San Diego Mesa College’s third annual Thanksgiving Feast – organized by the Mesa College
H.O.S.T. program and the Associated Students – will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 22
from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in room MC 211 A/B.
Victoria Miller, Dean of Student Affairs, said that the faculty, staff and administrators
at Mesa always want “students to feel valued and appreciated,” and that the Thanksgiving
Feast is just one way that they help to accomplish this goal throughout the year.
“At Mesa, we pride ourselves in ‘community,’ and building relationships with our students
– what better way is there than our own students doing this for students,” said Victoria
Miller, Dean of Student Affairs. “It’s important because we do recognize that not
everybody is able to go away for the Thanksgiving break, and we also recognize that
not everybody knows where their food for the evening is going to come from.”
Describing it as a “warm, family event,” Miller hopes that students won’t just stop
by to eat and leave, but she encourages everyone to engage in conversation and feel
like they’re a part of holiday.
This free kickoff of the holiday season was created as a way to make students feel
welcome on campus – especially those that are homeless, food insecure, don’t have
holiday plans or are international/out-of-state students and cannot travel home for
Thanksgiving.
Paid for by the AS, the event will offer ham, turkey and vegetarian meals for any student on campus
who wishes to participate. There will be entertainment provided during the feast,
as well as games for attendees to participate in.
H.O.S.T., which stands for Hope Offered to Students in Transition, is an entity of
the AS that has organized this event every year since 2014. Originally started as
a way to help students in need, the other main purpose of the event is to foster a
sense of community and family on campus.
AS President Ava Fakhrabadi said that MC 211 A/B will be festively decorated for the
event and that it provides an opportunity to socialize with other students.
“It’s an opportunity for students to have a home here at Mesa, especially for students
who don’t get a Thanksgiving feast,” Fakhrabadi said. “We allocate quite a bit of
money for it because we think it’s a really important event.”
In addition to the meal, games and entertainment, there will also be an opportunity
drawing where students can win gift cards for local restaurants and supermarkets,
donated in large part by faculty and staff on campus.
For more information or to donate a gift card or money toward a gift card for the
opportunity drawing, contact Victoria Miller via phone at (619) 388-2699 or via email
at vmiller@sdccd.edu.
Tags: ASG, Student Success and Equity, H.O.S.T., Associated Student Government, Equity and Excellence