THE DAILY ILLINI
MONDAY October 29, 2018
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
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Vol. 148 Issue 19
Pumpkin yield highest in 20 years ahead of fall celebrations BY CLARE BUDIN STAFF WRITER
A s fa ll holidays approach, people in the Champaign-Urbana area won’t have a problem finding the best pumpkins for jack-o’-lanterns and holiday pies. This year, the Illinois pumpkin crop has the highest yield the state has seen in 20 years. Randy Graham, co-owner of Curtis Orchard and Pumpkin Patch in Champaign, said the crop this year is “a bit stronger than normal.” “Normally by this time we’d be about out, but we still have a pretty good supply out there because we got more tons per acre than normal,” Graham said. Graham said this season’s weather has been especially conducive for the development of crops like pumpkins because of this year’s moisture levels and temperatures. “We had pretty good, timely rain, not only throughout the summer, but into the early fall,” he said. “We had a lot warmer September, and the vines kept growing well into October, making a longer growing season that produced a greater volume.” David S. Bullock, professor in ACES who leads the
KENYON EDMOND THE DAILY ILLINI
Danny Yoo, game leader for the Illini Esports Orange Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, plays a match of the game on his computer. The team is set to compete in the Intel Extreme Masters Chicago on Nov. 11.
Illini Esports prepares for Chicago competition BY JULIE KANG CONTRIBUTING WRITER
While playing video games is a popular activity for many students, a team of players from Illini Esports has taken it to another level as the students made it to the final round of the Intel Extreme Masters Chicago 2018 competition. The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team won against Michigan State and will compete in the IEM Chicago finals on Nov. 11 in front of a live audience. Eric Lee, coordinator for
SEE PUMPKINS | 3A
the team and junior in Engineering, said there are four new players on the team of six this season. He said the team is already doing great despite the fairly new roster. The players on the team are Lee, Danny Yoo, Tai Scocos, Yunhyuk Kang, Daniel Fuentes and Vincent Tai. “We only practice around a couple hours each week, but I’m confident that we’re getting better after each training session, and we’ll be one of the best collegiate
teams once again,” Lee said in an email. Illini Esports is divided into two groups: the community side and the competitive side. The community side aims to create an environment in which gamers can come together and play games or watch others play, said David Koruna, president of Illini Esports and senior in LAS. Anyone can participate in competitions such as IEM, but higher-level teams require more experience and skill.
“A lot of people think Illini Esports is all competitive, but it’s not,” said Eileen Feng, vice president of community affairs for the organization and senior in LAS. “It accommodates everyone in every field.” The competitive side has different teams for various games, which are formed based on interest and skill level. Players on the competitive teams compete in tournaments throughout the year, often working to win scholarship money. “On the competitive side,
I want to start to get a little more recognition and acknowledgement from not only the University, but also from students,” Koruna said. Lee said he thought his team was bound to win the tournament versus Michigan State. The team easily won the first game but lost the second 16-14. “Usually, losing 14-16 is the most demoralizing thing a team can go through in a series, but we were all SEE ESPORTS | 3A
GAANN funds education for doctoral aerospace students the awardees. The GAANN program awards grants based on national need, which is determined by which fields are considered important to the advancement of society. Joshua Rovey, project director of GAANN and associate professor in Engineering, said there’s an increasing number of companies dedicated to aerospace engineering, which creates a greater demand for aerospace engineers. “(Because of) companies
BY EMILY DAO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
MADELINE PIERCE THE DAILY ILLINI
Students can seek out financial aid and relevant resources at the Office of Student Financial Aid. Lower-income students have a higher national chance of being selected for further verification in the application process.
The Department of Aerospace Engineering was recently awarded a $1.2 million grant from the Department of Education, which will fully fund fellowships for eight doctoral students who are pursuing aerospace engineering degrees and planning on doing research or teaching in the field. The fellowships, funded by the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program, will waive tuition and mandatory campus fees as well as grant a stipend for
FAFSA applicants face unequal selection for verification BY HONGBIN JEONG STAFF WRITER
Lower-income students have been selected most often for further verification in their Free Application for Federal Student Aid applications, which may prolong and complicate their application process. Students are defined as lower-income if they are eligible for a Pell Grant, which is a need-based aid program
provided by the federal government, said Michelle Trame, director and senior associate director of student financial aid. To make sure grant money is going to eligible students, the Department of Education selects a few applicants to verify their income eligibility for federal aid. The department has built algorithms to search for possibly misreported income or
taxes. If selected, students are required to submit additional documentation, such as tax return documents and W-2 forms, Trame said. Lower-income students are selected for verification of income eligibility at a higher rate than others, said Daniel Mann, interim associate provost for enrollment management. “Lower-income families tend to be more first-gen-
eration college students, so they may not have as much familiarity in the process in how it works,” Mann said. “They tend to maybe leave questions blank, or not know how to answer them, so those kinds of things are errors as why they get selected for verification process.” Trame said the department does not share its algo-
SEE GRANT | 3A
INSIDE This is a major hole
Lift all class restrictions
Medical marijuana meets federal law
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SEE FAFSA | 3A
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