PEORIA MAGAZINE August 2022

A P U B L I C A T I O N O F W T V P

M A G A Z I N E

A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

THE CLASS OF 2 0 2 3

JUNE 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 1

COVER STORY 34 Summer Vacation Shrinks In Peoria Public Schools By Lisa Coon

SPOTLIGHTS 22 Peoria is Now Home Sweet Home For Many Indian-Americans By Mike Bailey 26 Local Colleges, Universities Confront Enrollment Declines By Phil Luciano 30 ‘There Are Always Going

46 Pumpkin Powered By Scott Fishel 52 Music rules in Morton By Lisa Coon 64 Find A Career, Earn

While You Learn, Avoid Debt By Amy Talcott

ON THE COVER: The bright and eager faces of the Class of 2023 Photo by Ron Johnson

To Be Teen Pregnancies’ By Linda Smith Brown

67 Turning Donations into Help for Others By Craig W. Armstrong 68 Secrets Just Beneath the Soil By Mike Bailey

38 Peoria Stadium 2.0 By Nick Vlahos

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FEATURES 10 Seed and Soil:

19 Dish and Drink: Cocktail Class – Hours of Peaches

60 EconCorner:

So Far, So Good For Central Illinois Farmers By Patrick Kirchhofer

An Interview With Dr. Jeffrey R. Brown

By Dustin Crawford

72 Mom and Pop:

Peoria’s Comic Book King Adjusts With the Times By Steve Tarter

11 Seed and Soil:

40 Peoria Retro:

Fred the Horse Comic Strip By Dan Ackley

Peoria Stadium Has A Rich – And Racing – History By Phil Luciano

76 Playing in Peoria:

12 Seed and Soil:

The Reinvention Tour By Kirk Wessler

44 Peoria Retro:

Educating City Kids About Where Their Food Comes From By Rob Sharkey

Historic Peoria High, Still Making History By Steve Tarter 56 Twenty Something:

80 WordCount:

‘Bugs for Breakfast,’ An Interview with author Mary Boone

16 Dish and Drink:

Say a Little Prayer … and Pass The Pasta By Mike Bailey

Teachers Learn the Fine Art of Balance By CeCe Hill

88 People, Places & Parties

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 3

COMMENTARY

82 The Sky Is The Limit at Peoria Public Schools

By Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat

84 Common Traits Among Highly Successful People By Dee Brown 86 A Few Laws to Live – And Lead – By By Amy Burkett 91 Toon Town By Dan Ackley 94 One Last Thing: His Fountain of Youth? A Boiling Pot of Spaghetti By Phil Luciano AND MORE 7 Letter from the Editor 78 ArtsPartners Calendar 92 In Brief 96 Thank You, Advertisers

in this issue

August 2022 contributors: Dan Ackley, Craig W. Armstrong, Mary Boone, Dee Brown, Dr. Jeffrey R. Brown, Linda Smith Brown, Amy Burkett, Lisa Coon, Dustin Crawford, Scott Fishel, CeCe Hill, Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, Patrick Kirchhofer, Phil Luciano, Laurie Pillman, Rob Sharkey, Amy Talcott, Steve Tarter, Nick Vlahos, Kirk Wessler FOLLOW@PEORIAMAGAZINES: To subscribe or renew, visit peoriamagazines.com/subscribe.

4 AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE

MONTHLY ISSUE 082022 ISSN: 947

When Lydia Moss Bradley founded Bradley Polytechnic Institute in 1897, she envisioned a place that would provide professional training for the modern world, balanced with a liberal arts education. Today, 125 years later, we lead with her legacy as we educate students to fulfill that vision, cultivating individual minds for the good of all. Not just for the good of Peoria, but for the benefit of humankind. Learn more at bradley.edu.

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 5

E D I T O R I A L EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mike Bailey mbailey@peoriamagazines.com PUBLISHER Lesley Matuszak lesley.matuszak@wtvp.org C R E A T I V E SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS EXECUTIVE Phil Luciano phil.luciano@wtvp.org WTVP DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS Julie Sanders A D V E R T I S I N G PRESIDENT AND CEO OF WTVP Lesley Matuszak lesley.matuszak@wtvp.org SENIOR CORPORATE SUPPORT MANAGER Angie Spears sales@peoriamagazines.com CORPORATE SUPPORT MANAGER Kristina Gamez sales@peoriamagazines.com DIRECTOR OF PHILANTHROPY Tom Zimmerman sales@peoriamagazines.com julie.sanders@wtvp.org STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Ron Johnson GRAPHIC DESIGN Debbie Cody

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L E T T E R F R O M T H E E D I T O R

LESSONS TO SPARE, AND SHARE

W e l c ome t o P e o r i a Magazine ’s Education edit ion, dedicated to those who teach, learn and use their accumulated knowledge to make their communities and the world better places. You wouldn’t think that theme would be all that controversial, yet between countless f lash points — COVID protocols, curriculum choices, student debt issues, once-unthinkable aggressions, etc. — our institutions of education are being challenged as perhaps never before. Arguably nowhere else have the nat ion’s discontents and divisions been played out more intensely. Arguably nowhere else is more expected from those in whom less is invested (and we’re not just talking dollars). Most of us are experts on the class room, of course, because once upon a time, we all sat in one. What we can say with confidence is that where communities and classrooms, parents and professors truly partner, that tends to be a winning combination; that access-to all public education played no small role in building America into an economic empire; that schooling far and away remains the most reliable ticket to a safe and secure future – the way out and the way up; that we downplay and disparage educational achievement to our collective peril.

