By Jillian Santacroce
Staff Writer
An average Friday night for many college students often consists of going out with friends, hitting up local bars or just staying in for a movie night with roommates. However, for some, this Friday night was different
On Friday, April 22, 10 teams gathered in room 212 of the Education Building for Student United Way’s third annual PB&J Race. The beat of popular, remixed music roared as students filed into the space to find their designated stations. Loaves of bread topped each table, plastic knives and latex gloves were set for each participant and jars of peanut butter and jelly were allotted for each pre-registered group.
During this year’s event, students from the College took an hour out of their Friday night to assemble PB&J sandwiches for the local community. In addition to Student United Way, a number of other campus organizations participated in the event. The different teams worked quickly to make as many sandwiches as possible in the given time and ensured that members of the Trinity Cathedral Food Pantry of Trenton and the Rescue Mission of Trenton would have a quality meal to look forward to.
“I joined Student United Way because I wanted to have a voice,” junior early childhood education and English double major and Student United Way President, Raffaella Soriano, said. “Student United Way wants to engage our school community with our local community. Whether people realize it or not, they are making a difference — even if it’s just one person’s breakfast.”
The hour-long event was split into four parts: the resource round, a second round during which every table was responsible for assembling 30 sandwiches, the creative round and another resource round.
During the first resource round, each group was tasked with finding out what was wrong with its table’s set-up and had to “rob” other tables to gather the necessary supplies. The second round forced participants to stand on one leg or use one hand while putting together the sandwiches.
Students were then given five minutes before the start of the third round in order to brainstorm ideas for the creative round, where they were given free reign to make personalized sandwiches just for fun. The night ended with another resource round, in which Student United Way challenged each table of students to make as many sandwiches as possible within the allotted time.
Members of the host organization were stationed at the head of each team’s table. The results showed that Sigma Kappa sorority won the first round and Latin sorority Chi Upsilon Sigma won the second round. The third round went to Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity with Phi Alpha Delta fraternity winning the final round.
Freshman psychology major Kayla Loukides participated in the event with other members of one of the College’s community service organization Circle K.
Loukides said that she enjoyed the event because it gives a chance for students of the College to come together for a good cause.
“We get to make a direct impact on our community,” Loukides said.
This year marked the third time Student United Way has hosted the charity event, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Soriano said she has big hopes for the next PB&J Race. She would like to increase publicity for the event next year so that more students are encouraged to take part in the competition. Soriano said she would like to see at least 20 teams compete and has considered making the event a day-long affair.
