legion. 'To be a young person is to rebel against your parents,' Burge says. 'In my generation it was like, 'Oh, I grew up very hardcore Catholic or evangelical and so I became an atheist.' That was the most rebellious thing you can do. But imagine if you are a second-generation atheist or third-generation atheist. You know what the most rebellious thing you can do? It's to be Orthodox Christian or be Catholic.' Gender could also be at play. Through the years, more women have been regular church attendees than men, but we're not seeing that with Gen Z. According to Burge, Catholicism is seeing a huge rise in young men. 'I wonder if politics might be driving this religious divide among young people. Women had Time's Up and Me Too. … I think a lot of men feel like they're being overlooked. And if you go to a Catholic church, it's one of the few places in society where men have a privileged position in that hierarchy.' That's a sentiment that was echoed recently during a young adult group at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in San Francisco. In the group, men outnumber women. Father Patrick Verney, who runs the group, acknowledges the shift. 'This is very different from how it's always been in the past. In the past it's always been more women than men,' he said. 'This particular trend that you're talking about is unique in the history of humanity in a certain respect, certainly in the history of Christianity.'
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
North Boone Unified Track & Field Team wins state championship
POPLAR GROVE, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — A big shoutout to North Boone High School's Unified Track & Field Team. Thursday, the team won the State Unified Track & Field Meet for Class 1A at Eastern Illinois is the fourth time North Boone has won the State meet is run by the Special Olympics. Unified teams combine athletes with and without intellectual disabilities. They are also co-ed teams. The goal is to promote social inclusion, friendship and job North Boone! Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
10-05-2025
- General
- Axios
Young men are leading a religious resurgence
Christianity is starting to make a comeback in the U.S. and other western countries, led by young people. Why it matters: A decades-long decline has stalled, shaping the future of Gen Z, the drivers of the religion revival. 'We've seen the plateau of non-religion in America,' says Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University. 'Gen Z is not that much less religious than their parents, and that's a big deal.' By the numbers: Data from Pew shows that, for decades, each age group has been less Christian than the one before it. Americans born in the 1970s are 63% Christian. 1980s babies are 53% Christian, and 1990s babies are 46% Christian. But there was no decline from the 1990s to the 2000s. Americans born in the 2000s are also 46% Christian. Stunning stat: Gen Z-ers — especially Gen Z men — are actually more likely to attend weekly religious services than millennials and even some younger Gen X-ers, Burge's analysis shows. Between the lines: Young men are leading American's religion resurgence. Within older generations, there's a consistent gender gap among Christians, with women more likely to be religious than men. Within Gen Z, the gap has closed, as young men join the church and young women leave it. If the current trajectory sticks, the gender gap will flip. Zoom in: Many young people have turned to religion to find community and connection after the isolating years of the pandemic, which hit Gen Z harder than most. In some ways, this trend mirrors men's shift to the political right. "Religion is coded right, and coded more traditionalist" for young people, Derek Rishmawy, who leads a ministry at UC Irvine, told The New York Times. Plus, for some young men, Christianity is seen as "one institution that isn't initially and formally skeptical of them as a class," Rishmawy told the Times. Zoom out: The resurgence is global. 'In France, the Catholic Church has baptized more than 17,000 people, the highest yearly number of entrants in over 20 years,' New York Times columnist David Brooks writes. The share of British people between 18 to 24 who attend church at least monthly jumped from 4% in 2018 to 16% today, including 21% gain among young men, according to research from the Bible Society. What to watch: The deepening gender divide within America's religion revival could have broader consequences for young people, Burge says.
Fox News
29-04-2025
- General
- Fox News
PASTOR COREY BROOKS: A special South Side of Chicago success story
Several years ago, a young man by the name of Devin Howard came to my non-profit, Project H.O.O.D., on the South Side of Chicago. Like most kids around here, Devin grew up in a world of violence and poverty where one wrong turn or false move can have dire consequences. However, Devin always had the strong inner drive to become a somebody. He went to school at nearby Urban Prep where he played football and graduated with a 3.8 GPA. He then went on to Eastern Illinois University where his goal was to become a nurse. But something wasn't right. School wasn't working for him and he wasn't interested in nursing. So, he left and returned to my neighborhood where he potentially jeopardized his future by putting himself back in the danger zone. He even made the rash decision to join the Navy only to back out on the day he was to ship out. Was Devin yet another lost soul? Would he find his fire, his passion? Or would the neighborhood consume him? But Devin kept searching and when he came to me the first thing he said was, "I hear you have a carpentry program." I told him that we did and that he was more than welcome to apply. I created this program because I believe in the trades as a way out. I went to college myself, but I know it's not for everybody. I saw a lot of people drop out and there were no trade classes around to break their fall. Whenever I drive by a construction site, I wonder if Devin is managing it — what a wonderful feeling. There's something magical about working with ones' hands and creating something. It's not for everyone but we've long denied our youth the opportunity of learning the craft of a trade and taking tremendous pride in it. Devin quickly rose to the top of his construction class, never missing a day. As he earned certification after certification, he met a man by the name of Bill who was the CEO of Reed Construction. Devin got Bill's business card. Then the pandemic struck, dashing Devin's job search. He thought of quitting. But one day when he was cleaning out his room, he came upon Bill's card and left him a voice message. Bill called back that same day and wound up offering him the job of project engineer. This was supposed to be a boy who ended up in the gangs or on the streets. Now, he had a job that he was passionate about. That is why I believe so much in the trades and will make it a featured part of the community center I am building right now. It heartens me to know that many other Americans have also come to believe in the trades as a way forward. Recently, I listened to Jan Jekielek interview Mike Rowe about how New Hampshire, North Dakota, and South Dakota are reviving the trades in schools. Rowe said, "They've got a giant campaign to get shop class back in schools…welding, electricians, HVAC, plumbing, woodworking, automotive repair." I wish they would come to Illinois since I cannot keep up with the demand for trades. I know rebuilding the trades infrastructure and community is the key to a better America. Not long after he was hired, Devin was promoted to project manager and now sees multiple projects across the city. Whenever I drive by a construction site, I wonder if Devin is managing it — what a wonderful feeling. I recently asked him to come and speak to the graduating class of electricians. He said something that I, and most people in that room, will never forget: "Poverty ran my family until it ran into me."
