The McDonough County Retired Teachers gathered at a new location for their monthly meeting Oct. 9. This time the teachers met at Wesley United Methodist Church to conduct a little business and to hear from guest speaker Kathy McGuire.
McGuire is a Western Illinois University professor in the psychology department, specializing in forensic psychology and part of the Laboratory for the Investigation of Psychology and Law (LIPL). Her primary research interests are centered around children in the legal system — as eye witnesses, as perceived by the court and jurors, as victims of child abuse. She is also involved with DeTal — De-Escalation Through Active Learning, an assessment and research center at WIU.
One component of that center is to set up a curriculum to help police officers with de-escalation training, to defuse aggressive situations without having to resort to tactical responses. McGuire stated that such skills can be applied in other high stress occupations, for educators, emergency responders, medical staff, even store clerks with unruly customers. She presented strategies for how to address stressful situations, including a role-playing situation.
Ultimately, whether dealing with family, acquaintances, or strangers, we all need to find ways to reduce expected and unexpected tensions.
During the regular business meeting, scholarship committee member Claudia Scott said that last school year's scholarship recipient Taylor Adair has had the fall semester 2026 MCRTA $500 scholarship deposited in her WIU account.
A get-together is being planned for Oct. 22. Those interested are to meet at Gelsosomo's at 5:30 p.m. for a meal and then go as a group to the Goldfarb Performing Arts Center for the 7:30 p.m. 'Magic Rocks' performance by illusionist Leon Etienne. Members need to notify Beth Shryock about their intention to dine at Gelsosomo's so that the restaurant can prepare for our group.
Co-president Ginny Kessler urged members to sign up to assist at the Edison Book Fair Oct. 28-30.
The Nov. 13 meeting will be held at Macomb High School at the 'Bomber Brew' classroom for coffee and presentation about their program. Members are to park in the west lot and enter through the door by the flag pole. They'll need to sign in at the office and await instructions about where to proceed to the 'Bomber Brew' room.
Kathy McGuire