toomany others – even those born here, raised here – sometimes don’t or won’t. There is a significant percentage of Peoria’s growing Indian-Asian community that owns a Ph.D., M.D. or MBA, they’ve experienced firsthand the value of an education as it pertains to their own lives as doctors and engineers, college professors and CEOs, andmany confront the future with optimism in the place they now happily call home. They’re also realistic. “We don’t sell Peoria to Peoria,” which is necessary before selling Peoria to the world, said Dr. Kiran Velpula, whoworks on treatments/cures for brain cancer when not advocating for fellowPeorians from his seat on the City Council. “We don’t appreciate what we have ... That’s where I really feel we lose the battle.” In fact, there is little that cannot be accomplished from central Illinois, and people here – like Dr. Velpula – prove it every day. It’s a mindset. Something to ponder, as we unveil another Peoria Magazine. Enjoy.

With age and sometimes wisdom, of course, come the realization that there are all kinds of smarts — book smarts, street smarts, work-with-your-hands smarts, art smarts, music smarts, etc. – and that people learn in different ways and at their own paces. In fact, no end of positive, inspiring stories exist out there. In this month’s magazine, we celebrate those who have used those smarts to success in their chosen fields, from the juggernaut that is the Morton High School marching band – 16 consecutive state titles, now that’s a dynasty — to Troy Ummel’s genius at preparing food. We explore the changes taking place and the opportunities being presented in our K-12 schools, vocational institutions and universities, knowing that learning never stops and that we must better prepare ourselves for a formidable future. We dig with archeologists to potentially uncover eternal mysteries that may help unlock the answers to what stalls our progress as a people yet today, throw some sunshine on those saving young lives through education at a local church, ride along with Kirk Wessler on his Reinvention Tour, and wonder with a children’s books author how bugs might taste for breakfast. Trust me, it’s all very educational. One other thing: We take a look at ourselves through the eyes of thosewho grewup elsewhere, chose Peoria against the field, and see in central Illinois what

Mike Bailey mbailey@peoriamagazines.com

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 7

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AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 9

S E E D A N D S O I L

SO FAR, SO GOOD FOR CENTRAL ILLINOIS FARMERS Still need August rains, input cost reductions

BY PATRICK KIRCHHOFER

A s of the first week in July, the corn and soybean crops look good in Peoria County. There were numerous 90-degree days in June and early July. High temperatures, low humidity and winds will dry out the soil and can cause significant stress, especially for the corn crop, but thankfully we have had some rain to accompany the heat. Just after July 4, the corn was begin ning to tassel. This is a very critical stage, as pollination is occurring which only lasts for a period of 10 days or less. The tassel produces pollen, which falls on the silks located midway up the corn plant. Those pollen grains will travel down the silk tube and attach to the ear to become a kernel of corn. If there is too much heat, dry weather and excessive stress on the corn plants, this can have a negative impact on successful polli nation. Kernels will begin aborting at the top of the ear and work down the ear as dry weather persists. Soybeans are much more forgiving when it comes to heat and dry weather. Soybean plants will flower over several weeks. Pods form on the bottom of the plant while flowers are still blooming on the top portion. It’s this extended flowering period that enables soybean plants to spread their risk, so to speak. Excessive dry weather and stress on soybeans will reduce yields in a number of ways. Whole pods will abort on the

process, leading to stalk cannibalization and a reduction in yield. Fungicides help control these diseases. So, what is the outlook for this growing season? Peor ia County farmers have the potential to harvest excellent yields this fall if we continue to receive rains in August. Looking briefly at the economics, prices for both corn and soybeans were near record highs throughout the spring season, although we did see a downturn in prices the first week in July. Nevertheless, farmers have a great opportunity to sell at profitable prices. The concern in farm country is the rapid escalation of input costs such as fertilizer. As a general observation, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer costs have nearly doubled since this time last year. Prices for corn and soybeans will need to stay high to maintain profits if fertilizer inputs remain high for farmers looking ahead to 2023. The 2022 growing season is shaping up to be a good one in Peoria County, but we still have the homestretch to go.

plant, only two beans will develop in a pod instead of the typical three, or the beans themselves will be smaller in size. Weeds, primarily in soybeanfields, can be a challenge to control. Waterhemp is a “bad word” when it comes to farm ing. It is the biggest weed issue for most farmers. There are several ways that it proliferates. The seeds can germinate late in the growing season, it’s aggres sive and fast growing, and it’s tolerant to several herbicides. One reason you will see farmers planting soybeans in narrower rows (15-inch rows instead of 30-inch rows) is to help shade or canopy the field more quickly. Seeds and small plants need sunlight to grow, and if the field is completely shaded by soybean leaves, this will reduce the competition from weeds. If you live in the country, you may have seen some yellow planes flying low over corn and soybean fields. They are spraying fungicide, which keeps the corn and soybean plants much healthier. It seems like there is a crop disease that can infect corn and soybean plants whether it’s dry or wet. Fungicides will have a greater impact and be most beneficial in a damp, more humid environment. Tar Spot has infected cornfields in recent years. It is a fungal disease that appears as a series of black spots on corn leaves. This affects the leaves’ ability to carry out the photosynthesis

