By Adam Fivenson, MSFS’14
When a last-second deep pass fell to the ground, the second-year graduate students celebrated their victory in the Second Annual Graduate School Turkey Bowl. This event, sponsored by Hoyas United in Graduate Service (HUGS), featured a flag football game followed by a traditional Thanksgiving feast to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.
Sandra Dickison, Communications Director for HUGS and a first-year MSFS student, said the event really has a dual purpose. “This year we focused our efforts on raising money for Habitat for Humanity and at the same time introducing graduate students from other countries to Thanksgiving. We had a lot of participation from MSFS this year, and of course MSFS has a lot of international students, so it’s an opportunity to sit down together and give them a taste of what the holiday is all about.”
The contingent of MSFS students from Spain was particularly involved, according to Dickison: “One of the co-hosts is Spanish, and most of our decorations were done by a group of MSFS students also from Spain. We also had MSFS students here at the event from Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Belarus, Germany, France, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Kosovo, Australia and Ukraine.”
The meal itself was cooked by participating graduate students and featured two turkeys, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salads, baked yams, cranberry sauce and all of the other trappings of a typical Thanksgiving meal.
Carmen Muñoz, President of HUGS and a first-year MSFS student, says the group, while relatively new, hopes to start a strong annual tradition to continue fundraising for charity. “Last year was the first year of HUGS. The founders, who are now MSFS second-years, wanted to come up with a fun fundraising event where they could combine flag football and Thanksgiving dinner, and use it as a way to raise money for a good cause. We’ve had a lot of success this year, so hopefully it’ll continue on and be the signature HUGS fall fundraising event.”
Muñoz comments that it was only natural for her to personally get involved. “I’ve always been involved with community service and it just seemed natural to continue working for the community and to get involved with HUGS. It’s a way to bridge the gap between the community and the academics.”
Dickison mirrored those sentiments, adding that “classes are really time-consuming, but it’s also important to stay well-rounded and to give back.”
As for the results of the football game, Muñoz declined to comment, while Dickison was circumspect. “Unfortunately for us first-years, the second-years won. The score was 27-24. More importantly, we had a really great turnout, with about 70 people between the game and dinner, and we raised about $650, pending an official count. This money will go to Habitat for Humanity, who we’re planning on doing a project with around January, so the money will go to help fund that project.”