University of Illinois large freshman class faces residence hall laundry room issues
Katie Dalton
December 1, 2022
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is facing residence hall laundry challenges after welcoming its second-largest freshman class of all time.
Student residents have reported high numbers of broken machines, overcrowdedness and unsolicited moving of clothes out of machines throughout the 2022 fall semester.
Wayne Yim, a University of Illinois freshman said there were significant problems with a machine that was smoking and smelled of fire.
“I thought, something's burning,” Yim said. “So I go to my washer, I open it, and a bunch of smoke comes out. And there were two other girls there and they were like, what the f***, and I was like, what the f***? But yes, the washers are f*****.”
Each of the university residence halls is home to one working and free laundry space that can be utilized and monitored by residents seven days a week on the Illinois app.
“For me, the issue is the overcrowdedness because I remember one time I came in here and I had to wait about 30 minutes for a dryer when it said it was available on the app, but I guess it wasn't,” Hopkins Hall resident, Alina Lukose said.
Lukose said the number of broken machines has stayed consistent throughout her time at Hopkins Hall.
“Usually it's the dryers,” Lukose said. “There are usually two or three that are broken and maybe one or two washers. I had my clothes in the washer one time and it started to make a weird noise.”
University housing is currently in charge of 26 residence hall laundry rooms and an additional 24 university-owned apartment laundry rooms.
The executive director of university housing, Alma R. Sealine said she is proud of what the residence hall laundry facilities provide for the residents.
“We partner with outside contractors, CSC Service Works, and we have been able to upgrade some of our laundry facilities to provide more state-of-the-art machines,” Sealine said.
University housing oversees 3.75 million square feet of housing and thousands of students each year.
“I think that we take the student experience very seriously and try to make decisions on a daily basis that benefit the students overall,” Sealine said.
Residents can submit their concerns to their residence hall director or to university housing themselves.
“Students should make their concerns known to the resident director and make sure that they're notifying us when there are issues since it's very possible that we may not know about an issue that they're really frustrated about,” Sealine said. “If they have ideas about what they would like to change about the laundry room, I will ask that they speak please speak to their hall counsel or to their resident director to let us know and to give us feedback.”
Fighting Illini Athletics holds first Illini Sports 101 night for International Student Week
Katie Dalton
October 24, 2022
Illini students, athletes and staff gathered on Oct. 20 in the Memorial Stadium northern end zone for Fighting Illini Athletics' first Illini Sports 101 night.
The International Student Week event featured a panel of international student-athlete speakers, an overview of American athletics and football fun on Zuppke Field after the event.
“A lot of our international students want to come and get involved,” Senior Associate Director of Athletics Cassie Arner said. “They can do that with recreation sports, not so much with our university sports because they're recruited, but they still can come out and support the teams and things like that.”
Illini Sports 101 wasn’t the first event that Fighting Illini Athletics has done for International Student Week. In prior years they held Football 101 international student events but decided to open it up to all sports this year and for future years.
“In many countries, when you go to school it's purely educational, whereas you know, the United States is very unique in that we really factor in a lot of campus life activities as well,” Arner said. “One of them is to understand how sports can make an impact on enjoying their college experience.”
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign currently has 30 international athletes across men’s and women's athletics. Tadeas Placek came all the way from the Czech Republic to run track and field for the Illini.
“I don't see a reason why you shouldn't come here,” Placek said. “You can talk to different people, meet different people and make some connections, which is really important to learn about different cultures.”
Not all students who attended were international students. Zachary Landers, a University of Illinois senior, came to support the athletic teams as a lifelong fan of the Illini.
“I know that this is geared towards folks who might be new to sports,” Landers said. “I thought it would be a great chance to show out for our athletes who are trying to get new people to fill the stands.”
Illini Pride is the official student section for all of Illinois’ 10 men’s and 11 women’s teams. According to Arner, Illini Sports 101 served as an opportunity to get international students involved with Illini Pride and cheering on the Fighting Illini.
“I think that intercollegiate athletics, the football, basketball or the Olympic sports are really the beating heart of a campus, and they can really transform a student body, just via the unity that they bring,” Landers said.
Kashief King, a track and field runner from Trinidad and Tobago, takes a shot at kicking a field goal after the presentation concludes. The Fighting Illini Athletic staff allowed students and athletes to take turns at field goals, throws and catches.
Zachary Landers, a senior at the University of Illinois, watches Senior Associate Director of Athletics Cassie Arner’s presentation on Fighting Illini Athletics. The presentation highlighted the importance of college athletics for international students.
Hugh Robertson, Jeanri Buys and Kashief King answer the audience’s questions about being international varsity athletes at the University of Illinois. The members of the panel shared their experience of collegiate athletics in the United States compared to their home countries.
A dancer's dream: University of Illinois freshman has dancing in her DNA
Katie Dalton
November 15, 2022
The lights dim as she goes to press the record button on her phone while the music starts to play. This is an everyday routine for Caitlyn Land.
Land, 19, of Chicago, Ill., is a freshman at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign but is also a dancer who has bigger dreams outside of Illinois.
When Lands' friends aren’t sure where she is, they assume she is at the dance studio.
“If someone were to ask me, ‘what is Caitlyn doing?’, I’m like, she's probably at the studio dancing because that's kind of her home,” Lands’ friend, Monique Robinson said.