Patrick Kirchhofer is manager of the Peoria County Farm Bureau, a position he has held since 1995

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S E E D A N D S O I L

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 11

S E E D A N D S O I L

EDUCATING CITY KIDS ABOUT WHERE THEIR FOOD COMES FROM Lessons go both ways in ‘Ag in the Classroom’ program

BY ROB SHARKEY

A s farmers, we are constantly updating our farming practices and forever chal leng ing ourselves to become better and more efficient stewards of the land. Whether it’s the latest technology, environmental ly fr iendly power, biofuels or tillage practices, to name a few, it’s a constant education. The general public may not realize that every year, especially in the winter months, we attend seminars, conferences, webinars, and have agronomists v isit our farms to keep current on the latest laws and regulations. Farming, like so many jobs, has many variables and moving parts. It takes dedicated planning all year to make harvest successful. Yet, I think one of the most important jobs we have is to educate the next gen eration—not just the next generation to

run the farm, but maybe more impor tantly, thenext generationof consumers! There are so many ways we share our stories of life on the farm, but one of my favorite ways, and perhaps the most effective, has been the “Ag in the Classroom” program through our local county Farm Bureau. When our kids were little, we decided, with many others from our county, to adopt a classroom in inner city Chicago. We sent the students monthly letters detailing what we were doing on the farm during all four seasons of the year. This included explaining how we choose the crops we plant, where we buy our seed, what equipment we need to plant and harvest, and a little bit about technology. We also showed that it takes a community of people to help a farmer be successful.We have a couple different

agronomists visit to advise us on when to plant and when and what to spray to keep the crop healthy.We explained that it takes a company to deliver anhydrous ammonia so we can give our crop nitrogen, and a fuel truck delivering diesel fuel to run our tractors and other equipment. We have several seed salesmen and saleswomen who deliver seed that will grow well according to our soil types. The best memories we have are the in-person visits. My wife and I would load up the kids and drive to a school in inner city Chicago and meet the students face to face. It was a culture shock, to say the least. Growing up in rural Illinois surround ed by cornfields and timber made Chi cago’s concrete and skyscrapers a real education for us. The school we visited is in a rough neighborhood where the

12 AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE

kids who attended often came frombro ken and very low-income homes. What we discovered was that the 4th grade classroomwelcomed us warmly and the teacher was amazing! The kids were like sponges, soaking up every word we said. They hugged us and sat qui etly while we told them about life on the farm. We showed them pictures of our equipment, and they erupted with fantastic questions at the end. It was great for our son to stand in front of the class and tell what life was like growing up on a farm and what chores he had. In the end, I think we learned more from those kids than they did from us. It definitely gives you a newperspective when you travel outside your fenceposts. Witnessing firsthand how other people liveallowsus toknowhowtobetter reach themifwe trulywant to teach themabout where their food comes from.

WITNESSING FIRSTHAND HOW OTHER PEOPLE LIVE ALLOWS US TO KNOW HOW TO BETTER REACH THEM IF WE TRULY WANT TO TEACH THEM ABOUT WHERE THEIR FOOD COMES FROM

These 4th graders had very good attendance, so we even scheduled a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry to show them the Farm Exhibit, which had recently opened. This allowed them to see a combine and tractor up close and to learnmore about the crops we raise in Illinois. Seeing the look of awe on their faces and the squeals of joy as they climbed up in the tractor was something our family will never forget. The strength of the “Ag in the Classroom” program is in the amazing volunteers from so many local grassroots organizations. It was established back in 1981 in conjunction with the IAA Foundation and Farm

Bureau, and it has evolved into partnerships with other groups to serve 600,000 students pre-K through 12th grade. This amazing program provides a supplemental curriculum about agriculture for teachers to incorporate into their already existing plans.

Rob Sharkey , aka “The Shark Farmer,” tills the land at his fifth generation farm in the Bradford area, where he lives with wife Emily. He hosts “A Shot of Ag” on WTVP PBS and a podcast heard by millions, among other media endeavors

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 13

Here For You When Life Changes

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4th Annual Turner Center for Entrepreneurship Small Business Awards Please join the Robert and Carolyn Turner Center for Entrepreneurship with Bradley University’s President Stephen Standi rd and Dean Molly Gribb of the Foster College of Business and Caterpillar College of Engineering and Technology as we recognize and celebrate the success of entrepreneurs, start-ups, rural businesses, innovators, and the people that support them. Bradley University Hayden-Clark Alumni Center 816 N. Tobias Ln | Peoria Thursday, September 1, 2022 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. is event will showcase the success of our clients and the strong relationships with our community partners. Our winners are dedicated to their business and are making a positive impact in the community. Awards categories include:

