AU is now home to the Pie Club, a group that will discuss, eat, make and celebrate all that is pie.
The club, a recognized student group, will meet about once a month. Members will eat pie, learn from each other about the art of pie and watch and listen to pie-related movies and songs -- as well as discussing cooking in general.
Pie Club will hold its first meeting Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. in Ward 2. No one will be turned away due to lack of space, and each executive board member will be baking enough of their favorite pie to share with the group.
Even before its first meeting, Laura Hartnett, the club’s founder and a junior in the School of Communication and the Kogod School of Business, and the executive board are hard at work planning events for the upcoming year, including a crust-making workshop and a big Thanksgiving party.
“Pie brings happiness, and it also brings people together,” Hartnett said.
Hartnett had been talking about creating such a club for the past several years with her friends and the prospective students she met as an AU ambassador.
“A once-a-month meeting will be enough to spread our message of pie and love without overloading our members,” Hartnett said.
Joan Hanna, a senior in the School of International Service, said she thought Pie Club was a silly idea until she thought about the possible gains of joining such a club.
“Baking is a good skill to have, and any club that encourages people to do so is a good idea,” she said.
Hartnett stressed that the club is not just about pie, but also about learning to use the kitchen.
“People nowadays don’t know how to make pie; they know how to buy pie,” Hartnett said.
Hunter Presti, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, is a friend of Hartnett and has been appointed part of the club’s executive board until formal elections are held. He said one motivation behind forming the club was to avoid disappointing incoming students who had heard about the idea from Hartnett or him while visiting AU.
Though Pie Club hasn’t done much advertising for its first meeting, members collected the emails of over 200 prospective members during the Student Involvement Fair on the quad Sept. 14.
AU Writing Instructor Kate Wilson, who teaches a College Writing seminar called “Eating in America,” said she thinks the club is a wonderful and interesting idea.
“There are so many convenience foods nowadays, and a ‘quick’ emphasis on food in our society, which I appreciate somewhat because we’re so busy,” she said.
However, Wilson said she believes there is an important communal and artistic aspect to baking.
“Making a pie builds a community, whether it be with your family or friends or fellow members of the pie club,” Hartnett said.
Jess Lawson, a freshman in SOC, heard about the club from her RA, Pie Club Executive Board Member and SPA junior Mary Criasia. She signed up for the club on Wednesday at the involvement fair.
“The club sounds amazing! I love to bake, and food is best enjoyed with other people,” Lawson said.
She said she believes stress-free activities, like baking, are very important, especially in the busy lives of college students.
“Many other clubs are more serious, but this is fun and it doesn’t put a lot of pressure on us students,” Lawson said.
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