By Linda Nguyen
Staff Writer
The Baylor Round Table is hosting the International Thankgiving Dinner at 6:30 p.m. today in the Mayborn Museum.
The International Thanksgiving Dinner is held for international students and their families to share a Thanksgiving meal as guests of President Ken and first lady Alice Starr and experience the American tradition of Thanksgiving.
The Baylor Round Table is an organization composed of female faculty members, administrators or the wives of Baylor faculty and administrators. Baylor Round Table International Thanksgiving Dinner program coordinator Corrie Logan said this is a very important tradition to the Baylor Round Table and the Starrs.
“This is a long standing tradition with the Baylor Round Table,” Logan said. “It was started by President Abner McCall in the ’60s.”
The dinner is only for international students and their families.
“One of the things we have discovered is a lot of them don’t know about turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie and a lot of other things we take for granted and we’re used to,” Logan said.
Logan said the evening is an opportunity for students to interact with the members of the Baylor Round Table. A Round Table member will host each table.
“It’s a very fun evening and it helps students to become more comfortable with us and for us to be more comfortable with them,” Logan said.
Logan said during the dinner, Starr will speak about the history of Thanksgiving, how it started in America and how it’s evolved.
“He’s fun to hear,” Logan said. “I think it really helps the students and helps us remember.”
Logan said about 200 students are coming. Logan said some students will attend each or most of the years they are at Baylor.
Logan said one special part of the dinner is when students are given the opportunity to take a picture with Starr in front of their home flag.
“The students really like that,” Logan said. Logan co-coordinates the event with Nancy McKinney, and this is their second year as the program coordinators.
“We love it,” Logan said. “We look forward to it. We enjoyed doing it so much last year, we volunteered to do it again this year. It’s one of the highlights of the year.”
Hong Kong senior Evan Choi has gone to the Baylor Round Table International Thanksgiving Dinner for the past three years.
This will be his fourth year to go.
“I really like it,” Choi said. “President Ken Starr is there and he always tells stories about Thanksgiving and it’s a chance to talk to people and get to know people.”
Choi said he enjoys the dinner because of the fellowship he has with fellow international students and the members of the Round Table. Choi said this dinner is the one time during the year a lot of the international students get together and catch up with one another.
“It keeps me interacting with other international students,” Choi said. Choi said the atmosphere of the dinner is inviting and warm.
“The Thanksgiving dinner really embodies what Baylor stands for — bringing students from different nations together to enjoy time with one another,” Choi said.
