Students bring Potato Club to campus

The Winona State Potato Club is an organization dedicated to the celebration of the potato in its many forms. The creation of the club originally began as a joke, but then there was genuine interest in the idea of the club. Their next meeting is Sunday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. in Minné 103.

Matthew Drewry
November 3, 2021

Winona State debuted a new club this year and it’s simply spudtacular.

Winona State Potato Club is an organization dedicated to the celebration of the potato in its many forms.

Htoo Poe is a second-term nursing major and president of Potato Club. She said a joke among housing coworkers was the root of Potato Club

“It just started out on a very tiring day during training in the summer. And I just said to one of my co-workers; ‘Yeah, I feel like a potato right now, you know, a little burnt on the outside but like a little bit mushy on the inside,’” Poe said “and that’s where it started. And then it started out as a joke where we just joked around saying hey, yeah, you should start a potato club.”

The Housing Director, Paula Scheevel, serves as the advisor for the club, with the club’s executive board consisting of several residence hall staff.

Fellow housing staff Quinn Budde is a second-year special education major and Conway resident assistant, serving as the public relations secretary of the club.

Budde shared her vision for the semester.

“I’m looking forward to Potato Club just being an insanely stress-free club for people to just kind of join and eat some food, meet some people that are just kind of down to be themselves a little bit and eat some potatoes,” Budde said.

The most recent meeting featured potato “Jeopardy!” and cheesy potatoes.

The team “Scott’s Totts” clinched the victory, narrowly edging out team “Potato-O-Lay” and “The Spunky Spuds.”

At previous meetings, members made potato crafts, played potato games and feasted on potato chips and dip.

The next Potato Club meeting is Sunday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. in Minne 103 and will feature a baked potato bar.

Poe encouraged any students interested to join the group

“Anyone’s welcome to join Potato Club. It’s just fun people who are down to have some fun.”

Budde discussed what makes Potato Club a unique organization on campus.

“I think that what’s really fun about Potato Club is that it’s not a club where people are like ‘I’m doing this for networking or like to get a job or something’ it’s just like generally a club where people are just like I just want to have fun with people.”

Poe echoed this sentiment.

“I think that college can sometimes be stressful and competitive and chaotic.
But like Potato Club, it’s
just a fun, relaxing, let’s eat something, let’s do something type of deal,” Poe said.

Poe also shared her admiration of University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Lettuce Club and her admonition for her club to receive a shadow box.

“U of M has the cabbage thing and that’s like their ‘unique thing.’ So why don’t we have potato our school fun meme club,” Poe said. “Potato club definitely deserves their shadow box. Are you kidding me? It’s going to bring out conversation. It’s gotta be fun. It’s going to be spudtastic.”

Poe also shared her favorite way to consume potatoes.

“Mashed potato with turkey gravy, because that’s all that they served in elementary school. So it brings back good memories,” Poe said.

Budde also shared her own favorite form of potato; french fries.

“I also really like Cheese fries…I also enjoy whenever I do a fast-food run, dipping it in a shake,” Budde said.