Junior Aaron David is thrilled to visit his Chicago home this Thanksgiving holiday.
“I’m pretty excited to go back to home for break,” said David. “It’ll be cool to spend time with my family and see my high school friends again, especially now that I’m 21.”
While most students, like David, look forward to going home to enjoy a turkey dinner with their close ones, others will stay on campus during the holiday. Students who remain on campus have several options when choosing how to celebrate Thanksgiving.
This year, Residential Life and Dining Services plan to team up and offer a Thanksgiving buffet in Ursa’s Café. The buffet will be part of a larger project to create a set of organized activities for those staying on campus during the holiday weekend.
In addition to the potential Ursa’s buffet, Home Plate offers students the opportunity to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with a local St. Louis family.
“We have over 100 Home Plate families, who host several hundred of our students throughout the school year,” said Risa Zwerling, founder of Home Plate. “This is a great way to engage in the life of the University and also help students learn about and gain respect for the neighborhoods that surround the University.”
Home Plate attempts to match students with families who share intellectual, cultural and recreational interests.
St. Louis resident Sharon Dougherty, a participant in the Home Plate program, just welcomed her own son home from Africa last Monday. Now she looks forward to welcoming University students into her home this Thanksgiving.
Dougherty’s son will share his experience in Africa with University students.
“We’re hopefully going to be able to see photos our son took during his two months in Africa. He just got home Monday night,” said Dougherty.
During the year, there are about 250 students placed with 100 St. Louis families.
Some students, however, may also opt to enjoy the quiet environment on campus. Sophomore Franklin Koch will spend his first Thanksgiving on campus this year.
“I suppose I will try to get some homework done and papers written, but I will probably end up just sleeping a lot,” said Koch.
To attend a local Thanksgiving dinner with a Home Plate family, students should e-mail Zwerling at [email protected] or Home Plate at [email protected].
Business School students also have the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with Dean Mahendra Gupta and his family.
A traditional Thanksgiving feast will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Dining Hall and Room 340 in the Knight Center.
To make reservations, go to http://www.olin.wustl.edu/staff/events/thanksgiving by Nov. 19.