For Abigail Johnston, junior neuroscience and biology major and co-president of SAFE (Save Animals from Exploitation), Thanksgiving gives her a chance to reconnect with her family, especially with those she hasn’t seen in a while. This year, Johnston is eager to cook for her family and try out new recipes.
“Food brings people together, and every year my family’s always excited to try whatever vegan dish that I cook because I like to switch it up a lot. And so I really appreciate that from them,” said Johnston.
As Thanksgiving approaches, Johnston and many other students are making preparations for how they will celebrate. For students who are unable to travel home for Thanksgiving, several clubs and organizations on campus are holding lunch and food drive events, so they could still experience the holiday.
For Shark Dining, the week of Thanksgiving brings about a fluctuation in operation hours. On the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, the hours will remain the same, but on Wednesday some of the restaurants will close early.
On Thursday, Shark Dining will partner with Residential Life and NSU Housing to provide meals for students, and by Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the dining schedules should return to normal.
Shark Dining will offer free dinner to all active NSU students for Thanksgiving. Jenifer Brinkman, Shark Dining’s director of marketing, said students will need to present their Shark ID card to receive this free meal. Both on-campus and off-campus students will be eligible to receive this meal.
There are a variety of options for this traditional Thanksgiving meal, including turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. There is also a vegetarian option.
Shark Pantry will also provide Thanksgiving meals for students. Through numerous donations, Shark Pantry has also been able to construct Thanksgiving meal kits for students who will be on campus. Shark Pantry is located on the UC second fl oor south side concession stand.
Students Danna Diaz Pedroza, sophomore biology major, and Andrea Concepcion, junior public health major, work at the Shark Pantry and helped build the kits. They said that around 47 students have signed up through an Instagram post with a QR code to receive Thanksgiving meal kits.
“In the kits, first you get to to pick your choice of meat, which was was either chicken, ham, or turkey. Once you pick that there’s canned vegetables, canned fruit, stuffing, and Jiffy Cornbread Mix,” said Pedroza.
The Shark Pantry is open every The Shark Pantry is open every Tuesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Through the Shark Pantry, NSU students have access to various canned foods and toiletry items. Approximately 150 to 200 students come to the Shark Pantry each week.
As more students use the pantry, Pedroza and Concepcion hope to expand it by adding perishable food and inclusive options for people with dietary restrictions.
“Maybe next semester, we’ll work on upgrading, but but as for now, it’s mainly non-perishable items,” said Concepcion.
Students looking to support the pantry can put non-perishables food and other items into any of the donation boxes found around campus.
“Last week, we had donations from the law school. They had some type of drive or competition, and so we partnered with them and received all the cans,” said Pedroza. “It was over 6,000 cans.”
Students like Matthew Gassmann, freshman marine biology major, and Suchita Balaga, freshman freshman biology major, are finding ways to spend the holiday here at NSU away from their families. Both students plan on staying in contact with their families by calling them or FaceTiming them the morning of Thanksgiving.
Balaga plans on having a relatively low-key Thanksgiving making curry with her roommate, who is a vegetarian.
“One of my roommates is going to be here, so we might order some food or cook something,” said Balaga. “Then on Black Friday, it is one of my roommates birthdays, so we are going to decorate the dorm as a surprise for her.”
For Thanksgiving, Gassmann was originally going to spend the day with his grandmother and aunt, but he is now planning on going to a friend’s house.
“It’ll be fun,” said Gassmann. “We are doing a group soccer game where I will be the goalie.”
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