Montclair State students gathered in the student for games and mashed potatoes. Photo of Christina Urban
Around 30 students attended Weekends At Montclair State’s (WAM) Mashed Potato Bar this past Sunday night. Held in the Student Center’s formal dining room, the event let student seat self-served mashed potatoes and play board games.
WAM’s event was part of the Center for Student Involvement’s (CSI) Welcome Back Week for the spring semester, according to the coordinator of student activities, Casey Coleman.
“The week of events is for all students to enjoy, and it’s a way for transfer students to meet new people,” said Coleman. “Usually, two [or] three times a semester, CSI does a themed Sunday night dinner. The mashed potato bar was followed up by WAM’s weekend movie, so students could enjoy food and entertainment.”
There’s more than myself here, so I’m really excited about that,” Coleman continued. “I think it’s just nice to give people a little window of time to make sure that they are eating. I was a college student—sometimes you forget to eat, and so it’s nice to just kind of allow that.”
“It’s super fun being here with my friend and eating mashed potatoes together,” said Aliza Sherman, a sophomore business administration major, who sat with her friend Dana Hirschfeld, a freshman family and child studies major.
Last weekend at Montclair students participated in a mashed potatoe bar. Photo of Christina Urban
“If there is anything that gets me excited, it’s mashed potatoes,” said Sarah Parlapiano, a freshman theatre studies major. “I immediately texted [my friend] group chat and I was like, ‘Guys, clear your calendar! Sunday at 6 [p.m.] we are going to get mashed potatoes.’”
Parlapiano sat with her three freshman friends: animation and illustration majors Mairead O’Gorman and Annalise Molter, and computer science major Brenna Fitzmaurice. Together, they ate and played Uno.
“We all got really excited when we found out about this event because we all love free food,” said Fitzmaurice. She was doing work all day, and the event was something she looked forward to.
“Literally anything involving potatoes in any form makes me really happy,” said Molter. “I was exhausted from yesterday because a few of us went to the march in New York. This helped me revitalize myself and get ready for the week.“
