Effingham's Sidney Webster Earns Honor

Webster is a 5-foot-9 junior forward on the women's basketball team. She is an English Education major. MOSAIC Scholar and blogger for the marketing department at Greenville University.

The top students representing Illinois’ colleges and universities will be honored via a pre-recorded Zoom production by The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. The ceremony to recognize the Student Laureates of The Lincoln Academy is historically held every fall at the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield, but is going virtual this year due to COVID-19 restrictions on large in-person gatherings.

Cole Hoover was this year’s selection for Eastern Illinois as the offensive lineman has been a two-year starter on the Panthers football team playing all three offensive line positions (center, guard & tackle).  Hoover is from Charleston, Ill, and is majoring in Early Childhood Special Education where he holds a 3.83 grade point average. 

The 46th annual Lincoln Academy Student Laureate virtual ceremony will recognize excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities by seniors from each of the state’s four-year, degree-granting colleges and universities, and one student from the community colleges in Illinois. It will be available November 10 at www.thelincolnacademyofillinois.org. 

The Zoom production will include a congratulatory statement by Governor J. B. Pritzker, the President of the Lincoln Academy. Academy Vice Chancellor,

The Honorable Ron Spears, will give the invocation and Chancellor Frank Clark will make welcoming remarks. Four Laureates of The Lincoln Academy will speak to each of the four recognized pillars Abraham Lincoln’s leadership, and these include: Courage, 2012 Lincoln Laureate and 1990 Student Laureate Jean Driscoll; empathy, 2005 Lincoln Laureate and past Academy Chancellor Stephanie Pace Marshall, PhD; honesty, 2019 Laureate George Will; and integrity, 2014 Laureate Michael ‘Coach K’ Krzyzewski.

Student Laureates will receive a letter and certificate of merit signed by Gov. Pritzker, a Lincoln medallion, a challenge coin, and a $500 check from The Lincoln Academy. Student Laureates are selected by their individual schools. Those to be honored as Class of 2020.
In addition to honoring the state's Student Laureates, Illinois is unique in the United States in selecting present or former citizens who have made outstanding contributions toward the progress and betterment of humanity to be honored as Laureates of the Lincoln Academy and receive the “Order of Lincoln” from the Governor, a process that has been in place since 1964.

Proceeds from the spring Laureate Convocation are used to support the Student Laureate program each fall. For more information visit www.TheLincolnAcademyOfIllinois.org or The Lincoln Academy's social media sites.