• Startup of the Year • Exporter of the Year • Innovation of the Year

Read about the winners in

• New Exporter of the Year • Rural Business of the Year • Small Business of the Year • Community Partner of the Year • Government Contractor of the Year • Small Business Advocate of the Year • Women in Business Leadership Award

ere is no cost to a end. Register by August 23, 2020. www.bradley.edu/turnercenter/awards

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 15

D I S H A N D D R I N K

SAY A LITTLE PRAYER … AND PASS THE PASTA Troy Ummel has gone from poor house to promised land with his Connected

BY MIKE BAILEY PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

O n more than one occasion in 2009, Troy Ummel felt a very strong urge to go to his knees to ask for a little help from Upstairs. He had moved back to central Illinois to help care for his ailing father, following a successful and colorful career at prominent restaurants in Florida and elsewhere around the world. He had a Culinary Institute of America diploma, and he felt he was ready to go out on his own, in his hometown. “Well, I knew I was going to be here a while. What was I gonna do? I had a lease, the place was turnkey. I went back and forth, made a deal,” recalled Ummel. But even for a risk-taker by nature, this was a risk . “The recession in ’08 had bled over into 2009,” he recalled. “I’m in arguably the worst city for fine dining … I’m in the worst location” – at 3218 N. Dries Lane, between one parking lot and another parking lot and another “with potholes that would swallow a car” – “It’s the worst economic time. I have no money. I have no staff. I have nothing. “I’m a very … you’re gonna laugh … I’m a religious guy. I sat right in this chair and I said a prayer. ‘My Lord, what have I done?’ “Not two seconds after I said my prayer, I heard, ‘Hello? Hello?’ Very heavy accent. ‘Hello?’ In came Father

at the mispronunciation. A year later, he was back, and again the call went out for prayer requests. “I raised my hand and said, ‘Please stop praying for Connected, just for a moment. We can’t keep up.” And so it has been at Connected ever since, where despite that “awful” location, Ummel has managed to build one of the best and most consistently popular restaurants in central Illinois. The five DiRoNA awards he has on the wall – among North America’s most prestigious restaurant prizes – join two Wine Spectator honors as testament to that at the everything-made-from scratching throwback. Of the 23 Illinois restaurants listed by the Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNA) on its website, all but Connected are in the Chicago metropolitan area. Not even a near-biblical plague like COVID could derail him. No government assistance for this small business, which didn’t qualify because it hadn’t suffered losses. Ummel just pivoted to a frozen entrée takeout operation. That first COVID Easter alone, 200meal kits went out the door – 800 meals. Like any successful restaurateur, Ummel also is a superior storyteller, of course – a little Mark Twain in there somewhere, a guy who knows how to work a room. Listening to him is like sailing down a long river with no end of tributaries, as he drops the names

Elias, a priest in Peoria, and he said, ‘David Joseph” – a well-known Peoria builder and developer – ‘and his wife tell me you’re a good cook.’ Father Elias then walks right back into the kitchen. I’m very proud of this to this day. I didn’t have much but I had something. I knew good food. I’d worked at some of the best places in the world. I sliced some prosciutto for him, some parmesan ... I think they’re staples. “He says, ‘Put me down for 8 to 12 people tonight.’Wewere off and running.” Nothing if not nondenominational, Ummel wanted to cover all his bases. At the small Mennonite church in Groveland he attended with his father, the pastor asked for prayer requests. “Usually, it’s ‘my Aunt Jane is sick.’” Next thing he knew, he was hearing, “Lord, bless Connections” — he laughs now

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Servers Chandler Simpson and Morgan Pfahl

of fellow passengers along the way, before inevitably ending the voyage at the destination he intended all along. Ummel’s story starts in Morton as the middle child in a family of five, a son of Kenneth – a construction worker, longtime Morton schools custodian and baseball coach – and Rose, who owned a hair salon in town. He was a lackadaisical student – school “got in the way of living” — but acquired a sense of what hewanted out of lifewhile cutting his teeth as a teen at Miller’s Cliftwood Restaurant in Morton and at Carnegie’s at Peoria’s elegant Pere Marquette Hotel. The kitchen became his preferred classroom. “I couldn’t hit a 100 m.p.h. fastball … Probably, by today’s standards, I would have been diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) times two,” he said. “But I knew I wanted to be a restaurateur. That was as close to a movie celebrity when I was a kid as you could get.” He also knew where he wanted to go to make that happen. This kid from little Morton wanted to go big-time, to New York’s famed Culinary Institute of America, the “other CIA.” He graduated in 1989 with a diploma, significantly more confidence for a guy who had learned to “fake it until you make it,” and some very well-connected friends. Few were as instrumental as the late Joseph Amendola, the legendary CIA ambassador, hospitality consultant and businessman. Ummel was on his way to

