SOARalicious

Yesterday I ran into my old friend Dave who works with the SOAR program on campus. For those of you who aren’t familiar with UW–Madison terminology, SOAR is an acronym for Student Orientation, Advising, and Registration, also known as freshman orientation. I worked very closely with the SOAR program as an undergraduate at UW, and the experiences and friends that I made during those few summers will always remain near and dear to my heart.

The SOAR program officially kicked off today with its first session, which means that 6,000 gangly-awkward, university bookstore bag-toting new freshman and their demanding and over-involved, “I never want to miss a moment,” cell-phone wielding parents will be visiting campus for two-day stints over the next two months. You can spot ‘em a mile away.

So anyways, the big news from Dave is that the Babcock Dairy Plant, which for 90 years has produced our campus’ award-winning ice cream available in 70 different flavors, is working with the SOAR program to produce a new flavor named after SOAR that will be released this summer. Apparently it is a pineapple-chocolate concoction that I’ve been assured is the next big thing. I walked over to the Union today on my lunch break to check it out. Disappointingly, nothing yet. I also asked the student scooper behind the counter if she knew anything, but she only looked at me with a blank stare and asked, “SOAR flavor?” Unfortunately, at this point, I have neither a confirmed release date nor a name, but SOARalicious works for me. I figure it’s got to be out soon, though, since SOAR only lasts two months. I will keep you updated, my friends. Until then, we must continue to enjoy our other Babcock favorites—Orange Custard Chocolate Chip, Blue Moon, and Chocolate Peanut Butter.