A Thanksgiving get-together among students was hosted by the Honors Club on the second floor of the Student Union. In addition to Honors students, Friendsgiving potluck welcomed students from clubs, Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement, and the Los Medanos College Associated Students.
The Honors Club hosts at least three to four events every month, including this Thanksgiving potluck. Honors brought in loads of Costco pizza, while the rest of the potluck food was provided by other students and faculty.
Honor Student Vania Saldana participated in the potluck and brought homemade Atole, a creamy Mexican beverage. MESA faculty adviser Mindy Capes, also participated by bringing in a tray of chicken nuggets from Safeway.
“It’s an international potluck so I was really looking forward to trying that,” Saldana said.
In the first hour of the event, Honors Club President Muskaan Adeel anticipated there would be a lot of people coming to the event based on the amount of RSVP’s received.
Honors Admission Assistant Maureen Willhoite, said the event was the students’ idea and the program always supports them in creating social gatherings. Aside from the food, organizers planned multiple activities in which students could socialize.
The activities included a movie room where they watched “Joker” and a karaoke station in the lobby. There was also a Thanksgiving Gram station for the students to create cards identifying what they are thankful for.
Another room was reserved to be a “dance central” area, but was converted into a game room instead. By the second hour, many students were in the game room and playing Uno, where Honor Student Aliyah Ramirez won the first round of many. The game began on the table, but as more students joined, it evolved into a spacious circle against the walls with a coffee table in the middle, where each person would walk up to it and place or draw a card.
Saldana said she liked playing the card game in particular, as it made it feel more like an actual Friendsgiving. Honor Student Adrian Ochoa said he liked that it was not just the honor students attending, but students from other clubs as well.
“I like that I got to introduce and interact with classmates that I never spoke to before,” Ochoa said.
In the third hour, things began winding down a bit. Most of the food and drinks were gone, and “Joker” was nearing its end in the movie room. Some students took to playing a friendly game of poker. One of them, Gabriel Perezcano, explained he had the most fun hanging out with his friends and playing poker.
Student Kaya Velascoe, who also played Poker, agreed it was her favorite part of the event.
“I love how people can just de-stress here,” she said.
Students who were a part of other clubs and groups, such as MESA or Student Life, were either informed of the event through their supervisor, professor, or a friend. Jordan Ramey, who is the president of the pride alliance, learned of the potluck through friends and Jenifer Saito, a faculty member. Student Jin Christian had heard of it through his Synkronize club.
“I’d say my favorite thing about it was the food and the karaoke,” Christian said.
Although this potluck was not the Honors first-time hosting, it was their first-time hosting for other student clubs. A big difference from last time is that there were more activities and a lot more students.
