Dining Services has had to get used to cleaning off more than just food from trays during the winter seasons. They’ve had to clean off snow, too.

During the winter, trays often go missing and are then returned after being used by students to sled down hills. But why not just buy a sled instead of taking something students eat off of?

“Trays make great sleds because of how slick they are,” said Ryan Sowers, a senior. “You can slide super easy on them and also I think it is just the uniqueness of sledding on a tray in general.”

Sowers’ first experience sledding with a tray was his freshman year three years ago. He took a tray from the Sundial dining hall by stuffing it in his “big winter coat,” where he used it to sled with friends at the golf course.

“There was a huge snow storm so it was perfect, and I brought the tray back after I used it,” he said. “It was more like borrowing.”

Sowers said he wasn’t afraid of getting caught taking a tray though because all he would have to do is return it.

“It was just for fun,” he said. “I knew I would return it as soon as I was done [using it].”

Morgan Campbell, a senior who used to work for the Oaks and Kreischer dining halls, said she thinks it is funny.

“Taking the trays [never] affected me, but I could see management getting upset for losing money [from it],” Campbell said.

She said students shouldn’t take them because that is not the purpose of a dining hall tray.

Michael Paulus, director of Dining Services, declined to comment on the issue.

Sowers said a lot of people don’t do it now because they may be afraid of the consequences that follow.

“I also don’t think many people do it because they don’t know about tray sledding and you have to think about how you will take the tray,” he said.

While Campbell worked at The Oaks, she never noticed because trays are not available there.

“Probably a good thing we didn’t have them,” she said.

However, she said she did always hear about people taking them their freshman year to sled with.

Freshman Greston Landess said he sled once a few weeks ago with some friends and used a tray from the Sundial.

“It was obviously really fun,” he said. “I was told to do that from some people so I can now mark that off of my list of things to do while in college.”

Now that Sowers lives off campus, he doesn’t tray-sled with his friends anymore. He said he would just go buy a sled now.

“I also fell off [the tray] a ton,” he said. “But I didn’t care because I had a blast doing it. It was worth it.”