While meal times for college freshmen are often irregular, many had their first taste of midnight breakfast on Sunday night.
Penn’s newest students and candidates for the 2015 Class Board and Undergraduate Assembly elections enjoyed pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs in Houston Hall to mark the beginning of voting season.
Midnight Breakfast is an annual event organized by the Nominations and Elections Committee to encourage freshmen and transfer students to mingle with their candidates.
This year’s breakfast featured a newly added screen that displayed candidates’ statements. Students enjoyed performances from Penn a cappella, comedy and dance groups, complementing their free meal.
“I think it’s going very well — I’m hearing very substantive things from the candidates,” NEC Chairman and College senior Shom Sarkar said.
This year, the NEC’s focus was substantive campaigning, so that voters could really understand the candidates’ platforms.
Some candidates “really went and told you what they were about,” College freshman Tiara Kittrell said, adding that those were the people she would vote for.
“It’s hard to get to know someone in a minute … the people I’m voting for are people I’ve known before, whose leadership qualities I’ve seen directly,” College freshman Jacob Ruden said, adding that he got to know candidates by reading their statements.
Candidates sought to get voters’ attention by handing out candy, waving posters and chanting slogans.
“Rally for Ally” was College freshman and 2015 Class Board candidate Ally Del Canal ’s slogan, which she and her supporters shouted around the room.
“We’re just the support team — the 12 of us in the red following her around,” College freshman Alexander Rafi said.
Many of the 2015 Class Board and UA candidates talked about extended dining hall hours for students.
Anthony Cruz, a College freshman who is running for Class Board, wants to extend dining hours by “just 30 minutes more” since “it’s more realistic” than trying to extend it by several hours.
Both Wharton freshman Daniel Fine and College freshman Gabe Delaney are running together for the UA as part of an unofficial four-person “Dream Team” ticket. They are, however, also separately running for Class Board president.
“I think my biggest competition is Dan Fine … I know how ambitious he is, [which is] part of why we’re on the Dream Team together,” Delaney said.