Toronto when Amendola intercepted him and put himon the road to Orlando instead, where he would ultimately land a job at the landmark Christini’s. Eventually, he would make his way back home, where others opened doors for him and provided assistance at critical moments – in particular he cites Ed LaHood of Food Service Equipment Corp. in Peoria. Now he’s looking to pay that forward. “As Mr. Christini used to say … a restaurant is a culmination of many things,” said Ummel. “The problem is that somany people excel at one, maybe the food, but the service sucks … I just try to do it like I would like. I like high quality food. I empower my staff … I want this to be a fun experience. “Everyone’s taken a little piece of ownership of the place.” Running a restaurant is an all encompassing job, of course, and it can take its toll. Ummel descr ibes himsel f as “dedicated to a fault. “Let me put it to you like this: If somebody called any one of my friends and said, ‘Did you hear that Troy had a heart attack at work? Died on the spot,’ nobody would be surprised.” He subscribes to a “farm mentality,” acquired growing up inMorton. “When there’s good weather, you’re out working ‘til midnight because it might rain tomorrow … I’ve never been that guy who can schedule like a dentist

four months out. A lot of my family time has suffered.” As a result, at 53, Ummel – with a wife, Monet, a commercial airplane pilot, and stepdaughter Merlot at home in Peoria and two adult children, son Joshua and daughter Marina, back in Florida — is contemplating retirement, “at least from this pace.” “There’s two types of success,” said Ummel. There’s the kind depicted by the statement, “I feel so bad for you, all you have is money.” And there’s the kind described by Warren Buffett, whom he paraphrases: “Pure success is to have the love of those you love.”

Troy and Monet Ummel

No doubt many central Illinoisans are praying they can get a fewmore meals in at Connected before Troy Ummel calls it a career.

Mike Bailey is editor in chief of Peoria Magazine

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 17

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18 AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE

D I S H A N D D R I N K

COCKTAIL CLASS Welcome back to Mixology 101

T ime to sip through the rest of summer with this spiced and stirred variation of an Old Fashioned. The cobblers and apple pies of childhood may jump to mind. At least it did for me! There is a bit of preparation for this cocktail, but the results are well worth it! This is the first stirred cocktail in the Mixology 101 series and you will find there is a lot less energy spent mixing this drink, which can be perfect during the decline of summer. Stirred cocktails are smooth sippers that remain clear and flavorful whether served up or on the rocks. When stirring, you will want to keep the ice spinning with jostling and tumbling, which can take a practiced hand with a barspoon. You will want to keep the back of the spoon to the outside of the ice as you stir, which makes the spoon spin in your fingers. A light hand is the name of the game for stirred drinks. For this cocktail we need to make an infusion first, so you will need a bottle of rye whiskey, peaches, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, a mason jar, and six to seven days. If you have a sous vide, you can speed this up to just 10 hours. Dice up two peaches and drop into the mason jar along with seven or so cinnamon sticks and 12-15 cloves. Pour

HOURS OF PEACHES

Make sure you have plenty of ice, well above the level of your liquid ingredients. Put your hawthorne strainer over your double rocks glass and strain out any melted water. Now place your hawthorne strainer over your mixing glass and strain into your prepared double rocks glass. Garnish with a fresh slice of peach and enjoy! Regarding the retained solids from your infusion, I took thewhiskey-infused peachchunks andmixed themwith fresh peaches and some rich demerara syrup in a glass, made some streusel topping (flour, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon) and topped with ice cream (thank you Emack&Bolio’s).Whiskey-infused peach cobbler goes well with a peach-infused whiskey cocktail. Cheers!

in the rye and set aside in a cool dark space for a week. If you have a sous vide, use a BPA free bag (ZipLock works well), expel all the air, and immerse at 145 degrees for 10 hours. After your week (or 10 hours), strain the mixture back into the bottle and label with the date and ingredients. Set aside the solids from the infusion. Also take a long nose of the fragrance, as it may bring back some memories. Your infusion is ready! First, the TOOLS : For this cocktail you will need a cocktail mixing glass (or a pint glass), a barspoon (or chopstick), a measuring jigger, a hawthorne strainer, and a double rocks glass, which you will need to put in the freezer or fill with ice. Next, the INGREDIENTS . To the mixing glass add: • 1 dash old fashioned bitters • 1 dash peach bitters

About our mixologist: Dustin Crawford is co-owner – with partner Kip Rodier – of the 33 Room in Peoria Heights. Prior to that, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran traveled the world before returning home to work

• .5 oz. rich demerara syrup • .5 oz. spiced peach liqueur • 2 oz. peach and spice infused rye whiskey

Finally, the PROCESS : Fill yourmixing glass with ice and stir for 25-30 seconds.

his magic behind the bar at various central Illinois establishments

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 19

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AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 21

S P O T L I G H T

PEORIA IS HOME SWEET HOME FOR MANY INDIAN-AMERICANS And they are giving back with businesses, jobs, charitable and cultural contributions

