No one waffles when it comes to Waffle Night, a finals-week tradition held on Monday. “My favorite part is watching everyone interact and just relax,” says Miranda Padilla ’19 of Midland, Texas.

Padilla, a student fellow with the Office of Intercultural Education, the event’s sponsor, helped manage the waffle-creation stations this time around. “There are always so many smiles and laughs,” she says. “That makes the work worth it!”

In the midst of finals pressure, Waffle Night is “something that students look forward to,” says Charlene Holmes, assistant dean for first-generation student support. “It’s also an opportunity for the entire student body to come to the OIE to break bread together.”

Another OIE fellow, Malik Velmar ‘21 of Yorktown, Va., helped direct traffic through the waffle line. The busy event was “a rush,” says Velmar, a member of the men’s varsity basketball team.

“I didn’t know that there was going to be that many people: Friends from my dorm were here, and some friends from the basketball team came through,” he adds. “There was a lot of different people from different cultures who came together in this one space to have some fun, have a waffle, and take a break from studying.

“It was pretty cool.”