The Residential dinners are a new revival for Williston. For these dinners, all boarding students get dressed up and sit at a table with others in their dorm as well as some faculty members and have a family- style meal together.

Williston used to have these types of dinners many years ago, but stopped because of the push for a more relaxed meal style. Students used to have to stay in dress code for dinner, which saw a big decrease in attendance by students.

The first dinner, on Friday, September 23, was a good gathering and lasted maybe 45-55 minutes in total. Students were all gathered and ready to be seated well before they were required to be there and seemed eager. Students were again required to be in formal dress.

PG Mike Mahoney said, “I thought the dinner was pretty relaxed, however there were certain kids who wouldn’t really spark conversation or make an effort, but many others were happy to learn about each other.”

“The food was really good but I just wish they separated people more than by dorm,” said senior Sebi Herrera.

“I thought it was nice to meet everyone such as the teachers and more of the girls in the dorm that I didn’t know,” said Sophomore Brooke Smith.

All three seemed to follow a similar pattern on their ideas for improvement.

Mahoney was asked if anything should be done to improve the dinners and said, “Yeah make it so that we are able to sit with people from other dorms including girls.”

Herrera followed this and said, “We should mix up tables and dorms and make it more of a community event than a dorm dinner.”

“We already know people in our dorms very well,” he added.

“Mixing up dorms and mixing up boys and girls would be an improvement,” Smith also said.

Everyone seemed in good spirits for the next dinner with the hope that they might mix up dorms.

Herrera said, “I am excited for the next one because I want to continue to learn new things about people and get to know new people if the tables are hopefully switched up.”

All in all the first of these residential life dinners appeared to be a success. Hopefully the next one will improve and be even better.