BY MIKE BAILEY PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

D r. Kiran Velpula, cancer fighting researcher by day, Peoria city councilman by night, tells an interesting story about how his family arrived in Peoria 14 years ago. He and his wife, Swapna Asuthkar, both of whomgrewup in southern India, had found themselves in Cleveland, working in health care there but feeling very alone, when Peoria, Illinois, of all places – specifically the University of Illinois College of Medicine (UICOMP) here – came a calling. First, they were attracted to Peoria by good jobs that stretched them—both as assistant professors of cancer biology and pharmacology at UICOMP — with competitive pay. They discovered a thriving Indian/Asian community here and suddenly had a social life. Central Illinois’ cost of living was eminently affordable and the quality of life was high, with cultural activities to spare and the ability to get just about anywhere they wanted to go within 15 minutes. Their neighbors were welcoming. “I used to make a funny statement: If you close your eyes and throw a pebble in Peoria, you hit an Indian fellow. That’s how many Indians were here,” said

here in the 1960s, some to teach at Bradley University before moving into medical, engineering and computer software positions. Today they are a who’s who of local Asian-American achievement, with names like Bhandari, Shah, Banargi, Raman, Chatrath, Kalayanraman, Samir, etc. They are a significant presence in area hospitals and clinics, said one such, Dr. Kamlesh Macwan, who arrived in 1994 and has operated a neonatology practice here since. They are CEOs — such as Seshadri Guha, chief executive and founder of TADA Cognitive Solutions and chairman and managing partner of CGN Global – and entrepreneurs, such as Sudheer Saj ja at Pringle Robotics. They are hotel/motel operators and store owners such as Sanjay Bhai at Swagat Food and Grocery. Meanwhile, some have entered politics. Velpula is an at-large member of the Peoria City Counci l. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi grew up in Peoria – where his father taught at Bradley – and now represents Illinois’ 8th District in the Chicago area. They have formed their own organizations – the Asian Indian Community Collaboration of Peoria

Dr. Kiran Velpula is sworn in at City Hall

Velpula. Nearly 9,000 miles away from where he grew up, Peoria is where he wants and intends to stay. Velpula owns a Ph.D. and MBA and is emblematic of many who have migrated from India – highly educated, entrepreneurial, driven, happy to be in central Illinois and optimistic about its future. And they have made and are making a significant imprint. First, the Asian-Indian population of Peoria has grown dramatically over the years, from about 3.8 percent of the city’s residents in 2010 to more than 6 percent in 2020, totaling nearly 7,000 people. That number continues to climb and become more diverse. The original pioneers beganmigrating

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Sanjay Bhai owns Swagat Food and Grocery at 6926 N University Street in Peoria, meeting place for the Indian community to shop and socialize

(AICCP, aiccp/web.org) and the Indo American Society of Peoria (IACP), for example, with the goal of educating others about their culture and, increasingly, giving back to central Illinois through acts of philanthropy and volunteerism. Indeed, August –whichmarks the 76th anniversary of Indian independence, on Aug. 15 — is a very big month in Peoria’s Indian-Asian community. India Fest is to be held Aug. 14 on Peo ria’s RiverFront, featuring traditional Indianmusic and dancing, authentic In dian cuisine, shopping opportunities and even an always spirited cricket contest. Meanwhile, the annual Passage to India fundraiser for Easterseals is to be held on Aug. 5, having generated more than $4.5 million to help children with disabilities over the years. There is a Mahatma Gandhi Conference Room at Children’s Hospital of Illinois. Other beneficiaries of the Indian community’s largesse include St. Jude, Ronald McDonald House, NeighborhoodHouse, Carver Center, Peoria Public Schools, andmultipleSTEM(Science, Technology, Eng ineer ing and Mathemat ics) programs at schools across the region. Today, it is far easier to emigrate to the United States and specifically to Peoria than it once was, when this seemed like “the final frontier” and individuals and families from very far away had tomuster the courage and the resources to pretty much fly solo. Many American businesses and universities now have a physical presence in India. Those who paved the way and now lead organizations such as AICCP and IACP provide considerable assistance helping with the transition, including food, shelter, jobs, education and citizenship classes.

go to their practices and school events. And the traffic is never in question.” “Peoria is a small town but has a big town outlook,” added Srinivas Vuppuluri, who is “happily retired” after a career in the university classroom and at Caterpillar as a software project manager, here since 1999. As to the old saw of “Will it play in Peoria,” Vuppuluri said “it is playing here. Peoria is on the edge of somemajor success,” with the Indian community ready to help make that happen, in education, in economic development. “We have a positive regard for Peoria. We appreciate Peoria for the home it has given us,” he said. “There are issues but … it’s a good place to grow.” It certainly has been for Velpula, who brags the kind of résumé that is in demand andwho has had opportunities to leave – for Los Angeles, for Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, for Harvard in Massachusetts. Alas, he built a family –which includes son Jai, 14 – and a program here, teaming up with Dr. Andrew Tsung, an OSF neurosurgeon, to develop the Velpula-Tsung Laboratory at UICOMP, where they work on groundbreaking gene therapies to defeat cancers. And the med school stepped up when he was on the fence about a move. “The community …had trust inme, my abilities, and my dedication to what I do … That is the beauty of Peoria. That is why we stayed … and why I want to give back,” said Velpula. “This is home. I can’t go anywhere else … This is where I want to live the rest of my life.”

