Jonah Hofmeyer — Staff writer

Balloons hang from the ceiling, a coral arrangement sits behind the ice cream machine, and fish dangle near the wall. During spring break, the kitchen staff, with the help of their student employees, worked to decorate the Commons. The Seafood themed decorations are in celebration of Nutrition Month, which happens throughout the month of March. 

The Commons staff celebrates Nutrition month every year during the month of March, even if it isn’t as noticeable to the students. Last year’s theme was good fats, but all that celebrated the occasion was a sign. 

Anna Gibler is an employee at the Commons and is a huge part of the planning process. Gibler enjoys the process of planning out the theme and decorations, even creating a Pinterest board of ideas to help the planning and idea process. Gibler gives a lot of credit to the student workers. 

“Our students are the big driving force,” Gibler said. “We show them a picture and let them have fun. This is our way of making it fun for our student workers.” 

A lot of work was also put in by Ali Kempema, a Creative Dining employee. She helped student workers decorate the Commons area and helped plan the events that would happen throughout the month. 

Kempema is in her first year at the Commons but says the event planning was the big reason she took the job. 

“It’s something different, something I can be creative with,” Kempema said. “It is challenging, but the students are great about helping and giving ideas.” 

Gibler said that there are a lot more events planned for the future, celebrating days like Licorice Day and May The Fourth. The goal of these events at the Commons is to engage the students and give them a different environment to eat and relax. 

“We try to look at the student schedule,” Gibler said. “Students will be going into finals and May The Fourth is going to happen. This is our chance to get everyone out of their heads, relax a bit and do something goofy.” 

Both Kempema and Gibler promised that Nutrition Month would end big, and students would notice some new food options to try. Gibler said she is happy to see the student body reacting well to the event. 

“It’s fun to see college students that are so serious walk in and start punching balloons like they are little kids again. You can tell they are relaxing and it’s a good break in their day.” Gibler said. “[The students] make it worth it. If no one had fun with this, we wouldn’t want to keep trying it.” 

Photo credit: Jeremy Brown