Smart Cookies: Students Find Sweet Relief in Finals Tradition

“It’s one of the most fun things I do around the holidays,” said Harriet Kessler, now retired from a career as the college’s assistant director of parent programs. “It’s gratifying, because our Davidson students are so remarkable. And they’re so appreciative. It’s fun to watch them go through and say, ‘This is the kind of cookie my grandmom makes every year.’ I can’t imagine this tradition ever going away.”

Grace Cain ’20 heard about the cookies in high school while working as a summer camp counselor.

She’d become friends with other counselors from the town of Davidson and wanted to know more about the college. A few told her that their families baked cookies for the students during exam weeks.

Which begs the question: Did the promise of cookies lure her to Davidson?

“Maybe not the cookies alone,” she said with a smile, “but I enjoyed knowing that if I went to Davidson there would be this nice, warm community of people who would do sweet things like that.”

An English major and religious studies minor from North Carolina, Cain has missed only one cookie study break while studying abroad for a semester in Denmark.

“It’s such a fun environment,” she said. “Everybody is so supportive, and they want to wish you good luck and tell you to hang in there during finals. It’s like a fun family event before you get to go home for the break.”

Cookies AND Milk

A few weeks before cookie night, church members get a reminder to bake. While a fair number of offerings show up in spring, the December cookies give those bakers a chance to indulge their festive spirits.

“Everyone really loves the holiday cookies,” said Claire George-Drumheller, DCPC’s associate pastor for campus ministry. “They get pretty elaborate around this time of year. We have families who bake with their children; we have alumni, we have young adults, retired adults and everybody in between baking for the students.

“You can really feel the excitement build up, especially for first-year students who have a little bit of awe that people do this for them. We hope they know we love them—no strings attached.”

Kessler, a long-serving campus ministry committee veteran, says chocolate chip cookies are perennially popular. Students also love Rice Krispies Treats, tiny pecan pies and brownies—and a bunch of others as varied as the recipes from the church members’ cookbooks.

Cookie duty does have its important requirements:

“We maybe sample one or two,” Kessler said. “There always has to be a taster, and we’re happy to do that.”

Besides the usual favorites, offerings will include vegan, nut-free and gluten-free cookies. While cookies are the star of this show, milk plays a strong supporting role. There’s skim, one-percent and two-percent—and lactose-free for the dairy sensitive.

That’s where Appleyard comes in.

At Davidson College, Appleyard’s long title is James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of International Studies and Professor Emeritus of Economics. He’s also a campus ministry committee member and, on Cookie Study Break nights, the milk man.

It amuses the economist to see what caloric economizing students do when it comes to cookies and milk.

“They really like milk,” he said. “What always makes us smile is when we have students with a big stack of cookies on their plate and they’ll say, ‘May I please have skim milk?’”

Appleyard says it’s a fun night, and he enjoys getting out on campus to talk with the students. He laughs about a student who once told him, “This is one of my two favorite days of the school year.”

“What’s the other?,” he asked.

“The other cookie day,” she said.