Chili, costumes, charity
From left: Sandra Stansbury, D2 Cynthia Udeh and Taryn Walker cooked up top chili honors.
It wouldn’t be Halloween without crazy costumes and warm bowls of chili.
Fifteen chili entries — with ingredients as varied as lentils, turkey, squash, bison and beef — quickly disappeared as a roomful of staff, faculty and students filled up at the “battle of the bowls” contest.
This year’s Chili Cook-off champions are the lucky recipients of Gold, Silver and Bronze Spoon awards, as well as bragging rights: Taryn Walker, student affairs, first place; D2 Cynthia Udeh, second place; and Sandra Stansbury and Missy Stebbins, financial services, third place.
All that eating, with chili sampling for $3 or with chips and drink included for $5, added up to $363 for the State Employee Charitable Campaign, which benefits those in need across Texas.
D2 Akeira “Cookie” Warner as Optimus Prime
The lunchtime get-together wrapped up with awe-inspiring entertainment: a highly popular costume contest.
Optimus Prime, also known as Akeira “Cookie” Warner, D2, took first place. Leilane Jan, student affairs, zoomed into second as a race car driver.
The event ended with a nightmare — Nightmare Before Christmas, that is — with Cristina Rivera and Sally Thompson, comprehensive dentistry, dressed as the film’s ghoulish characters.
The judging panel included John Walker, pediatric dentistry; Dr. Robert Augsburger, endodontics; Cheryl Howell, library; Terryl House, information technology; Jane Cotter, dental hygiene; and Dr. Kathy Svoboda, biomedical sciences.