Dancing isn’t just a hobby for Land, it’s a passion that she eventually hopes to turn into a career.
“I do want to be a professional dancer,” Land said. “So, dancing back up for Justin Bieber, Chris Brown and Beyonce, like all of them.”
Land choreographed her own dance and submitted it to the national competition, Michael Bublé's "Higher" Dance Competition where she ended up making it to the top 25 out of over 200 participants.
“It was definitely a lesson because I didn't make it to the top 10 but I made it pretty far,” Land said. “The video that I posted on Instagram had the most views I've ever gotten. It showed me how many people supported the fact that I was trying to do this.”
Land started tap and ballet around the age of eight years old, where she learned to love the art form. Land says her mom was a major inspiration for her dancing career.
“Dancing is kind of my DNA I guess because my mom was a dancer,” Land said.
Chantal Land, the mother of Caitlyn Land, danced for a group called the “Dancing Diva’s” but never forced Caitlyn into dance.
“I love watching her, not just because she's my daughter, but you know, just kind of watching her grow in her dance scale,” Chantal Land said. “Again, it's just one of those things where she does her own thing.”
Alongside dance, Caitlyn Land also partakes in different forms of art to express her creativity.
“I love photography and I like to draw so I'm pretty good at drawing,” Caitlyn Land said.
Robinson says Caitlyn helped bring her out of her comfort zone in college.
“She's obviously a really good dancer so whenever we go to a big gathering, event or function, she's just naturally comfortable and confident in her own skin,” Robinson said. “And I think she's really brought me out of my comfort zone.”
Chantal Land says Caitlyn has always been her own individual since an early age.
“My favorite thing I will say my biggest thing about Caitlyn is the fact that she is her own person,” Chantal Land said. “She doesn't follow into any type of crowd, and she creates her own space. She’s been that way since grammar school.”
Music has always been something that Caitlyn Land has loved. Through music, she has found her love for dancing.
“I love how dancing just kind of just comes to me with music,” Caitlyn Land said. “I love music. So automatically, something in me just thinks of moves. So, I love the creativity of dance. It's not a certain way you do it and you kind of make it your own.”
In hopes of making the team, Caitlyn Land will be trying out for Dance 2XS in the Spring after attending workshops throughout the semester and creating her own choreographed dances in the studio.
First-gen freshman makes an impact at Illini Sports Night (REVISED)
Katie Dalton
October 4, 2022
Tori Trevino, a freshman student of JOUR 217 listens in on a staff recap after helping air Illini Sports Night on Aug. 27.
“Live in 3…2…1…” That’s what freshman Victoria “Tori” Trevino listens for every Tuesday night at Richmond Studio in Urbana, Illinois.
Illini Sports Night, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign television show doesn’t normally bring on freshmen, that was until Trevino joined the staff this year.
Trevino signed up for Illini Sports Night at the beginning of the semester and now operates the teleprompter, camera and works in the control room during the show.
First-generation student and the first to attend the University of Illinois in her family, Trevino hopes to make a difference as a Hispanic woman in the field of journalism.
“I think that it’s really important for journalists to cover issues that may relate to them, and I have loved bringing attention to things like Hispanic Heritage Month,” Trevino said. “It’s also actually given me some extra opportunities for those who want to see more Hispanic women in journalism.”
Trevino hasn’t always been involved in broadcast, in high school she competed on her school’s speech team.
“When I got into high school, my sister was a senior when I was a freshman, and she had told me like, join speech team like just to get your friends into it, you don't have to stick to it and I said,’ okay, yeah,’” Trevino said. “Then, for a while, I wasn't competing in the right events, but when she's had me start to compete in radio I was like, ‘oh my gosh, I love this.’”
Joining the JOUR217 class, which helps to run Illini Sports Night, has given Trevino the opportunity to become more involved in the University of Illinois media on campus.
“There's a course, JOUR 217, and I think actually, it was just recently given to freshmen as an option,” Emmie Larson, a senior journalism student and the executive producer for Illini Sports Night said. “For a while, it was only sophomores and above. It's a new opportunity for kids to get involved.”
Trevino is still one of the only freshmen on the Illini Sports Night staff but Larson said she brings other qualities along with her skills in journalism.
“She brings good energy and she's always very willing to learn which is super important as kind of someone walking in with not as much experience,” Larson said. “If I give her a little task, she'll do whatever job she's given. She's always willing to try, which I think is super important here. It's all about learning. You can mess up. That's what you do because then you'll never make the same mistake again. So, I think it's kind of having that good, positive energy and willingness to learn.”
Trevino will continue to work for Illini Sports Night this year in hopes of becoming an on-air talent in the future for one of the Richmond Studio shows. Illini Sports Night airs every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. on Facebook.
“The class I’m taking right now for UI7 is the first step to getting on air for Good Morning Illini and Illini Sports Night,” Trevino said. “That excites me so much because when I look at the people who used to anchor, now they're working at ABC and now they're working for the Chicago Bears. It just it gives me butterflies in my stomach.”
Students of JOUR 217 help run the control room for Illini Sports Night.
Trevino works the teleprompter in the Richmond Studio control room for a live Illini Sports Night show.
