North Road Communications Holds Annual Chili Cookoff For First Time Since 2019

The second semester of the 2021-22 school year has given activity on Marist College’s campus a comeback post-pandemic. For the first time since 2019, the student-run firm “North Road Communications” (also referred to as NRC) held its annual chili cookoff. 

The 2022 cookoff was run by Shannon Thomas ‘22 and Rachel Hennessy ‘22, the co-directors of the firm. Thomas and Hennessy are in charge of leading all the operations, overseeing fifty student members, and assisting all ten clients. This semester, they took on hosting the chili cookoff, despite neither of them having previously attended one due to the pandemic. 

This event was non-profit and had a premise of bringing clubs and organizations throughout campus together. 

“The community aspect of Marist really came out last Wednesday,” said Thomas.  

Participating teams included North Road Communications, Student Government Association, Tri Sigma, Marist Football, PRSSA, and Silver Needle Runway. 

It was also convenient that the cookoff took place in the Champagnat Breezeway. Students walking in and out of their dorms and the dining hall were able to sample the chili and vote using a QR code for which one was their favorite. 

Bob Lynch, the director of Student Activities and one of the five judges for the cookoff, wanted everyone to be a winner. That being said, PRSSA won the student votes, and Football and PRSSA tied for best chili by judges’ vote. SGA took home the professionalism award; Silver Needle Runway won the creativity award; the unique recipe award was given to Tri Sigma and NRC and Football won the killer theme. 

However, the cookoff wasn’t so much about winning but about having a good time, friendly competition, and gathering together. 

According to Hennessy, while the setup and planning of the cookoff was extremely stressful, it was all worth it in the end. Every team made “way too much chili” and had more than enough ingredients to make it all again. 

North Road Communications plans on having this event with its new board next year and hopes to expand on its events to assist other non-profits in the Hudson Valley. 

Currently, NRC is accepting applications for their upcoming year’s staff. The application is due on May 15.

“North Roads is like having an internship experience without having a real internship,” explains Thompson. 

The chili cookoff was scraping the surface of all the work that NRC does. North Road Communications was also approved to be a one-credit course for the Fall 2022 semester, which was a big step since it was a senior capstone project back in 2011. 

The cookoff showcased the NRC firm in an entertaining and collaborative way; “who doesn’t want to come together and eat free chili?” said Hennessy.