ALEXANDER COUNTY (WSIL) -- As the COVID-19 pandemic kept students off campuses state-wide, Shawnee Community College created short, educational videos posted online.
Instructors say those videos take the classroom to the field for interesting science in our own back yard.
On a chilly December morning, Biology Instructor Tony Gerard and Director of Communications Rob Betts are in Cairo filming for the school's "Science In Seconds" video series.
"I actually went out with him (Gerard) to take some photos for the marketing department and loved it," says Betts. "I learned so much in the class that I thought, 'We could make a series out of this.':
The two drew up some plans and decided they would wait to call it a series until they had five or more posted, "now we've got 30," Betts adds.
The series are meant to engage learners with brief, scientific "food for thought."
"We try to keep it seasonal," explains Gerard. "We did one on turkeys at Thanksgiving and things like that; so, Christmas, here's one on Mistletoe."
And what is an interesting item about mistletoe in Southern Illinois? This is as far north as the plant goes.
"When I learned that we were right on the northern extreme, I started looking for mistletoe in Johnson County," says Gerard. "I found one little clump of mistletoe, exactly across the Cache River, so technically it was in Johnson County by about 30 feet."
And for a plant mostly known for the holiday tradition of kissing under it, "It's toxic," he says. The berries and leaves can cause sickness in humans and small animals, but not birds. Gerard says the plant thrives in areas with high humidity and remains green through the winter, making it easy to locate.
"It was used in a lot of old recipes in medicines and things like that," says Gerard. "Now, mistletoe itself, there's a whole bunch of different species all called 'Mistletoe,' but mistletoe is a parasite."
The Science In Seconds series fills in other items of interest for viewers and all in about two-minutes or less.
As for the tradition of Kissing Under the Mistletoe, Gerard says that is an old English custom where after each kiss a berry is removed, and when all the berries are gone the kissing is over; or, you find more berries.
