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Campus Community Comes Together at SASS Annual Thanksgiving Dinner

Students from the entire campus community gathered at the Black Cultural Center on Sunday evening as the Swarthmore African-American Student Society (SASS) hosted its annual Thanksgiving celebration.

The popular dinner, which has been held annually for at least the last decade according to SASS officers, served close to 100 students and featured traditional Thanksgiving favorites such turkey, ham, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, yams, and collard greens, as well as a variety of desserts inclusing sweet potato pie and apple pie.

The dinner has become a staple of the SASS calendar due to its overwhelming popularity, says Jareema Hylton '16 , a native of Mitchellville, Md. and SASS' vice president. She credits the dinner's overall warmth and communal environment for its success.

"We all pitch in to cook dishes using a hodgepodge of recipes that range from our own home traditions, to the Internet, to everywhere in between," says Hylton. "Even moms and other family of SASS members offer assistance in the cooking process, and that love is felt and tasted in the atmosphere and in the food."

The Thanksgiving dinner is unique in that it is one of the few SASS events open to the entire campus community. Both Hylton and SASS co-president Steven McFarland '14, a political science and education policy major from Philadelphia, Pa., agree that this element adds to the dinner's immense appeal.

"It's an invitation to come out and enjoy a meal in what so many black students call their home on campus," McFarland says.

Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
Students at the annual SASS Thanksgiving dinner.
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