If you’ve ever seen the lines that run from the Demo Kitchen in the Student Life and Wellness Center, you know that The Zone and the free food it brings to UVU students is a big deal. You may know of the hype, but what exactly is this program all about? We interviewed Caroline Sarabia-Pacheco, one of the Zone Managers to get more information.
In essence, The Zone is about “making their [students’] lives easier,” Sarabia-Pacheco said. Every student at UVU lives in off-campus housing, so meal plans aren’t catered for a dining room setting where you can get fairly cheap meals. Thus, the two options for students are to buy their own groceries or grab something from a restaurant either on or off-campus. To help fill in this gap, along with the Food Pantry, these free meals provided by The Zone are fast and convenient for students in between classes throughout the day.
Free waffles every Monday from 8:30 a.m. to around 10 a.m and is great for the Wolverine headed to morning classes anywhere on the Orem campus. It is but one of the many events The Zone holds throughout the week. On Monday nights at 6:30 p.m., there is also free Pizza and smoothies. Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. is Wolverine Wednesday (you are encouraged to wear UVU apparel) with more free Pizza. Thursday includes a cereal cart at 8:30 a.m. and more Pizza with Chips and salsa at 6:30 p.m.. To top it all off, Friday includes the other favorite breakfast food, Pancakes at 8:30 a.m..
Sarabia-Pacheco told us that being involved with The Zone is “really fun, you get to meet a lot of really new, really fun people.” The students you’ll see serving the food are known as Zone Managers and they actually get part of their tuition paid for by serving food and helping plan events for 8 hours each week. If you are interested in becoming a Zone manager, call 801-863-6227, visit their office in the SL 214m, or email them at actionlearning@uvu.edu. You don’t have to be that committed to get involved all the same, as “just coming is really fun.” We hope to see you for Waffles next Monday and throughout the week for more! For more information on The Zone you can go to https://www.uvu.edu/actionlearning/info/zone.html
