Late Night Breakfast

In this Issue: reflections on Late Night Breakfast, and lots of photos

Tonight is the start of Hanukkah, and we extend our very best Hanukkah wishes to all our families who will be celebrating.

Last night was Late Night Breakfast, which is one of the happiest nights of the fall semester. Students get to come to the Pit from 10 p.m. to midnight to eat all the delicious breakfast foods they want, and they are served by administrators, faculty, and staff. I was one of the servers from the 10-11 p.m. shift, and here are a few reflections on the event:

Everyone loves breakfast food

Late Night Breakfast never fails to delight our students. Breakfast food is good at any time of the day. I have never seen so many students tickled to be eating a big stack of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage at 10 p.m.

But…few people are neutral on the issue of biscuits and gravy

This is where people start to move into factions. My serving station was biscuits and gravy, and most of our students either really wanted biscuits and gravy, or they were an absolute hard no to the idea of gravy (though to be fair, I did get some who wanted just a biscuit, which of course we gave them).

It was also fun to see who the gravy lovers were. I expected a lot of takers to be from Southern students, since this is a regional delicacy (full disclosure: I *love* biscuits and gravy). So I was pleasantly surprised to see a group of male students from PA enthusiastically ask for biscuits and gravy, as well as some students whose accents suggested they might be international students. As I served, I would often tell the students on Team Gravy that “you are my people” and it got a chuckle or a smile from them.

Students are nervous about finals

Most of the time when serving, if the line was long I did not have a chance to chat with students. But in the slower moments, and if they seemed open to it, I’d ask students how they are doing, which finals are causing them stress, etc.

I had a delightful interaction with two first-year women about finals. They were nervous about them, and I told them that a lot of that anxiety is just because they haven’t done college finals before – but they did hard things in high school, and applied to a difficult-to-get-into college, so they’ve got this! As I said it, it was like both of their faces visibly softened and relaxed, and one of them said to me “I needed to hear that, thank you.“

So never forget the power of telling your Deac – whether they are a first-year or a senior – that you believe in them, that they can do it, that they are going to be OK. That might be the thing that tips their confidence.

Come as you are

Late Night Breakfast is a sort of anything goes kind of event. Some students come in and they are dressed just like they would be during the day. Some arrived with wet hair as if they’d just showered. Some were in what my late mom would have called “lounging clothes” – sweatpants or leggings, some were wearing flannel pants that could have been pajamas.

I nearly wore Santa print flannel pajama bottoms myself, but chickened out at the last minute. But I saw two students in matching PJs and complimented them on their choice and told them they understood the assignment 🙂

Our students are polite

It was really lovely to see how many of our students offered such warm and genuine thank yous to the servers and staff who were present. I had so many students say thank you and gush about how happy they were to be having this breakfast. Even though they are not my children, as a mom, I felt a great deal of pride in how polite our students are 🙂

I also ran into a couple of students I had seen earlier in the semester, and it was great to catch up with them. They seemed touched that I remembered them, and it reminded me that most of us want to feel seen, remembered, acknowledged.

They really seemed to want/need this sort of outlet

We had a TON of students attend, so at times the food lines were long. But they all seemed pretty cheerful and happy to be there. I think having a late night event on campus, and one that was in the spirit of prepping for finals, did everyone’s spirit some good.

Pictures below (click to enlarge).

Many thanks to the real heroes of the night, the staff who work at The Pit, for making it so easy for all the servers, and so delicious for all the students.