From www.taylor.edu - Taylor University, integrating faith and learning

Freshmen Join the 100 Shakes Club

(Click above to watch a video of the 100 shake consumption on Parents and Family Weekend)

When most people mention their connection to Taylor University, a common response is "Oh, I bet you spend a lot of time at Ivanhoe's!"  For most folks, Taylor and Upland are synonymous with the famous restaurant and ice cream shop, which is well-known for their selection of 100 shakes and sundaes.

Freshmen Pat Sells '13 and Stephen Mortland '13 came to Taylor already familiar with the Ivanhoe's experience, but after being voted into the Inter-Class Council, they wanted to create one that their entire class could share. Their idea: have the entire freshman class join The Ivanhoe's 100 Club.

The 100 Club can be joined when a person eats either all 100 shakes or sundaes on the Ivanhoe's menu.  Their progress is recorded on a pocket-sized card that they present whenever they eat a new shake or sundae.  When all 100 are eaten, they receive a t-shirt and have their name added to a plaque with the other members. This plaque hangs proudly at Ivanhoe's.

This time, however, the member would not be a person, but an entire student class. 100 freshmen would each eat one of Ivanhoe's 100 shakes.

"As a freshman class officer, one of my responsibilities is creating events for the freshman class.  I thought, 'What better way to spend the first freshman class event than for all of us to go for the Ivanhoe's 100," said Sells.

Mortland echoed the importance of kicking the year off with the event.  "We really wanted to let [the freshmen] know that it's going to be a big year and we want to do some big things."

Ivanhoe's Manager Mark Souers was also excited about the idea.  "They came to us... told us they (were) wanting to do this event, asked if we'd be interested and we said 'Oh yeah, of course!"  Ivanhoe's agreed to provide all 100 shakes free of charge, and the event was planned for the first big Taylor weekend of the year - Parents and Family Weekend.

On October 2, at the Parents and Family Weekend block party event in Odle Arena, 100 freshmen and parents, (along with President and First Lady Habecker) assembled to start a new Taylor tradition.  All 100 shakes were delivered by the Council, with one arriving mere moments before they started.  After a countdown, all 100 participants scarfed down their shakes, each signing an Ivanhoe's 100 club t-shirt when they finished.  As a thank you, the freshman class officers presented Souers with the t-shirt at the Ivanhoe Classic (Silent Night) game on Friday, December 11. Click here to view a video of the game.

"This is awesome. We like being involved with Taylor and the freshmen.  It just means so much that they asked us to be involved in it," said Souers.