A College House Thanksgiving

Picture tables heaped with turkey, ham, lasagna, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, collard greens, corn pudding, and more. This is Thanksgiving in Penn's 13 College Houses, an annual holiday tradition open to all residents.

Every College House hosts a feast, and each one plans its feast differently, says Licinia "Lulu" Kaliher, senior director for College Houses & Academic Services. Some host a meal the week before so more residents can attend; others have the meal on Thanksgiving to benefit residents who spend the break on campus.

The holiday meal "is part of the essence of what we do: bringing students together," Kaliher says. She says that's the idea behind the College House system, "creating these really tight communities so that the students would feel supported and engaged. We really try to cultivate a sense of home when they're here with us, especially if they're not able to go somewhere for the holiday."

In Stouffer College House, house director Amber (Williams) PaloSanto planned a celebration on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The menu was a mix of catered food and dishes made by residents, and PaloSanto encouraged them to bring something from their own culture.

One graduate resident advisor brought morir sonando. Meaning "to die dreaming" in Spanish, the creamy orange beverage is traditional to their island home, the Dominican Republic. PaloSanto's wife is Honduran and makes chicken, beef, and cheese empanadas every year, "always a big hit," they say.

The celebration is a way to socialize and "give love back to the students," about 50 of whom attended the event, PaloSanto says. "We always say in Stouffer that food is the one way to bring people together."

In Lauder College House, faculty director and professor of classical studies Cam Greyprepares days in advance for the annual tradition, for about 35 students who hail from Chicago to Tunisia. "As a foreigner, I find Thanksgiving a really fascinating holiday," he says.

Grey, who grew up in Australia and New Zealand, lives in Lauder with wife Ann Vernon-Greyof Penn's Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, their two children, ages 10 and 16, and a basset hound named Hank. Grey grills the ham "low and slow," while Vernon-Grey tackles what Americans might call dessert and what Grey refers to as "the puddings."

"It's my wife's favorite holiday," Grey says, and she goes to town on the desserts. This year, Vernon-Grey made a traditional pecan pie, along with other, more unusual offerings: a chocolate chess pie; a Kentucky Derby pie, made with walnuts, chocolate chips and a dash of bourbon; and a fawn pie, made with coconut and crushed pineapple. Many of the desserts originated in the American South, where Vernon-Grey was born.

There were also dishes from farther afield. This year, Lauder fellow Laia Mogas-Soldevila, assistant professor of architecture in the Weitzman School of Design, had family visiting from Spain. Her mother prepared a vegan Spanish paella with saffron and tomato. "You can bring something from outside, and it becomes part of the tradition," Grey says.

"Thanksgiving, in my building, is mostly about feeling good," he says. At this point in the semester, it's about tending to students, he says, "just enfolding them and nourishing them with food and support and a sense of care," especially those who can't go home or who have never experienced an American Thanksgiving before.

"I always find it a really special experience," Grey says of Thanksgiving in College Houses. "It's a nice reminder of what a community is and what a community does."

"Students just need to feel like they have a place," Kaliher says. "That's what our whole purpose is in the College Houses." If any student has an idea for next Thanksgiving, whether it's a themed menu, a special playlist, or a new idea for décor, Kaliher encourages them to pitch the idea to their faculty or house director. "We're happy to develop a program that really is going to help and support our students," she says.