Wednesday, Nov 27, 2024 • Cristal Gonzalez : contact

Faculty, staff, and students at The University of Texas at Arlington came together to share a meal and an evening of gratitude with over 700 of their fellow Mavericks during the annual campus-wide Thanksgiving Dinner.

The tradition started back in 2017 as an annual potluck organized by the Office of International Education to introduce international and study abroad students to the American Thanksgiving experience.

“International students are thousands of miles from home. Everyone on campus leaves to go be with families and they don't have anything to do,” said Jay Horn, executive director of the Office of International Education.

The following year, the dinner was expanded to the entire Maverick community and has exponentially grown since then.

Anviti Singh, a master’s student in computer science from India, had her first ever Thanksgiving meal this year. She said she was excited to participate and see how Americans come together for holidays and celebrations.

“In India, all of our celebrations and gathering have big meals like this. I was excited to see how other cultures are similar and different from what I’m used to seeing back in India,” said Singh.

Singh is thankful she had the opportunity to come to the U.S. and get her education; it’s something she won’t ever take for granted.

“I always thought about coming here, and I’m just really grateful I had the opportunity to do so,” she said.

This year, Maverick Dining and Maverick Catering cooked about 120 pounds of turkey and 80 pounds of ham, prepared seven different sides, baked 42 pies and 42 cakes, and made sure everyone in the Maverick community went home with full stomachs.