This Friday, Feb. 19, freshmen enrolled in World Studies headed to study hall room A290 not expecting what was coming their way.

Eager freshmen headed into the study hall room to witness a large surprise: the second annual Oxfam Hunger Banquet.

To kick of the human rights unit, World Studies students embarked on this eye opening event.

World Studies students entered the classroom and were immediately assigned a class: either low, middle, or high.

Low class students were instructed to sit on the floor, the middle class could sit on fold away chairs, and the high class sat at tables with tablecloths

Teachers explained the purpose of the activity: to make the class barriers that separate people painfully clear.

Depending on the class they were randomly placed into, freshmen received a meal that was proportionally based to the class of the students.

Students in the low class received an extremely small portion of cold buttered noodles. The average portion contained around fifteen small noodles. Students also did not receive any utensils. These students also had to sit on the floor.

Students in the middle class received pasta with some vegetables in it, and pieces of bread.

Students in the higher class received bread, fruit, pasta, water, and more. These students had ample access to utensils and teachers who were constantly waiting on them.

Some students were disappointed that they were not placed in the highest class.

“It’s really sad, the oranges look really good,” said freshmen Asha Labine who was placed in the middle class.

“They have food, man,” said Claire Liebeno, a freshmen who also got placed in the middle class.

While some students were disappointed in their placement, others realized the brutal reality of the simulation.

“It [was] like nothing I have ever encountered,” said freshmen Dawson Sholtis who was placed in the lower class.

“It’s not fun being down here [on the floor]. we should help people more,” said freshmen Connor Hanley.

Even people of the high class realized that they received the lucky card coming into this event.

“I feel privileged [ being in this class]. I think that others deserve better,” said freshmen participant Aidan Gaughan.
Overall, students felt as though the hunger banquet was an eye opening experience that really exposed them to the stark differences that divide us. It is now up to students to take what they learned from this scenario and apply it to the rest of their lives.