If you catch the scent of something sweet and comforting wafting through the ALANA Cultural Center, it’s likely the Baking Club serving up a big, warm hug in meal form. The Baking Club is one of the few spaces on campus where problems can be solved through an amiable environment, delicious food and good company. Its main goal as a club is to serve as a space to allow new relationships to grow over food which has the power to act like a sixth love language.
Senior Danielle Spyra laid out the Baking Club’s hopes for their organization.
“[The goal is] meeting new people and connecting over food. I feel like it’s so important to get to know people when you’re making food together — I feel like that’s so big in different cultures,” Spyra said. “And when you get to bring people from different cultures together in a place where you make food together, I feel like that’s very unique.”
This desire for connection gives the Baking Club the unique opportunity to provide a space on campus where students are not expected to bring forward the best, most qualified versions of themselves. Instead, everyone is given a chance to take a step back, relax and reflect on where they are at mentally on campus through the art of baking.
Many members experience this reflection firsthand and think positively about their different meetings throughout the year.
“I’d say my favorite thing to bake would be my grandma’s banana bread recipe. It’s so good. I bake it multiple times a year,” Spyra said.
The Baking Club also likes to experiment and keep its menu fresh. Sophomore Nicola Polinsky described how she got together with friends to try something new at the club.
“It was fun to meet new people and bake something homemade, rather than using a cake mix,” Polinsky said. “I joined because I knew some people from the Mantiphondrakes who were in the club.”
The club also enjoys keeping up with festivities to spread holiday spirit around campus. Senior Lucy Brewer is one of the many members who wishes to keep the spirit going beyond the cooking.
“We’re doing pumpkin spice latte cupcakes, and my goal is to get half the people to show up in costumes, because it’ll be the day before Halloween,” Brewer says.
The familial spirit developed in the club extends beyond just Baking Club. The club also works to collaborate with other spaces on campus, such as Star ’Gate and Brothers of Colgate.
“[I was] so sad because I missed so many good ones last year because I was abroad. I know we did one with Star ’Gate, and that one sounded so fun. I was getting those emails. They baked pies for Pi Day,” Brewer says.
While the story is filled with plenty of happy moments, the club initially hit a rocky road.
“It was a club that was active, and then kind of died, and then [Farrell Aldrich ’25] was very interested in baking and started it up again her sophomore year. As a freshman, I went to one of the meetings, and we really connected and she let me on the board for that,” Brewer describes.
Despite the minor setback, it is clear that the club is filled with members who are dedicated to their craft but also to spreading their love to anyone interested.
