Six years after Cinespace Chicago Film Studios was founded in an abandoned steel plant on the Southwest Side of Chicago, the company has become the largest soundstage operation outside of Hollywood.

Katie Kelly arrived at Chicago Midway International Airport on a Sunday evening in January 2016. She was exhausted from the flight, but her spirits were high after her first trip to Las Vegas.

Rachel Hall’s story could be one of sadness and tragedy.

Field Museum intern and Northeastern biology student Charles D’Lavoy was able to experience first hand how botanical research can affect a community. D’Lavoy, who spent the summer researching moss at the Field Museum, was selected by museum researchers to assist in the investigation of the Katherine “Baby Kate” Phillips disappearance in Ludington, Michigan. The infant disappeared June 29, 2011, and law enforcement officers have been searching for answers ever since.

In 1965, Marge Csakai and Jim Blair took a Creative Writing class at Northeastern Illinois University. The teacher was none other than Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks, who three years later also was appointed poet laureate of Illinois, but that exciting fact is a mere footnote in their family story.

Romanetha Looper was raising her two sons in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, which is plagued with crime and poverty. This rough community is where Looper has planted roots and sees an opportunity for positive growth and change.

Pianist Susan Tang, assistant professor, music, has taken her love and passion for music around the country and has finally planted roots in Chicago.

Every year since 1986, the Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching selects 10 outstanding teachers in the Chicago area to be recipients of this prestigious award. In 2013, Gregory Regalado, ’05, was one of those 10 teachers.

I would not be where I am today if it were not for the encouragement and support of the entire faculty and staff of the Biology Department at NEIU. Currently I am working on my doctoral degree in Biochemistry at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, where I am also a member of the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as Physiology and Biophysics.

Entering college for the first time can be an overwhelming experience for even the most organized and motivated student. From navigating a new environment, to making new friends, to learning how to balance collegiate-level coursework along with a job, most first-year students are faced with unfamiliar territory. In an effort to immediately engage new students and acquaint them with college, Northeastern Illinois University offers a First-Year Experience program.