Food Services held an event called the Longest Banana Split on Thursday, June 21 at the BYU-Hawaii Cafeteria. They shared how their motivation was to help the students alleviate their stresses that come from finals week. The students, in return, responded with gratitude for a chance to experience a sweet escape.
Stretching five tables, each table being about 6 feet, the multiple employees from BYUH food services prepared a banana split that was almost 30 feet for students in the cafeteria. The event ran from 12pm to 1. After their signal, an employee would notify the students to go grab a bowl and a piece of the long dessert. With smiles and laughs, students charged forward and filled with cravings as if the stress from finals week didn’t exist. The first wave was done 10 minutes after 12pm.
Why banana splits?
Marketing and social media specialist, Alex Moreno, a senior from Mexico studying business marketing, shared the motivation behind the event was to help the students feel happier. “We really wanted this to be an event where the students would release all that stress from finals and to be the cherry on top of this semester.”
Another one of the reasons the cafeteria held the event was to fuel students and help them relax to prepare mentally for the battle against finals, according to Sam Capitan, student manager and sophomore from Utah studying business marketing.
He said, “The cafeteria wanted to help out students with their finals by fueling them with some sugar. So, the Longest Banana Split Event helps students to relax, kick back, take a break from their finals, and have a good day.
“We would like them to know we are here for you, and we would like to keep providing you with these opportunities to come out and enjoy the food we have to offer.”
Building on what Capitan commented, Moreno said, “One of the main goals we have here at the Club Dining Facility is to provide the best quality and service for our students. We know this time of their lives where they have a lot of stress going on with school and work, we really want them to feel like coming to the Club Dining Facility where you have a good time, get together with friends, and enjoy awesome food.”
The sweet reaction
The cafeteria workers prepared a banana split which had vanilla ice cream, banana, whip cream, chocolate syrup, strawberries, and a cherry on top. By third wave of banana splits, students were on their feet standing near the tables as they awaited the employees to finish preparing the treat.
One of the students standing among the group was Aaron Cordova, a sophomore from California studying exercise science. He said, “I’ve been waiting so long for something like this to happen. It’s super awesome, brings the people together, it’s delicious, super beautiful, and it’s just so long. And it’s really spectacular. I’m at a loss for words.”
Enjoying his previous banana split from his seat was John Paolo, a freshman from the Philippines studying hotel tourism management. He shared how he found the entire event interesting. He said, “It’s finals week and having this ice cream banana split helps me relieve my stress about tests and finals I have this week. It is so nice. The ice cream is so good especially with the cherry on top.”
Cordova shared why this event meant so much to him and how he hoped it can continue into the future, as he happily ate his dessert.
“When you get stressed out, you need some food to lift your spirits,” said Cordova. “Now, I don’t need to go out and buy a tub of ice cream. I just had my fix with banana, so it’s healthy. We should do this every week ... It’s not just finals week that’s stressful, it’s all those research papers, tests in the testing center, and assignments. It’s very tragic.”
With a smile, Moreno commented how happy he was that the event was a success. He shared his favorite part was when “we saw a lot of response from the students; a lot of attendance. I just loved to see the smiles on their faces, the excitement when they got up and grabbed their banana split.”
With gratitude, Paolo wanted “to thank all those who made this event possible. It helps us feel at home. I miss my home, but I know I am creating my own special family here at the university.”
Writer: Dani Castro