Freshmen welcome their families to campus
After a month of living on their own and establishing routines, freshman students have an opportunity to see parents and family members this weekend on their own turf.
Every year, USU hosts Aggie Parent and Family Weekend. In the past, the event was put on by the office of Retention and Student Success, but after the head of the office retired, responsibilities were split among different university entities. Lisa Hancock, the new student orientation administrator and Maleah Christensen, fair coordinator with Career Services, have been working to plan a successful weekend.
“The purpose is for students to show off their campus to their parents,” Christensen said. “By this point, students are proud of their university and want to share it with their families.”
The A-Team is a group of students who run and facilitate new student orientation (SOAR) and Connections during the summer. Members of the A-Team will work with Hancock and Christensen to make sure the weekend runs smoothly.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for parents to see what they’re kids are doing and what they’re involved in,” said Kaden Harding, an A-Team student coordinator. “Over the summer we see plenty of parents who are really worried about sending their kids to school, so this is a good time for them to see that they really are doing all right.”
The event will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday with an opening reception in the library, Christensen said. It will be a chance for parents to mingle, enjoy refreshments and take tours of the library.
After the open house, families who signed up in advance will have the opportunity to go star gazing at the USU Observatory at the top of the Science Engineering Research building. The observatory holds a 20-inch corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope used by students enrolled in university studies courses, the general public and for scientific research.
“In registration, the star gazing activity was limited in the numbers we could allow up there,” Christensen said. “It filled up really quickly.”
Parents registered for the weekend can purchase discounted tickets to Saturday’s football game against the University of Wyoming, she said. Families have also been given information on other events and activities going on around Logan over the weekend.
The Marketplace, the food court on the second floor of the TSC, is offering discounts for parents attending the weekend’s events, encouraging them to spend as much time as possible on campus and really see what their students go through on a daily basis, Christensen said. The University Inn and other area hotels are also offering discounts.
Parent and Family Weekend is held every October, Christensen said. Now that the school year is in full swing and students have had a chance to get established in Logan, parents can come to campus without feeling too invasive, she added.
“Students are settled in. They have their friends and where they fit in. They can show their family their friends, their study places (and) their hangouts,” said A-Team coordinator Alyssa Craig.
“Honestly, it’s a good way for parents to check on their students in a way that doesn’t feel like they’re being checked on,” Harding said.
It’s easy for freshmen students to feel like they need to go home every weekend to visit their family and high school friends, said A-Team coordinator Kate Gourley.
“This is a good way to avoid that and get the parents up here for a change,” she said.
It is important for parents to find a good balance between freedom and attachment with their children, Harding said. Events like this are good to help find that.
“Parents kind of like to live vicariously through their students, and this is a good way for them to feel involved and like they’re a part of it,” he said.
– megan.allen@aggiemail.usu.edu