Meals with Heels

Meals with Heels is a student-initiated program that invites faculty and residents of campus housing to get together for a free meal at a campus dining location of their choice. The intent is to facilitate casual conversations between faculty and students that build relationships and ultimately lead to student academic success.

How it all began...

Less than a year ago, my Education 318 classmates and I were challenged to create a Capstone project that would positively impact the University. Three group-mates and I sat and discussed the things that were lacking in our Carolina experience. Undoubtedly,  everyone was in agreement that the faculty-student relationship could be improved. It was here, in this Education 318 course, that Meals with Heels was conceived.

Meals with Heels began as a component of a student-based UNC Capstone project titled Breaking Barriers. This project was initially created to bridge the gaps between students and faculty. Breaking Barriers was intended to improve student and faculty relationships. In order to enhance student and faculty relationships, Meals with Heels would allow professors and students to meet on a social level outside of the classroom. This initiative would provide a great opportunity for both parties to really engage with one another and find strengths, weaknesses, goals, passions, and other interesting information about each other in a less formal setting.

Points I had to consider:

• The first thing was to make this program practical. Everybody has to eat at some point in the day, right?
• The second thing was to make this affordable. Who wouldn’t want a free meal?
• The third step, accessibility. Initially, the idea was to take this program to outside restaurants, but we decided to utilize on-campus dining services and remove the stress of transportation.

Meals with Heels is a small but significant step in improving the Carolina experience for all. I challenge you to think of other ways to improve our University. Nothing is impossible! In the meantime, I hope that students and faculty alike will take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to engage with one another over a meal.

~Irene Neequaye
Senior, Class of 2012
Anthropology & International Studies
Resident Advisor-Ram Village