Andrew Wojtowicz

The Minerva Challenge is a week-long trial to see if a student is able to physically last an entire week only eating food given away at Minerva events or on-campus events. No other food may be eaten, including coffee or any type of snack. This week’s Minerva Challenge was completed by two brave seniors: Thomas Shields ’18 and Michael Glassman ’18. These survivors were interviewed after they completed the Minerva Challenge, and their responses are below. More information and daily updates from their week can be found on the unprivate instagram account: theminervachallenge.

Q: What inspired you to think of doing this challenge?

Thomas: It was always something we had joked about doing with the idea of it being some kind of survival show. In a way I’d say we’re the Bear Grylls of Union.

Michael: it was an idea that was brought up when we were sophomores. Then we thought of the idea this winter and thought it would be fun to do this spring.

Q: How easy or difficult was this challenge? What obstacles did you face?

Thomas: As a big coffee guy, the toughest part for me was having to wake up early and walk over to Golub or Breazzano to make a Keurig cup. The other tough part was finding healthy food, since we ate pizza for at least three different meals. It was a week of almost nothing but carbs (pizza, rice, pasta). Not having breakfast all week also was bad.

Michael: It wasn’t too difficult to find the events. Sometimes it was hard to find food because events wouldn’t have sufficient food for a full meal. We had problems when things were advertised on campus events and there was no event.

Q: Was there ever a point where you thought you weren’t going to make it and would have to quit?

Thomas: No.

Michael: No, we didn’t want the ninth tradition to die.

Q: Did you end up proving it was possible to eat simply campus events food for a week?

Thomas: I really thought we’d end up going one entire day without food, but luckily we found two full meals every day. Was it easy? No. Was the food always good? No. Did we survive? Yes

Michael: If you believe in the ninth tradition, anything is possible.

Q: What was your favorite and least favorite food?

Thomas: My favorite was the Perreca’s pasta dish at the Bio talk about Road Salt. My least favorite was definitely the Hale House Pizza. That pizza needs some serious work.

Michael: My favorite food was the food at the Ozone dinner discussion about zero food waste. Some pizza was disgusting, but I’m also from NY where pizza tastes good.

Q: How healthy was the food? Is a diet of strictly minerva food able to keep one’s body in good health?

Thomas: This is not something I would want to do for longer than a week.

Michael: It’s not sustainable for a healthy diet. It was very hard to find fruit. #CouldUseAFruit

was trending because they were lacking at the events.

Q: Do you think you’ve inspired other students to take on challenges they didn’t see themselves doing before?

Thomas: Sure, if there’s something you’ve wanted to do in college, just say yes and go for it even if it’s as ridiculous as the Minerva Challenge.

Michael: I hope Union students decide to take risks and say yes to things that make them feel uncomfortable. That’s the point of college.

Q: Any other comments on this challenge you want to add?

Thomas: If you want to do the challenge and take over the instagram account to document the week, let us know. The #NinthTradition lives on.

Michael: #NinthTradition