On Sept. 12, the University of Tennessee Creamery hosted a Community Grand Celebration with an official ribbon cutting, free ice cream samples, a UT dairy calf, face painting and more activities for the public to enjoy.

While the creamery officially opened about a month earlier on Aug. 14, the Grand Celebration brought the community together in a special event that saw guests like UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman, UT Institute of Agriculture Chancellor Keith Carver and Cowgirl Creamery co-founders and UT alumnae Peg Smith and Sue Conley — whose support allowed the creamery to return to UT campus after its original closure in 1985.

Current students might not know that the UT Creamery first opened over 100 years ago in 1915. But even though a century has passed, the creamery’s history hasn’t been forgotten. Rather, it remains a crucial aspect of the creamery’s commitment to storytelling and nostalgia. Photos taken when the original creamery was open decorate the walls, with neon signs and black and white tile floors giving the otherwise modern space an intentionally retro feel.

At the forefront of the creamery’s storytelling is UT students themselves, as the creamery is entirely run by students under faculty supervision.

Rocky Top Institute of Retail students manage the business side of the creamery, while Herbert College of Agriculture students — among others — make the ice cream. Moreover, students from any major can join the UT Creamery in a serving role behind the counter.

Kate Zimmerman, a senior psychology major, works around 15 hours a week as a server at the creamery. Despite being a psychology major, Zimmerman said it’s been interesting to learn about business and marketing through her position. Although, there’s one part of her role that she enjoys more than anything.

“The connection is the best part of the job,” Zimmerman said. “Whether it’s meeting people I would’ve never met — behind the counter or customers — it’s just cool to talk to people who love UT so much.”

Zimmerman described her job responsibilities as half scooping ice cream and half serving as a storyteller for customers — whether that be through teaching customers about the creamery’s history, describing different ice cream flavors or telling them about herself.

Senior nursing major Krina Patel also works as a server at the creamery. Like Zimmerman, she enjoys the connection aspect of the role and being able to take the time to have five to 10 minute conversations with customers during slower business moments.

Zimmerman and Patel agreed that while the creamery sees its fair share of students, faculty and Knoxville citizens at large, a large portion of the customers that visit are alumni.

“We get a lot of people who used to go to the creamery in the ‘50s, and they want to come try it now,” Patel said.

Patel added that a lot of customers inquire about flavors that the old creamery used to have, and while the creamery only offers five flavors currently — VOLnilla, Torchbearer’s Chocolate, Smokey’s Strawberry Kisses, Mint Champion Chip and Go Big Orange — more are in the works.

Nathan Miller, faculty manager of students involved with ice cream production, said four more flavors are almost complete, as well as a potential seasonal flavor for the fall.

Miller spoke on the value of having a student-led experiential learning aspect to the creamery that isn’t limited by majors. In fact, many of the responsibilities involved with ice cream production may interest business students, Miller said.

“You’re looking at supply chain issues, inventory, production, and those are all things that the students get to learn,” Miller said. “That’s why we don’t just recruit food science students.”

For instance, Grace Powell is a junior agricultural science major that works in ice cream production. Powell used to work at a creamery in Watertown while she was in high school, so she’s enjoyed being able to develop her skills further with the UT Creamery.

Powell provided insight on what a day in the life of a student involved with the food production sector of the creamery looks like.

“Sometimes cleaning takes longer than actually making the ice cream,” Powell said. “We come in and clean, completely disinfect and sanitize, then go straight into making ice cream.”

Hannah Lansbury is a senior food science major who took a lighter course load this semester, so she decided to pursue part-time work at the creamery. After graduation, Lansbury wants to pursue a career in quality assurance.

“Getting to see a lot of the sanitation aspects is really interesting and will be of use in my future career,” Lansbury said. “My favorite part might be making the ice cream, but the most interesting part and the part that’s going to help me the most are the sanitation protocols and stuff related to that.”

Even for non-food science majors, working with the UT Creamery can lead to brighter careers for student workers.

“The other day I was talking to someone about being a nursing major, and they told me that they had just graduated from nursing school,” Patel said. “ I literally got a shadowing opportunity by working at the creamery.”

The creamery is devoted to providing an experiential learning experience for UT students no matter what their background is, and in doing so, it fosters community for students, faculty, alumni and Knoxville residents at large.

The UT Creamery is open on weekdays and Saturdays from 12-7 p.m., making it a great place to stop in between classes or before football games this fall. Learn more about the creamery, and stay up to date on new developments by visiting their website.

This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Kate Zimmerman’s name.