Slightly more than 27 percent of all Uni students took advantage of the opportunity to receive an H1N1 vaccination Monday at Uni Gym. Staff members from the McKinley Health Center were on hand to administer the live intranasal version of the H1N1 vaccine, which was the only form available. Students needed signed permission slips from their parents to get the vaccine.

Director Jeff Walkington announced today that the McKinley Health Center will give the H1N1 vaccine at Uni beginning 8:30 a.m. Monday. The vaccinations will most likely take place in Uni Gym. The only form of vaccine available is the live intranasal form. Walkington advised parents to contact their health-care provider if they are not sure their children should receive the vaccine.

The number of Uni High students absent today reached 120, or 38.6 percent of the student body. This compares to Thursday, when 91 were absent. Subbies and freshmen were especially hard hit, with those classes missing 27 and 36 students, respectively. That translated into 43.5 percent of the subbies and 56.1 percent of the freshmen.

"We are not planning to close Uni for health reasons at this time," Director Jeff Walkington said in a message to students and staff today. Some 91 students, or 29.3 percent of the student body, were out sick today, many with flu-like symptoms. Read on for more of Walkington's message.

The subfreshman Halloween celebration was canceled this afternoon, making it the first casualty of the circulating flu bug. Forty-seven students were absent today, more than double Monday's total of 21. The Halloween party had been planned for 7 to 9 p.m. Friday.

The Uni High Inventors Club today was one of just 15 teams nationwide to be chosen for the 2009-10 MIT-Lemelson InvenTeams initiative. The club won a grant of more than $7,000 to develop a device that will reuse waste from shrimp farms and thereby prevent the destruction of coral reefs.

Uni has long been preparing for the possibility of a swine flu outbreak, but as of yet has not seen anything that can be qualified as such. However, the number of students who call in sick or leave school early due to illness has been rising, and it is possible that Uni is finally getting its share of the flu. Check inside for the numbers.

Eighteen seniors have been named National Merit Commended Students due to their high scores on the PSAT/NMSQT last fall. When combined with the 23 percent who were named semifinalists last month, more than half of all Uni seniors have earned National Merit honors.

After Ellie Stoddard Seibold announced in November 2001 that she was giving $100,000 to Uni High, the Gargoyle's Gerry Shih wrote about the gift. We are republishing his article almost eight years later in conjunction with Friday's art auction, "Uni Celebrates the Arts," featuring more than 20 pieces donated by Ellie upon her death in 2002.

With no Culture Fair this year, S4BW came up with an alternative: Uni homecoming! There will be football games beforehand and a dance afterward on the second floor. Ticket prices will be $5 for individuals and $8 for couples if you buy ahead of time. Members of S4BW will be selling tickets at lunch until Thursday for the discounted prices.

The annual Food for Families Drive is here, and Uni High is once again taking part through the sponsorship of Student Council. The organizer of the drive, Eastern Illinois Foodbank, is hoping to raise $100,000 and 200,000 pounds of food. Check inside for more.

On Wednesday the Uni and Urbana girls swim teams will hold their annual Make a Difference Meet. You can come out and cheer on Uni's dynamic swimmers at the Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center while also helping out a good cause, the Center for Women in Transition. Read on for details.

Although National Coming Out Day was celebrated in many places on Sunday, Uni's Queer Straight Alliance and Sexual Health Advisory Group decided to wait until Wednesday to hold their celebration. Check inside for more about the event and how Uni students plan to observe it.

For the past two years, October has meant three things to Uni students: Halloween, PSATs, and, of course, the Uni Culture Fair. This year you can cross the fair off that list. Are you disappointed? Confused as to why it's not happening? If so, read on for more information from fair organizers themselves.

Even though the news has been filled recently with headlines about an H1N1 vaccine, simple preventive measures such as these are still an effective way to keep swine flu at bay. Read on for more about what Uni High has been doing to contain the threat of H1N1, and find out what makes this illness different from the normal flu.