Students rave over Food Truck Thursday

Brady's Roadhouse

The announcement of Food Truck Thursdays was released almost two months ago today, and so far, students are expressing positive opinions about the new weekly event. 

“I eat at the Chinese truck. It is my favorite and the food comes out very fast,” Meaghan VanSickle, a sophomore Forensic Science major, said. 

The food was really good and I appreciated the vegetarian options,” said Allison Ramirez, a junior Early Childhood Education and Special Education major.“It was nice to see friends there, but it was also super crowded.”

With high hopes of the trucks remaining a weekly endeavour, students have a few suggestions on how to make the Food Truck Thursdays more fun.

“When the weather gets warmer,” VanSickle said. “I would like to see more tables and benches outside for seating.”

Ramirez suggested that the inclusion of  some games would add to the experience as well.

“Games, music or a bonfire would be super cool.” Ramirez said. 

Not only have students been enthusiastic about the new food trucks, Dr. Shari Payne, vice president of enrollment, expressed how the staff was  thrilled by the amount of student participation.

Students seemed to not only enjoy having new food options, but also seemed to like being out and about among their peers,” Payne said. “It really had an event-type atmosphere. I’m sure it’ll be even more fun once the weather starts to break and it isn’t freezing cold outside.”

Payne also expressed that Aladdin Dining Service is frequently looking to include a variety with the food trucks.

“Lesley Davis from Aladdin is negotiating with new vendors each week to try to bring variety to the event,” Payne said. “For the second week, for example, she added a dessert truck with fried oreos and funnel cakes. She has a taco truck lined up for week three and a chicken truck lined up for a future event.” 

Weather always plays a factor in which trucks can come and cannot come. 

“Keep in mind that we are sometimes limited by weather and by individual vendor schedules,” Payne said. “We’d also like to encourage students to send us recommendations if there is a particular food truck they’ve enjoyed at other events.”

One thing students can count on is that food trucks will be available in future semesters as well.

“While it may come under a different format than Food Truck Thursdays,” Payne said. “We are planning to bring back food trucks in some fashion for future semesters.”