One of Medill Prof. Karen Springen’s fondest memories from college is when her professors welcomed students into their homes during the holiday season. She said this inspired her to host an annual Thanksgiving dinner for students.

She has been hosting a Thanksgiving dinner now for over a decade.

“There were students who were still around campus and maybe didn’t have family here,” Springen said. “Sometimes it’s people who’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving before, or sometimes it’s people who aren’t going to fly all the way home.”

Springen’s Thanksgiving meal usually features turkey, ham, salads, mac and cheese, and several other sides, but her main focus is always on making “fantastic pies and cookies,” she said.

She added that she always brings cookies to her classes and makes them “holiday-ish” during the holiday season to make the classroom feel homey and festive. 

Communications Residential College Faculty Chair and Medill Prof. Roger Boye also hosts an annual Thanksgiving dinner.

This year marked his second time co-hosting the dinner with South Area Faculty-in-Residence and Weinberg Prof. Myrna García. García said she had been interested in hosting a Thanksgiving dinner similar to Boye’s, and they decided to “join forces.”

She added that dorms feel “desolate” over break, and this Thanksgiving dinner was her way of bringing community in a time when it may have felt isolating. 

“It’s really nice to be in a community and share food and learn about them,” García said. 

Weinberg freshman Natalie Xie attended Boye and García’s Thanksgiving dinner this year. She said it was a kind gesture for Boye to invite students to his apartment, especially for students who remained on campus over break and were not able to spend the holiday with their families.

Xie said the dinner was also a culinary learning opportunity as someone who had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. 

“I had never had Thanksgiving ham or Shepherd’s Pie, or a lot of American Thanksgiving foods we had there, like mac and cheese and turkey and mashed potatoes,” Xie said.

Boye said he began this tradition around 20 years ago to give students who remained on campus over Thanksgiving break a place to go to enjoy the holiday spirit. This year, 24 students and three faculty members attended.

He said that once, at a graduation ceremony, a parent came up to him and thanked him for hosting her daughter for Thanksgiving — her first holiday away from home — during her freshman year.   

“That was three and a half years after the event occurred,” Boye said. “So it really stuck with her.”

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