Brett Maciech
bmaciech@uwyo.edu
The Students Activities Council (SAC) celebrated Thanksgiving by hosting its fifth annual holiday dinner for the students of the University of Wyoming and the greater Laramie community on Wednesday.
With food provided by campus catering services, the SAC welcomed everyone who came to the door that had a ticket, $10 or a donation of three food cans.
Jason Jungck, the lead student programmer for SAC, said he felt these dinners foster a strong sense of community for the University of Wyoming.
“It’s a chance for people that might not have the opportunity to have a Thanksgiving dinner,” Jungck said, “[Its an opportunity] to enjoy it with either friends or family in a space that’s fun and there’s food for everybody that can come. And we also have those canned goods donations so it’s a chance to be thankful for what you have and give back to the community a little bit.”
Katya Larson, a volunteer for SAC and a senior in secondary education, has joined others in hosting events like this one over the years she’s spent at UW.
“It’s nice because we get lots of community members to come, and we also get to give back to the community,” Larson said. “I love the Students Activities Council and being a part of campus. It’s fun because last week we had a band and this week we have dinner and the week after we have a planetarium show. It’s all the different things we can do to help engage with different audiences of students.”
While citizens of Laramie do show up to these dinners, the majority of the 200 chair seating was filled up by UW students like Chris Laursen, a graduate student working on his doctorate in mechanical engineering.
“We thought that we’d get some good Thanksgiving dinner —Thanksgiving’s one of the best meals of the year,” Laursen said. “It brings people together from so many different walks of life,. It’s amazing that they can do something like this.”
Other students like Debra Bulluck, a first year law student, showed up to support her school.
“I just wanted to come out and support an event that’s going on main campus and feel more included,” Bulluck said.
There were even students from outside the country who wanted to experience the kind of food we eat around this holiday. Daniel Wilches, a computer science graduate student from Columbia, was one of these curious students.
“I wanted to get to know what Thanksgiving is here. I’m from outside, so I wanted to know what you do for Thanksgiving and what kind of food you cook,” Wilches said. “It’s different from our kind of food, but it’s good. I like it.”
Wilches spoke highly of the stuffing and turkey provided by UW Catering and Events. The menu also included traditional Thanksgiving dishes such as sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.
On whether or not there will be a dinner next year, SAC figures that will depend on the reactions they get from their volunteers and the student body.
“What we do is based on our volunteers, so if they like it and the students like it and everybody’s having a good time,” Jungck said, “then we might as well keep on doing it.”
UW community gobbles up an early Thanksgiving feast