And it can be a transition. Macwan, who hails fromAhmedabad, India, remembers the first time he landed at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The first thing he noticed was that “the trees did not have any leaves,” as it was November, and suddenly he wished he had a jacket. He thought, “What country did I come to?” Meanwhile, no matter how fluent their English, some things still got lost in the translation, such as when a shopkeeper would ask, “May I help you?” Macwan remembers thinking, with a laugh now, that “I don’t need any help. I’m OK.” And the food, of course. Let’s just say that sometimes spice is nice. Nonetheless, “If you make a little at tempt … you discover that underneath that outer shell, we’re all the same,” said Macwan, for whom the appeal of life in this country remains strong. “We look at the American culture, American values… Thefirst thing that attractedmewas that you could be whatever you want to be.” Still, he was surprised at the reaction he got fromcolleagues in Chicagowhen he told themhe was moving downstate. “People askedme, ‘Why are you going to Peoria?’ like Peoria didn’t exist. “Everybody who comes here says, ‘We’ll try it out in Peoria for a year or two. Then Peoria grows on you so significantly” that it becomes 20, 30 years. “This is like a hidden gem. When I came here, I never wanted to be anywhere else.” And he, like many others, remains bullish on Peoria. “You can get the reward of a (medical) practice…without the tension of a prac tice,” Macwan said. “Your family life is muchbetter here. Youcan raise your kids,

Mike Bailey is editor in chief of Peoria Magazine

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OUR PATH TO A CURE

Illinois CancerCare was founded in 1977 with cancer research at the core of our practice. Since then, more than 10,000 of our patients have participated in nearly 1,500 clinical trials—staying close to home and close to family, friends, and support networks. Four decades into our fight, we remain independent, privately owned, and committed to the latest research on behalf of our patients. These studies aren’t merely the final step in bringing tomorrow’s drugs and therapies to market. For many of today’s patients, they are lifesavers, life-extenders, and quality-of-life-enhancers.

DEFINING CLINICAL TRIALS ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Defines who may participate in a trial based on a variety of factors, like a certain type or stage of cancer, previous treatments, age, gender, medical history, or current health CLINICAL TRIAL Final step in determining the safety and effectiveness of new treatments—involves human volunteers and evaluates if a new treatment is better than existing options CANCER CONTROL STUDIES (SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT) Address the symptoms and side effects, like nausea or fatigue, that result from having and treating cancer PROTOCOL Outlines the purpose of the trial, what drugs or treatments will be used, what testing will be conducted, the number of people needed, eligibility criteria and what information will be collected

THE FOUR PHASES OF CLINICAL TRIALS

PHASE I TRIALS Evaluate how a new drug should be given, how often and at what dosage. They usually enroll only a small number of patients.

PHASE IV TRIALS Evaluate the long-term effects of a new drug over a lengthy period of time for a larger number of patients. They occur after FDA approval of a drug. PHASE II TRIALS Continue to test the safety of a new drug in participants and begin to evaluate how it works. They usually focus on a specific type of cancer.

PHASE III TRIALS Compare the new drug, combination of drugs or surgical procedure to the current standard by randomly assigning participants to the new group or the standard group. They often enroll large numbers of people and occur nationwide.

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Live Entertainment • Dinner • Awards Tickets and Sponsorships available by calling Denise Moore at 309-966-3989. Visit us at www.BBApeoria.org

AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 25

S P O T L I G H T

LOCAL COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES CONFRONT ENROLLMENT DECLINES With students questioning the investment, schools are getting creative

BY PHIL LUCIANO PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

Stephen Standifird is president of Bradley University

A s college enrollment has plum meted nationally, area higher education leaders have taken note — and taken action. Unde r g r a du a t e en r o l l men t nationally has declined by more than 662,000 students — 4.7% — from spring 2021, according to a report released in May by the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that collects education data for U.S. colleges and universities. Altogether during the pandemic, the number of undergraduate students shrank by nearly 1.4 million. Plus, graduate

BRADLEY UNIVERSITY Bradley President Stephen Standifird subscribes to the view that colleges have caused their own enrollment problems. Historically, degrees had been earned in a seller’s market, so colleges did little to assess the needs of students. “The idea of constant demand has changed, I think forever,” he said. “When you’re in constant demand, you can get sloppy in designing what you think is right.” At Bradley, undergraduate enrollment

and professional-degree enrollment declined by 1 percent over the last year. Even before COVID-19, college enrollment had been dropping, as would-be students pondered whether traveling thescholastic route–nowadays pockmarked with college-debt horror stories — still provides a solid payoff. Locally, Bradley University, Illinois Central College and Eureka College have been rethinking how to attract and keep young people who more and more see career paths that forgo traditional campuses.

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Sheila Quirk-Bailey is president of Illinois Central College

When the virus hit the U.S., conven tional wisdom held that community colleges might prosper, given relatively low tuition costs and more people at home with time on their hands. That didn’t happen. Community colleges nationally have lost 827,000students since thebeginning of the pandemic. That first year, ICC saw enrollment plummet 20 percent. The problem? In part, there has been a learning curve as teachers adapt to online delivery. “We might not have been very good at doing it,” said Bruce Budde, ICC’s senior vice president of administration and finance. Students also needed to adjust to online classes. But as interactions have grown more solid on each end of Zoom classrooms, ICC officials believe hybrid modalities – in-person, online, or a combination of both – are key to the school’s future. The flexible approaches will better allow the school to meet the different needs of a diverse student body, said Budde. “I think it’s going to be key in knocking down barriers.” That might be why last year, though ICC still saw enrollment drop 9 percent – to 11,132 students — the dip was less than half that of the previous year. Further, despite the enrollment challenges, ICC’s endowment has risen AT ICC, ‘WE CAN’T TRAIN WELDERS FAST ENOUGH’

