On a chilly evening on Feb. 24, a crowd of students gathered at the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union Courtyard for Associated Students’ inaugural “PJ’s and Pancakes” event, “because who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner?”
Aztec Student Union Board Union Nights Chair and event mastermind Lars Ecklund said he came up with the idea by taking cues from previous events.
“We did this a few years back and I actually didn’t get to take part because…it was the year before I was a freshman or like the very start of my freshman year, so I kind of wanted to throw it back to that…event that I knew went well,” Ecklund said, “But then also I mean, who doesn’t like free food? Everyone’s chilling in their pajamas, eating breakfast!”
Fluffy buttermilk pancakes, tangy orange juice, crisp bacon — you name it, it was there! As students lined up to pile up their plates and unwind in their comfiest get-ups, some gathered around the photo booth to snag a snapshot in their sweats (and/or onesies) or kicked back to watch the accompanying magic act. Several of these students reflected on the event’s significance at this point of the semester.
Communication studies junior Tasha Brechtel said the occasion came right on time.
“We’re getting into midterms, so it gives us a good break to come out and just be social… Honestly, (the event) gives us some food power to…get our study on tonight,” Brechtel said.
Finance senior Raymond Southall noted the event’s similarities to another on-campus banquet.
“I think it’s a good time, but I know also (that) the Afrikan Student Union has a midnight breakfast so I feel like they kind of stole that idea from them, but other than that it’s good. It’s a good turnout,” Southall said.
Engineering senior Xavier Leasau added these events are likely used to relieve students from the stress of upcoming schoolwork and tests.
“I know that the ASU midnight breakfast uses events like these to kind of help students de-stress, so maybe it’s kind of like along those same lines of giving people an opportunity to get together and destress and not think about classes as finals and everything are coming up,” Leasau said.
When asked about the parallels to the ASU event, Ecklund said the event’s inception wasn’t inspired by anything else happening on-campus and it was planned weeks ahead of time.
“We didn’t have inspiration on that necessarily only because we plan these events way ahead in time…I still have events coming up so they’re kind of interchangeable in that sense just because of the timeframe, but I mean I’m sure if I was thinking about looking for inspiration from that source I totally would have,” Ecklund said.
Ecklund continued, saying these events are all put on with the students’ best interests in mind.
“We’ve had events like last semester we had ‘Treat Yourself’ event which was obviously overtly self-care and about that, but all of these events are meant for the well-being of students,” Ecklund said.
Noting how high the student attendance was only 40 minutes into the event, Ecklund stated, “In a way, it could be a recurring event. If I’m the chair next year…I would definitely consider this (again).”
