Yes, there’s a Cooking Class for Liberty Students

On top of attending classes, taking exams and completing homework, commuter students have an extra thing to worry about – what to cook for dinner.

Liberty University’s Department of Commuter Student Life hopes to take that struggle off commuters’ plates by hosting a Commuter Student Workshop Tuesday, Sept. 13, from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Commuter Student Lounge, located in Green Hall. The event, called “Plated: A Meal Experience With Sodexo,” will have catered food as well as a demonstration from Liberty University’s campus dietitian, Rachel Sanders. 

“There will be dinner provided, and Rachel (Sanders) is going to have the raw materials for the catered event to … show how to prep the food that you’re eating,” Madison Smith, Liberty’s coordinator of commuter engagement, said. “She is bringing a chef along with her to talk about cooking skills and things of that nature.”

Meal plans for commuters come in bundles of 30, 60 or 90 swipes that they make last the entire semester while residential students have 10 swipes for their weekly allotment. Because of this, commuters do more cooking at their home. However, they can also opt for a residential meal plan.

The purpose of the event is to provide commuters with life skills like meal planning and cooking,
Smith said. 

The event will also provide commuter students an opportunity to interact with other commuter students as well. Liberty University senior and commuter student Sarah Killoy said events like these can help commuter students foster community. 

“I think that it’s important for commuter students to attend workshops like this because it creates kind of a community,” Killoy said. “Since commuter students live off campus, it’s … hard to create friendships. Workshops like this help create friendships, and you just get to learn a lot from these workshops, and I think that’s super
important.”

Senior and commuter student Monica Allison said that she’s looking forward to connecting with other commuter students at the event as well. 

Commuter Student Life also has more events coming up this semester for students.

In November, Smith said Commuter Student Life will host a paint night at Imagination Station in Forest, Virginia.  

“It’s going to be off campus and in kind of a new environment, just a chance for commuting students to get to know the area a little bit more, and it’s going to be close to the end of the semester,” Smith said. “(It’s) completely different than anything we’ve done before. We want it to be a … really easy something to take students’ minds off of class for a few minutes and just de-stress with (their) commuting friends.” 

For more updates about events and workshops for commuter students, students can follow @LUCommuterLife on Instagram. 

Scott is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion