by Lauren Millette, Freshmen Class Dean
How many buildings are on campus? What is the name of Ms. Ulmer’s house? What two students have the same name, but in reverse order? These, and many more questions buzzed around the dining hall at this year’s first Community Dinner. The Tabor-themed dinner, complete with Seawolf posters, students in Tabor gear, dynamic hosts, and prizes for the trivia winners, was our first look at the newly reorganized Tuesday night dinners.
Previously known as “seated dinners or sit-down dinner,” the goal of these events remains the same: to gather as a community, spend quality time together and enjoy a meal together. However, as we reviewed the old program this summer, we felt the experience at dinner was coming up a bit short for both faculty and students. So, we set out to review the program, coming back to the purpose.
Now revamped, and renamed, Community Dinners aim to highlight the camaraderie, fun, and community life we most treasure at Tabor. Rather than returning to dress code after athletic practices, students now dress in each dinner’s particular theme. Tabor-night was followed by “Breakfast for Dinner” where students, faculty and their families wore pajamas and enjoyed many of our favorite breakfast treats. Inspired by connecting our community, each table was tasked to learn the most unique attribute or experience their group had in common. This task allowed us to learn more about each other in unique ways. Can you believe there was a table of ten who had all fed a giraffe?!
Another focus of the newly inspired dinners is the enthusiastic invitation to day students. Although day students have always been welcome, there were seating restraints due to the size of the dining room. Now, planning ahead, each week an entire class is taken out of the dining hall to enjoy a “Class Dinner” in another area on campus. The chosen class enjoys time together and their absence in the dining hall frees up space for day students to join us. To date, the dinners have been enjoyed by over 80% of the day student population.
Of all of the changes we’ve made to Tuesday nights, having our day students stay for Community Dinner is what I appreciate most! My hope is that Tuesday nights will remind each one of us how lucky we are be a part of this amazing community.
