Shreya Akula thought Indian food occasionally served on campus often lacked authentic taste. As a graduate student and part-time food service worker, she had an idea: a pop-up at Grand Dining Hall with Indian students as chefs.  

The one-time pop-up turned into a weekly occurrence last spring, with long lines and a large following among international students. Its success prompted the student team to plan for a permanent Indian eatery on campus.

This fall, Spice Market opened up, a student-run Indian restaurant at Saint Louis University. 

Akula, who now manages Spice Market, worked closely with DineSLU to establish the restaurant. From the start, she said authenticity was at the heart of the vision. 

“We really wanted to have that authenticity so students can feel like they are back at home like they’re in their mom’s kitchen,” Akula said. 

SLU has seen a significant increase in international students in the past few years. There are more than 1,400 international graduate students this year, 85% of whom are from India. 

Indian students like Karthik Mogiliburam say it is comforting to have a meal on campus that reminds them of home.

“We are far away, far away from home, and the one thing we miss a lot is our Indian food,” Mogiliburam said. “This semester we are very much lucky to get the Spice Market opened up for us.”

While Spice Market caters to Indian students, the cuisine shares commonalities with the culinary traditions of other South Asian countries like Nepal and Pakistan and appeals to a range of students.

Madeline Erdman, DineSLU’s marketing coordinator, has been working closely with the student team running the restaurant. When Spice Market first opened up, Erdman said she was worried the spice level might be too bold, but she’s been surprised with the positive feedback.

“The reaction was honestly really incredible to hear because there were so many students who just loved it. They absolutely loved it,” Erdman said. “And people actually liked that it was a little spicy.” 

Abdul Rahman Shaik, a graduate student and chef supervisor at Spice Market, said it is not always easy to accept people from different countries or appreciate their cultural foods. He said he is proud students are willing to try and enjoy Indian cuisine.

“If [I] cook something and the people like the food, then it’s gonna give me the most happiness. I’m feeling so excited and feeling so happy to be part of it,” Shaik said.

From its inception as a pop-up to its growth now as a restaurant, this has been a student-run operation. Sourcing authentic ingredients like black cardamom and chickpea flour is important to the team, but campus production chef Brian Horrocks said that has been harder than expected.

“Sourcing some of these products in St. Louis — we’re not New York or Miami — we’re trying to get authentic items from far away places to the middle of Midwest, so we’re doing what we can,” Horrocks said.

Horrocks, who has a background in Indian cuisine, has been guiding the student team with inventory and ordering. He said since the restaurant opened in August, they have all been learning from each other as they overcome sourcing and cooking challenges. 

“It’s something new, and it’s exciting to be student-run. The students are really excited about what they’re doing,” Horrocks said. 

The menu lineup includes a range of classic Indian dishes including basmati rice, daal (lentils), chicken curry and naan bread. There are also a few vegetarian items like chickpea salad and pakora, a vegetable fritter coated with chickpea flour and fried till golden brown. 

“Pakora is one of the favorite snacks for every Indian and that’s going to be very famous on the campus,” said Yash Yegurula, who works as a cashier at Spice Market.

Curating and managing a new restaurant was not in Akula’s post-graduation plans. Through food, Spice Market helps to “fill a gap” for international students on campus, she said. 

“Spice Market is more than a dining experience,” Akula said. “It’s a cultural bridge that brings people from all corners of the world together through the universal language of food.”

Over 100 people gathered on Forest Park Avenue for a memorial and balloon release Wednesday, March 1 to honor the lives of three teens and one young adult who were victims of a hit-and-run. 

Anthony Robinson, 19, Richard Boyd, 19, Corntrail McKinley, 20, and Bryanna Dentman-Johnson, 18, were killed early Sunday morning when a driver ran a red light and smashed into the SUV, sending it above a guardrail onto Forest Park Avenue below the Grand overpass. Four others in the car survived the crash and were taken to the hospital. 

At the memorial, family members shared about the victims’ lives, prayed and mourned together. Monuella Murry, whose son was Richard Boyd’s best friend of 10 years said he was like a son to her.

 “We should not be burying our children,”Murray said through tears. 

Cedric E. Dixon, 34, turned himself in to the police Wednesday, March 1. He has multiple driving violations and four revoked licenses. He has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, four counts of assault, eight counts of armed criminal action and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. 

