Home Plate Program Brings Cornellians and Ithacans to Dinner Table

Home Plate — a new program organized by the Student Assembly’s City and Local Affairs Committee that arranges dinners between students and members of the Ithaca community — held its first dinner Sunday. “What I really hope for this program is that more Cornell students get to form lasting bonds with Ithaca community members, and through their connections become more active community members themselves,” Millicent Kastenbaum ’16, chair of the S.A. City and Local Affairs Committee, said. “It is such a wonderful, informal way for students to expand themselves outside of the Cornell bubble.”

The program embodies the committee’s mission to bridge the gap between the Ithaca and Cornell communities, according to Kastenbaum. Kastenbaum said she hopes Home Plate will encourage students to interact more with the Ithaca community. This semester is a “pilot round” working with 13 host families and 46 students, according to Zach Praiss ’16, a student organizer of the program and a Sun designer.