At Georgia Southern, creativity is never shut down, as is the case with the brand-new Ice Cream Club. At first glance, a surprising idea, but one that is totally fresh and has a lot of heart. The club was founded by Lillian Gabriele, whose love for ice cream sparked a revolutionary addition to the Georgia Southern campus.
Naturally, one has to wonder where the idea for a club dedicated to ice cream came from. Gabriele said, “I’m addicted to ice cream, I have six tubs in my freezer– I love it so much,” she explained. “When I saw that Georgia Southern didn’t have an ice cream club, I realized: I need to make one.” Gabriele was hoping to have made the club last year, and while it didn’t pan out then, she has been drilling in on the project ever since. According to her: “This year I’ve been going through the process and I’m almost done with the modules. I only have a couple more things, and it should be up and started within a month!”
There’s far more to the club than just eating ice cream; members get to make it. “We’re going to start out hand-making the ice cream, and everyone’s going to make their own. It’s going to be a social thing to grow teamwork and meet new people.”
Gabriele also spoke about how she plans to have alternating groups of around five members to encourage interaction, blossom friendships, and learn crafting techniques. Tubs of ice cream will also be present at meetings if the handmade attempts fail, so that everyone still gets a tasty treat for the effort. Gabriele is also thinking ahead for the club, stating, “Eventually, within a couple months, my plan is to get ice-cream machines into where we’re going to meet. Groups of people will be making ice cream with the ice-cream machines, taking turns learning how it works,” she detailed. “I want every person to be able to make it themselves so that way they know how it works and are able to take initiative, leadership, and can work with others to make the ice cream.”
Gabriele also has many advantageous goals for the club, including community outreach events and potential future partnerships. For example, “During finals week, I want to partner with the puppies club so we can have puppies and ice cream out by the Rotunda,” she said. But that’s not all. “The second idea would be to partner with Rolling Monkey or Brusters, and have them sponsor us so we can do percentage nights at either location, or have them donate ice cream that we’d hand out at the Rotunda to sponsor them.” Then there’s her last idea, her ultimate goal for the club and the reason she created it: “I want to get an ice cream machine in the Dining Commons or Lakeside.” She specified that she knows about the small ice-cream cups that they currently have, but she wants a genuine soft-serve machine.
For those interested in joining the club, not only are there several posters around campus, but you can also view the interest form here. You can also visit the official Instagram page here. And for those who are curious, Gabriele’s favorite flavor is an obscure one that she can only find in her hometown: “So orange-vanilla-swirl softserve, then on top of that is black cherry hard ice-cream, and then covered with sprinkles, whipped cream, and a cherry!”
Just like ice cream, clubs come in many flavors. Feel free to check out the Ice-Cream Club, and you might just find yours.