One of the of the victims’ mothers said at the memorial that police treated the victims like suspects and claimed that it took approximately five hours until the coroner took the victims’ bodies away while they searched the vehicle.  

Courtney McKinley, who survived the crash, told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that first responders took too long to remove his brother and the others trapped in the flipped car.

“This intersection is not safe for anyone, not even the SLU kids who walk here. Enough is enough,” Murray said.

The Grand and Forest Parkway intersection in Midtown is one of the top 10 crash locations in St. Louis city. A bill signed by Mayor Tishaura Jones on Wednesday would invest $40 million in street and pedestrian safety through infrastructure projects across the city, where 78 people were killed by traffic violence in 2022.   

Charnell Peters’ boss describes her as an “academic unicorn,” a scholar who stands out as having unique research interests and talented teaching skills. Peters is one of three new assistant professors who joined the Communication Department this fall at Saint Louis University.

She began studying communication as an undergraduate student and said she quickly fell in love with the field. Since then, she has been researching critical interpersonal and family communication, critical science and technology, and Black communication studies.

“It was so surprising to me that I could be in a class studying, reading textbooks, reading articles that are directly related to my everyday experience,” Peters said. Her master’s thesis reflected this relevance. She explored racial and familial identity through original research on the Roberts Settlement, a pre-Civil War African American settlement founded by some of her family members in Indiana.

“I was able to share that research with the Board of Roberts Settlement, with the descendants at a homecoming that year and to stay connected with those folks,” Peters said. “There was a woman writing a play about the settlement, and she was able to use some of my research to formulate that creative endeavor.”

Despite being an integral part of her professional life, academic writing is not the only medium she practices. Peters is also a poet. “I like the playfulness [of poetry]. It’s fun to be able to break rules and to not have that attached to more professional expectations,” Peters said.

She said she remembers watching hours of poetry videos on YouTube before composing her own. Though she had no formal training, through practice, she gained the confidence to write and, eventually, publish.

Un-Becoming is her first published chapbook, a collection of poetry centering around “the reality of blackness in Middle America.”

“I love that collection because this was something that I could come home to. No matter how stressed or uncertain I was about the future, I could work on this,” Peters said. “I remain proud about that.”

After getting her masters from Bowling Green State University, she moved to Utah for her doctorate program at the University of Utah. Her new workplace is closer to Indiana where her family still lives, but Peters said she was excited to join SLU for another reason.

“I resonate with the Jesuit mission’s focus on social justice and focus on doing good in the world. I see my teaching as a way to do that,” Peters said. The department’s search for new faculty members began in fall 2021. With over 100 candidates, applicants were narrowed down to semifinalists, which the search committee then interviewed.

“Charnell just clearly stood out,” Dan Kozlowski, chair of the Department of Communication said. “What makes her super interesting as a researcher and teacher are that her interests span the discipline.”

As part of the hiring process, the finalists guest taught a class. Kozlowski said Peters received positive feedback from students which made hiring her “an easy choice.” Peters is currently teaching a 4000-level course, Stereotyping and Bias in Mass Media.

“[Peters] is very empathetic, and it is reflected in her teaching style, the way she grades, everything,” said senior Haley Gray, a political science major and communication minor enrolled in Peter’s class.

Every time Gray has spoken, she said she noticed that Peters listens attentively and takes time to answer, instead of giving a rushed response. Though just a few months into the class, Gray said she is better able to recognize various perspectives in media and pop-culture moments.

“Media literacy is important because it allows us to be agentic beings,” Peters said. “So from your cultural background, your ethical standpoint, your spiritual beliefs, I want you to be able to accept, reject, negotiate meanings of media and use them to enact the change that you want to see in the world.”

As she settles into her new workplace, she said she hopes to devote time to who she is outside of work.

“I love K-pop,” she said, pointing to a BTS poster on her office door. “I love fanfiction, I love my cats, I love my friends, I love my family, I love taking walks and getting coffee. I’m interested in reinvesting in those relationships, reinvesting in poetry and reinvesting in things that make me happy.”

(This feature was inspired by Student Life,  the independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis.)

