‘It’s Corn!’

A Look Into the 2024 Hawkeye Homecoming Monument

by Angela Knipper

Gabriel Baird’s journey started in the spring of 2024. He knew he would not be alone in this ambitious operation, but a long road was still ahead. One thing was certain, with the help of his team and other students at the University of Iowa, the Pentacrest would turn heads in the coming October.

The Pentacrest has been considered home to many people as the center of campus — but also many creations. There have been spacecraft, a carousel, the gateway arch, and giant footballs mounted at the top of the hill for all to see. 

All of these things have one shared commonality — they’re made out of corn. 

Homecoming Week is a big deal at the UI, and one of the many fun festivities is putting up the corn monument. It carries a sense of pride and tradition by bringing something uniquely Iowan to campus. Each year the engineering community and other students seize the opportunity to showcase their skills by giving the Pentacrest a special look. 

The corn monument has been a long-standing legacy on campus. It is thought to have started around 1914 with the first photographic record dating back to 1919. This tradition took a hiatus in the 2010s but is now back and better than ever. 

Baird is a senior who is a part of the UI Honors Program. When he was a freshman, he volunteered for the build days. He loved the experience of building — not only for the new skills he could gain but more importantly the community the corn monument provided. Ever since then, he was hooked and has worked his way through the ranks. 

He was on the executive board and even president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at the UI. After his presidency ended, he stepped into the role of Corn Captain 2024 and got to work right away. 

In the spring of 2024, directors were appointed, and the team brainstormed designs. Baird’s inspiration for this year's monument was pulled from a sophomore-level class where students created their own designs. Baird took aspects of these designs and made them his own. 

He spent his whole summer using a computer program to lay out this design work. By the time the school year came around, it was straight to building. 

Every Friday, before a Sunday build day, Baird and his team got together and discussed progress being made, what was being built that weekend, and any other details that were yet to be smoothed over. 

This year, the planning process started a bit earlier, so Baird and his team wanted more detail to go into this monument. From decorative corn stalks to each kernel of corn, everything built was done so with direct intention. While the monument is sponsored by the ASCE and the Department of Engineering, the future of the corn monument would depend on more than just Baird and his team. 

In fact, the whole project depends on the help of many volunteers around campus. Every Sunday from the start of the semester to Homecoming Week, volunteers gathered together to bring this idea to life. Students from all different majors come together to cut, build, and paint. 

“We had people that have never picked up a drill before making these stud walls in such a massive monument,” Baird said. “It was just really fun to see.”

This year’s monument had three tiers. The Iowa football scoreboard was on top, favoring the Hawkeyes by a million and Northwestern — that week’s homecoming opponent —at zero. The central part of this design faced east and west had the big state of Iowa, which also had letters spelling I-O-W-A and were backlit at night with the help of some electrical engineering. 

The sides of this design that faced north and south held the ANF logo and “Fight for Iowa” inscribed in corn below. The base was created to look like Kinnick Stadium, complete with the statue of Nile Kinnick himself. 

Anything yellow on the monument was made from corn. This includes the state logo, the ANF logo, and the “Fight for Iowa” letters.

The state logo for this year's monument was lathered in carpet glue. Then the team sprinkled corn on top of the glue and sealed it with a cement sealer. Through rain, sleet, and the very feasible possibility of Midwestern snow, this corn will not budge. 

By the end, the logo weighed 300 to 400 pounds. One person couldn’t do that alone. But once all the individual parts were complete, it was time to set it up on the Pentacrest.  

A project as big as this one comes with its fair share of challenges; however, Baird and his team seem to push through any inconvenience. Working on a project so big, communication really is key. Whether it was brainstorming new ideas, providing space and materials, or simply just being there to help in whatever way possible, Baird had many people in his corner willing to help if any bumps in the road came along.

“It was definitely a tall task, and it was a long day,” he said. “Scheduling was also a challenge. There's a lot of different details, especially since there was a longer timeline for planning this year … but I couldn’t have done it without my team.”

Aside from the challenges, Baird mentions the positive aspects of being a part of something like this. 

“It's a rewarding experience, but also I feel like it's something fun,” he said. “It's fun to walk to class and see my and everybody else's hard work, but then it's fun for people to take photos of it and tell their parents about it. Especially with homecoming, people are coming into town, and they get to see some fun stuff at Iowa.”

The 2024 corn monument has joined the past spacecraft, carousels, gateway arch, and giant footballs that have topped the Pentacrest — all a unique part of Hawkeye Homecoming lore. Although Baird’s long road came to a successful end, his project will survive on in Pentacrest history.