Students can enjoy turkey, casserole, and cranberry sauce tomorrow at Hillsdale College’s 8th annual Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by the Student Activities Board.
Tickets are required to attend the meal, which will take place from 5-7 p.m. in the Searle Center.
“This is an intentional time for us to get together and reorient ourselves in a way that’s modeled after something that you might have with your family,” said Erik Teder, sophomore and SAB member.
Teder and Rachel Hintze, junior and SAB member, said this dinner will include traditional Thanksgiving dishes including apple and pumpkin pie and cider.
“There’s nothing new or shiny or particularly flashy about Thanksgiving Dinner this year,” Teder said. “I think it’s that return to the simplicity and really the essence of what Thanksgiving is that makes this event so powerful.”
Teder and Hintze said the event will also include the live original music of junior Donny McArdle, a speech by College President Larry Arnn, and a photo-op.
As students prepare to disburse to their various homes and families, this event is a great way to celebrate the holiday with friends here, according to Hintze.
“We do become like family while we’re here because we’re spending so much time with each other,” Hintze said. “To have the opportunity to get to celebrate Thanksgiving with the people here that we’ve been in community with, who feel like family, that is just a sweet opportunity that the college provides.”
Teder said the tradition seeks to pull students outside of themselves in a time where their own activities and academics occupy so much time.
“To be participating in a tradition that someone hundreds of years ago, who had crossed an ocean and was surviving on basically nothing,” Teder said, “to share the same tradition with them is really powerful.”
This is a great opportunity to look past self and be thankful for the blessings we have, according to Teder.
“Gratitude has a way of pulling you out of yourself and forcing you to think about other people and other things and the way in which you fit into the world,” Teder said. “I think it’s in line with helping people see the bigger picture and become the sort of citizens that Hillsdale wants to produce.”
SAB encourages students to take a break from the rigor of academics in this busy season and break bread together giving thanks with friends.
“It’s a very busy time during the end of the semester, but there’s this opportunity to take a break,” Hintze said. “Instead of just taking a break and just focusing on having time with your friends, take the opportunity to reflect and be thankful.”
