October 2026 Roundup

October’s always a busy season at Pres House Apartments. Not just with the nonstop campus energy that surrounds us in the heart of Madison, and the excitement of the World Series (Go Brewers!) — October is a month where our community connects over autumn activities, dinners, and our Micro-Communities begin hosting a hide range of events. Everything is finally in full swing!

Every other Friday, we host Bagels & Coffee at 10-11am in our Main Lounge. Coffee is provided by Just Coffee Cooperative, Bagels provided by Einstein Bros. It’s become a regular breakfast stop for our community to start the Friday right, and see familiar faces.

Our Micro-Communities program (one of our 7 scholarship programs that gives roommates the freedom to pursue a topic together and host events for the building in exchange for rent credit) hosted a Halloween Slime Decorating Night. Lots of snacks and de-stressing.

Our PH Apts Scholars (another one of our scholarship programs) has their annual outing to Schuster’s Farm, with spooky night time corn mazes, a bonfire, and delicious orchard favorites to snack on!

PH Cafe is hosted weekly on Tuesdays, 2:30-4:30 in the Main Lounge, and is a space to slow down, check-in, and treat yourself to snacks, coffee, and baked goods made lovingly by fellow residents! We’ve also had special topics each week — ranging from Finances 101 (special thanks to Associated Bank for hosting a drop-in advising table at our PH Cafe!) and DIY Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

The Nutrition Access Program provides reliable free meal pickup on site, Mondays and Thursdays, for any resident or UW student who wants packaged meals to sustain their week! Grateful to our residents who volunteer to help distribute these meals during our open

hours.

Our October highlight at PH Apartments was definitely “Pumpkins, Pies, & Hocus Pocus” organized by Pres House’s Candid Wellness Initiative. Our community came down to a true choose-your-own-adventure. Pumpkins were carved and painted. Stacks of pumpkin pies were consumed. Our popcorn machine ensured that snacks were plenty for our screening of Hocus Pocus. Chef Mary taught folks in the kitchen how to make cranberry tarts. Thanks everyone for coming out!