October 28, 2025
Giving back is a part of the USI community, and that giving spirit was shown during Bowl-o-Rama on Friday, October 24. Faculty, staff, retirees and others gathered at the USI Ceramics Center to throw bowls for the upcoming Filling Empty Bowls for Veterans event.
AL Holen, Professor of Ceramics, along with her students, were present to lend a helping hand to those who attended. "I get a lot of questions from faculty and stuff wondering if there is any opportunity to learn how to throw on the potter's wheel without taking an entire class. Or I hear, 'I did that in high school and I loved it!'" says Holen. "So Bowl-o-Rama was a great opportunity to bring folks in for that reason."
During the five-and-a-half-hour event, faculty and staff created nearly 239 bowls. Students from Clay 1, 2 and 3 classes pitched in to help. "The faculty and staff really delivered," Holen says. "And it was fun to see students teach people who teach them! Also, in the teaching process, they gain confidence about how they approach the potter's wheel when they are creating their own work."
With Empty Bowls being a large event to host, Holen adds the help from USI employees and the community this year helped out "tremendously." The event was so successful, she says she plans to bring faculty and stuff back for another Bowl-o-Rama when the next Empty Bowl event happens.
Empty Bowls for Veterans will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (or until the last bowl is gone) on Saturday, November 15 at Barker Brewhouse, 96 N. Barker Ave. With a $20 donation, guests receive a ceramic bowl plus soup and bread from Mother Truckers food truck.
Tables at the event will be labeled with who created the bowls, so participants of Bowl-o-Rama will be able to find the bowls they created.
All proceeds from Empty Bowls will go to the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, aimed at assisting military veterans who battle food insecurity.
View photo galleries of Bowl-o-Rama from USI Photography and Multimedia and the College of Liberal Arts.