I love apple pie—more than cake, chocolate, cookies, or most other desserts. I am a life-long apple pie fiend. Obviously, I chose Swarthmore for a myriad of reasons (its cash-free campus, the pass/fail first semester, the rigorous, top-notch education), but something that really convinced me I was in the right place here is our annual apple pie-making contest.
The apple pie-making contest is a (new) annual tradition where students across our campus (individually or collectively) bake an apple pie and try to come up with the most creative, delicious, and/or beautiful apple pie. In the days leading up to the judging, students flock to all the various kitchens on campus, ready and hoping to make the best apple pie. I love the atmosphere on campus at this time, and I especially love it when people come into the GSC (Gender and Sexuality Center) to make their apple pies.
The GSC is a safe space for all gender and sexual minorities on campus. I work there (so I have an especially soft spot for it), but the Center is a really amazing space for all queer people on campus, with an abundance of resources for us. We do tons of really cool programming (Body Liberation Week, where we bring in different educators and give away free menstrual products and sex toys; a Spring Picnic, where we collaborated with the Scott Arboretum and the Office of Sustainability; and Fall Fire Pit Fridays, where we gather together to make smores, do karaoke, and work on cute little crafts). The GSC also has a lovely kitchen where my friends and I love to bake. I am quite bad at baking (I don’t believe in following recipes and love to improvise, which I’ve been told is not good), but on Fridays, after a long week of coursework and stress, there’s something so beautiful about hunkering down in the GSC and making a batch of cookies or an apple crumble with a movie or episode of some trashy reality TV show playing in the background.
Although I am quite bad at baking, the students participating in the apple pie contest are at the top of their game. In the days leading up to the judging, the kitchens on campus (including the one in the GSC) are operating at full capacity, with students going in and out, trying to tweak their recipes until they get the best and most beautiful possible result possible.
Finally, the day of the judging arrives (this is my favorite day, as an apple pie aficionado). Last year, the judging started at five in the evening in a hallway in the Science Center. I, of course, was lined up and ready at 4:50. In front of me, there were around twenty different pies, some with latticed crusts, some with crumbles, some with fancy designs – all looked delicious. Before judging officially started, someone from the Office of Sustainability (they run the pie contest) told us what awards the pies were competing for – “pie perfection,” for the best overall; “pie in the sky,” for the most creative; and “apple of my eye,” for the prettiest. Finally, after getting through the rules and introductions and instructions on how to cast our votes, the tasting officially began. My friends and I went down the line, taking little pieces of a few of the many pies (we all grabbed little pieces of different pies so we would have the most variety and could try each other’s selections). All the pies were incredibly delicious, but my friends and I decided our favorite was a miso apple pie, which we devoured first. We cast our votes and headed to the dining hall for the Fall Harvest Dinner (the Harvest Dinner is another Swarthmore tradition where we have dinner using the vegetables we grow on campus or in the surrounding areas).
The apple pie baking tradition is new (last year was the second time it happened), but I’m so excited that my college years here will be filled with delicious pies. Not only because I love apple pie (though that is no small part of my love for the contest) but also because it’s a great way to see the community come together and be surrounded by joy and fall fun!
