Atwater opens for special dinners

Starting Nov. 29, Atwater Dining Hall will open again through special dinners sponsored by Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB).

Old Chapel closed Atwater’s regular dining hours in fall 2009 in an effort to reduce costs and respond to the economic downturn.  Today it is used for a continental breakfast and for Language Tables every weekday, but it does not have regular dinner services.

The College community does however have the option to utilize the Atwater space and culinary talents of its staff for special dinners and events.
“It is a great space and it has been crying out for more use,” said Director of Dining Services Matthew Biette. “Atwater has been in use last year and this year [for these types of events].” The idea of a student organizations utilizing Atwater is “a concept new to some, but not new to others.

One organization that has jumped at the opportunity to use Atwater dining services is MCAB.  Led by MCAB Social Committee Chair Nadia Schreiber ’12, MCAB will be hosting special themed dinners periodically in Atwater.   After going to an information session about how the College community can make the most of Atwater dinning, Schreiber decided that MCAB should try and utilize the space.
This new initiative proposes bi-monthly themed dinners held at the Atwater Dining Hall.  During this year’s Winter Term, the goal is to start with one of these themed dinners per week. Schreiber hopes to continue the dinners through the spring semester as well.

The dinners will be completely free for all students.

“The idea is that students will go [to the themed dinners] instead of another dining option on campus,” said Schreiber. The food provided for these meals will be included in the student meal plans; the only extra cost to having these student dinners in Atwater is for the staffing of the event.  The fees for the extra charges will be covered by the MCAB Social Committee budget.

“We want the theme to be visible in the food, music and maybe even the decorations,” said Schreiber.  The Social Committee has already started looking forward to planning out many of the upcoming themes.

“We are going to do Indian, Mexican, Chinese and we are thinking of trying to do a Hawaiian themed night with the Hawaii club,” said Schreiber.

Due to space restrictions, there will be a limit to the number of students who can attend each of the dinners, and tickets must be obtained in advance.  MCAB Social Committee will send out an e-mail sometime before the day of the event. The first 200 students who respond to the e-mail will get one of the tickets for the dinner.
Schreiber is eager for the dinners to start.

“I think it will be very exciting, and I hope people will enjoy them,” she said. “It is the first time something like this has happened.”

The first dinner will be held on Nov. 29 and will have an Indian theme.  The e-mail for the dinner will be sent out to the student body a little before the day of the dinner.