become an issue, even more so for students who feel adrift and disconnected. For students plugged into campus resources, BU can often help with financial assistance. “It’s findable,” Standifird said. Meanwhile, a common higher-ed metric is the six-year graduation rate, which nationally is 57.6% — a figure that sparks a shake of Standifird’s head. “Find me another industry where you’re OK if you fail 40 percent of the time,” he said. “Would youwant a doctor who fails 40 percent of the time?” BU’s six-year rate is 76 percent, but the school is aiming for 90 percent. On the immediate upside, the school’s graduate programs are growing, with enrollment doubling since 2018. Right now, BU has 4,200 undergrads and 1,200 graduate students, with many of the latter taking courses online, especially in nursing. “I foresee the daywhen the undergrad uate and online numbers rival the un dergraduate numbers,” Standifird said. Meantime, the school’s endowment is solid, rising from $313 million in 2017 to $350 million today. “I’m expecting it to grow in the years to come,” Standifird said. ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE ICC administrators learned a lot from the pandemic, including how to better attract and teach students.

has dipped 3 percent since 2018. However, enrollment has leveled off over the past two years, including in the incoming freshman class, which totals 1,040. Beyond enrollment loss from the pandemic, students have become more finicky regarding college choice, said Standifird. Two newer considerations have emerged, he said: Students want a welcoming and inclusive environment, plus a post-college trajectory that includes a “life of impact.” Both concerns have promptedBradley to begin developing a new mentoring program to better guide students from freshman enrollment to graduation day. “It’s not career planning,” Standifird said. “It’s life planning.” For example, one step would involve more comprehensively helping students choose a major, not necessarily by academic discipline but according to their interests and abilities. The approach is less about what students want to be than what they’d like to do. And if an undergrad’s interests wander, Standifird wants degree paths to be more f lexible to accommodate change within a reasonable graduation time. Along the way, college costs can STUDENTS NOW WANT A POST-COLLEGE ‘LIFE OF IMPACT’

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“There continues to be a strong need, in some fields, for a college degree,” Wright says. “That said, Eureka College has made dramatic curricular changes to ensure we are focusing on students’ mastery of key, transferable skills that reflect employer needs and are helping students to better connect the dots between college, career and life skills.” To that end, the school is offering more f lexible degree-completion options, including three-year programs Jamel Wright is president of Eureka College, where the most famous graduate is former President Ronald Reagan and remote-only curricula. Meanwhile, the school is emphasizing financial responsibility. “Eureka Col lege has also been intentional in developing initiatives and providing resources around financial literacy to better educate families about the financial aid process, the difference betweengrants and loans, aswell as loan repayment and budgeting,” Wright said. “Most important is Eureka College’s message encouraging students to only accept the minimum loan amount needed for their education.” EUREKA COLLEGE IS COMMITTED TO ‘BETTER PRICING MODELS’

from $22 million to $32 million over the past five years. Moving forward, ICC is further seeking to meet student needs at their most basic levels, including bolstering on-site daycare for student-parents. The school also assists with finances. In-district tuition — ICC serves all or parts of the counties of Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Bureau, Logan, Marshall, Livingston, McLean, Stark and Mason) is $155 per credit hour. Meantime, non-credit programs that offer certification in vocational training are flourishing. “They need something past high school,” said Kim Armstrong, ICC’s vice president for marketing and institutional advancement. Some of the programs offer earn-while-you learn stipends, with ICC adding 1,200 students there in the past two years. “We can’t train welders fast enough,” said Armstrong. EUREKA COLLEGE Eying national enrollment declines, Eureka College has been pushing for a better bang-for-the-buck experience, said school President Jamel Wright. The approach has multiple prongs. One involves understanding that the threat of college debt looms large among would-be students. “Consistent with national data, we have seen more low-income and first-generation students deciding to

take gap years or to forego college altogether,” Wright said. A key initiative has been Eureka Promise, a tuition-free program for low-income students living in Illinois. “We are the only private college in the state of Illinois to offer such a program,” Wright said. “Eureka Promise is one example of our commitment to explore and implement better pricing models that better meet the needs of our students.” Meantime, the school has frozen tuition for incoming students, so their year-to-year cost is more predictable. To cover its costs, the college has increased its focus on non-tuition revenue, such as grants. Meanwhile, Eureka’s endowment has grown from $20 million in 2013 to almost $38 million today. The school declined to disclose its recent enrollment figures, though U.S News reported that the fall 2020 figure was 511. This fall, the school is expecting a 20 percent boost in freshman enrollment, Wright said. The college’s enrollment dropped from 567 in 2018 to 476 in 2021. School officials expect more than 500 students this fall, with a 20% boost in freshman enrollment alone. One major push has involved what Wright calls the “value proposition of earning a college degree,” with the school reaching out to employers to learn their needs for new hires.

Phil Luciano is a senior writer/columnist for Peoria Magazine and content contributor to public television station WTVP

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