SUNY Brockport Dining Services received a Silver Award from the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) in the prestigious Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards annual competition. This is national competition recognizes excellence in collegiate dining across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Brockport was recognized in the category of Residential Dining Special Event for the “One Core” dinner they held for students in October 2025 at both dining hall facilities.
The One Core event celebrated NYS apples and the remarkable people who grow and enjoy them. The dinner, which was likened to an autumn apple festival, had three goals: culture, community, and future. As intrinsic values, SUNY Brockport Dining Services hoped to inspire guests to get a “taste” of NYS culture, engage with the local community (including on- and off-campus partners), and connect with the future of food. On-campus partners included Residential Life, The Pantry, Teachers of Tomorrow, Campus Rec, HPPE, BSG, SULA, and 89.1 The Point.
Special thank-you to these resilient partnerships! Because of these collaborations, the One Core event was also featured in a recent article published by Campus Dining Today, the official quarterly magazine of NACUFS. This spring’s theme was about building resilient partnerships and how this collaboration strengthens a campus and its community.
The event had a wonderful turnout: almost 1,400 students attended and more than 200 students provided feedback via our online submission form and red submission slips. This form asked students to rate how much they agreed with each statement on a scale from 1 (do not agree)-5 (very much agree). The results are listed below!
- I am more informed about the benefits of eating local: 4.38
- I learned about NYS Apple Farming: 4.32
- The menu was delicious: 4.54
- Overall, I enjoyed this event: 4.73
In addition, BASC also purchased more than 1,300 apples from Kirby’s Farm & Market, tying into our goal of supporting local agriculture.
NACUFS is the foodservice trade association for colleges and universities. Nearly 650 institutions in higher education are members of this organization. The Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards salute the most successful ideas in menus, presentations, special event planning, and new dining concepts on college campuses throughout the country (and beyond!). Needless to say, the competition was fierce!
Dining Services is proud to be recognized for this prestigious award at the NACUFS national conference in New Orleans this July.
