Kiera Fleming ’22 was the winner of this year’s cookie pie eating contest at the Colgate Inn. She battled seven other students in the challenge, which is organized annually by the Senior Class Giving Committee and raises money for financial aid through donations. Contestants had two minutes; whoever ate the most took home the title — and an overly full belly. “I ate maybe half of it,” Fleming estimates.
She first had cookie pie when she visited Colgate as a high school student and ate dinner at the inn with her mom, Susan (Gegan) ’89 Fleming. Other Colgaters in the family: her brother, Douglas ’24; aunt Claire (Gegan) ’91 Flynn; and uncle Thomas Flynn ’90.
Remembering that initial bite: “I loved it…. Every time I go to the inn, I make sure to get a piece of cookie pie.”
This was not her first pie-eating competition (but it was her first triumph). At age 5, she entered a contest on July 4 and was, by far, the youngest participant. It was banana cream pie (coincidentally, she learned later in life that she’s allergic to bananas). “My mom took a picture of me right after; I’m covered in banana cream pie, and I look miserable.”
Following this year’s competition: “I was on the couch for a couple of hours, holding my stomach. But I felt good in the moments after!”