From breakfast to start the morning, to a cup of coffee to overcome an afternoon slump, dining service workers are an essential part of college life. There are more than 200 dining employees across various campus locations, and this series aims to highlight some of the important people who keep our campus nourished.  

Robert Sims, Grand Dining Hall

   Working at SLU for nearly five decades, senior cook Robert Sims has witnessed the many changes that the university has gone through over the years. 

    He began his job in September 1975,   first working at Lewis Hall, now the Coronado Hotel on Lindell Ave. He has also worked at Griesedieck Hall, and as of five years ago,  Grand Hall. 

    Sims now lives just a few minutes away from SLU, but he grew up in the South and then moved to East St. Louis, where he met his wife. Soon after, they moved to St. Louis. 

    “I get along with basically anybody,” Sims said. As he was describing his relationship with his co-workers, an employee who was hired just weeks ago passes by and enthusiastically interrupts, saying, “Chef Robert is the best!” 

    “It makes me feel good when I cook food and see the students happy; it makes me feel like I have done something important,” Sims said. “I am hard working, and I want to make students satisfied, so if they ever think of something we could do better, just let us know.”

Tre’Veon Horton, Grand Dining Hall

   One of the youngest workers at Grand Dining Hall, Tre’Veon Horton graduated high school in May 2022. The 19-year-old enjoys playing basketball in his free time and indulging in his interest in fast cars. 

    He is looking to pursue a job in the construction field in the near future and, in the meantime, is working at SLU. Horton also has other hopes that he says he hasn’t given up on yet. He and his close friend plan on starting their own storage company. 

    “This place has a nice vibe, and I get to see different people every day. Everybody here I really like. Students [often] talk to me wanting to know my name, even with my nametag on, because I come off as friendly.”

Chris Floyd, Grand Dining Hall

    Chris Floyd, 40, is a man of many interests. He has been at SLU for 15 years and has worked at various locations including SLU Law, Bush Student Center and the old Panda Express. Now at Grand Dining Hall, he can be seen primarily at the Mongolian Station, where he experiments and creates his own Asian-inspired recipes. His favorite, and most popular, is fried rice. 

    “I take pride in what I do. I really take it seriously. I cook to give a good experience, and I want the students to enjoy the food,” Floyd said. 

    More than a chef, Floyd is also a singer, songwriter and podcaster. He produces music and owns a record label,​ 314 Music Entertainment LLC. SoldierByBlood.com, his production and promotion company, serves as a “platform for upcoming artists, entrepreneurs, and people in general to express their ideas.” It hosts various podcast shows as well as a local radio station.

    “I have been into music for a long time; then I got into podcasts. And soon, it transitioned into a lot more,” Floyd said.

Shaineisha Williams, Einstein Bros. Bagels

    This year will be Shaineisha Williams’ fourth working at Einstein Bros. Bagels. After a long work week, Williams explains how she makes time to take care of herself. Whether it be getting a new pair of sneakers or lighting a scented candle, shopping is her way to unwind. 

    “If you don’t take care of your mental health, you will be all over the place. Keep yourself together as a person because if you don’t, you might fall apart,” Williams said. “You gotta make sure you take care of yourself before taking care of others.”

    Though Williams says she has a quiet presence while working, she also often enjoys talking with students and co-workers.

    “My co-workers are a big help to me; they help me out and make sure I am fine. They are a big part of my life,” Williams said.

Cheron Kincaid, Einstein Bros. Bagels

   She has been working on campus for 34 years, long enough to remember when West Pine was a car-filled street, not the walkway that hundreds of students use to get to class daily. Einstein Bros. Bagels Senior supervisor Cheron Kincaid has seen the “destruction” of some of the surrounding areas.   

    Throughout her years here, she has also seen many students whom she describes as her “children that have come and gone.” She tries to lead with love, treating people how she would hope to be treated.

    “I have seen a lot around campus: the deaths, the suicides, the depression. It’s a real place for young people, and I just feel like with me being a parent, it’s very important to treat all of the students with love and kindness and with that motherly love sometimes. When it’s your first time away from home, some need it.”

    In addition to her motherly love for students, Kincaid is also the grandmother of six grandkids whom she spends much time playing with at swimming pools and taking to parks.

    “As soon as Friday hits, everyone goes to grandma house,” Kincaid said.