The University Board Special events committee is preparing for a bake off, which is schedule to take place Monday in Klehm Hall near the Café at noon.

Aaliyah Stevenson, the university board special events coordinator, said she wanted to create an event to promote more interaction among the students on campus.

“I decided that I wanted an event where students could interact with each other as well as do something they love,” Stevenson said. “I wanted to do something new and different.”

Besides the bake off, Stevenson also helped to create the events for “Welcome back weekend,” in August.

“My very first event of the semester was Panther Thrills; Panther Thrills is formerly known as Welcome Back Weekend,” Stevenson said. “For that weekend, I, the Special Events, Coordinator, coordinated the entire welcome with the help of my advisors. I found the rides for the carnivals, and I came up with the carnival idea.”

Stevenson said for the bake off event itself, there will be two separate divisions students can participate in, one for individuals and one for registered student organizations.

“Each competitor will bring in their own dessert or pastry they prepared at home and pre-made,” Stevenson said. “They will cut their pastry and give them to students to taste and the judges will walk around to taste everyone’s dish. Once the judges made their entire go-around, they deliberate and choose the first place winners of both divisions.”

There will be three judges for the event on Monday.

The judges will be Daniel Nadler, the vice president of student affairs, Nicole Hugo, assistant professor of hospitality management and Dwayne “Station” Lovell, the owner and chef of What’s Cookin’.

“The students will prepare the desserts before the event,” Stevenson said. “Students can only bring pastries or desserts, no other foods are allowed.”

There will also be gift card prizes awards to the winners in both the individual category and the registered student organization category as well.

The winners of the individual category will win a $150 gift card and the winner of the registered student organization category will win a $300 gift card.

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu