Ice cream, smiles and Scotty highlight 2025 Community Picnic

About 2,000 university staff members devoured ice-cream sandwiches, frolicked with therapy dogs and snapped selfies with Carnegie Mellon's beloved Scotty mascot on May 14 at the 2025 Community Picnic. 

“It was an incredible experience,” said Kelli Shuman, who attended her first Community Picnic since becoming Carnegie Mellon’s associate vice president and chief human resource officer in June 2024. “The energy, smiles and sense of connection were truly inspiring. It was a powerful reminder of how special our CMU community is when we come together in person.”

The longtime annual event was hosted by the Office of Human Resources in conjunction with Staff Council and the Office of the President. 

Chartwells Carved and Crafted Catering Services offered a mouth-watering menu of hot dogs, pulled chicken and vegan food. The highlight, as usual, was the ice cream.

“The ice-cream sandwiches might be the secret ingredient of the picnic,” said HR training manager and picnic organizer Adam Marks. “I’ve seen people leave with armfuls of them.”

Long one of the picnic’s most popular draws, the community art exhibit drew 30 entries. Thanks to generous donations from many colleges and divisions across campus, a record 24 raffle baskets were given away. The prizes included Pirates tickets and lots of CMU swag. In Legacy Plaza, there were outdoor games, music and a visit by three friendly canines from Animal Friends’ Therapet program.

Thanks to our community partners: PNC, CMU’s employee resource groups and the CMU Pantry. Also, the CMU Pipes and Drums deserve a loud and stirring shoutout for their performance during the picnic.

“This event was a terrific celebration of community and I’m already looking forward to the next one,” Shuman said.