Patrick Lawlor, ’13, Associate Editor in Chief
Students were welcomed back from break with a new addition to Sparky’s Place — a soft-serve ice cream machine.
News of the new machine was all over Twitter feeds. Student-athletes who had arrived to campus early released news to all their classmates, social media being the most popular medium.
“We meet with SGA every other week and this was the number one thing that students were interested in,” said Jay Degioia, Sodexo’s general manager at Merrimack. Degioia explained that the installation of the ice cream machine was student-driven, like all of Merrimack Dining’s decisions.
“We got our resources together and realized that we could lease a machine through Edy’s, making it a cost-effective decision,” Degioia said.
But with the high volume use there were a few glitches with the frozen dessert machine. “We brought in a technician to calibrate it and adjust the machine for the amount of use. We feel it is a big enough machine,” Degioia said.
Many students were discouraged when the machine was out of order on the second day of the semester. But that sure has not stopped them from eating the ice cream.
“It’s great when it works,” said junior Jim Petr.
“I think it is a delicious treat and great addition to the café,” said junior Andrea Yavarow.
“We want to hear from the students,” added Degioia. He said there are options to allow the machine to produce frozen yogurt as well, if that is something students want.
Since Degioia became general manager of Merrimack Dining in the fall many student needs have been addressed. The grill was added in Sparky’s Place, as well as lunch hours extended to continuous service.
He said he wants to hear from students, and encourages students to “like” the Merrimack Dining page on Facebook.
