Aggie families spend weekend on campus
Aggies and their families gathered last weekend to participate in USU’s first annual Parent and Family Weekend, sponsored by the new Office of Retention and First-Year Experience.
“This program is based on a lot of experience, mainly, that parents want to be involved,” said Aaron Andersen, associate director of Retention and First-Year Experience, who headed this year’s Parent and Family Weekend.
“One of the things that we really saw a real need for was a comprehensive set of resources for parents. In this generation, parents want to be involved, and students want their parents involved,” he said. “We are aggressively saying, “Parents come, we have things to teach you.'”
Andersen said this would help students and parents enjoy campus, something critical to their future success.
“One thing that we thought would be really beneficial, which a lot of campuses do as a tradition, is some kind of parent and family weekend,” Andersen said. “It has two purposes: one, it’s a lot of fun we want parents and students to enjoy their time together. Two, there are some pedagogical purpose behind it, which are that we know that the first few weeks of a students’ college career are really critical in so many ways. Students in a lot of ways set the tone for their entire college experience during this time. They are making decisions about what kind of student they are going to be, what they are going to study and how they are going to feel about the school.”
“If students know that mom and dad are coming up to spend a weekend somewhat in the near future, they are more likely to become a little more involved in learning the campus,” Andersen said. “So when mom and dad come up with brothers and sisters, they can say, ‘Well this is my home now, and I’m ready to show it off.'”
Rochelle Enderton, mother of USU student Melanie Enderton, was one of several parents who came to the event.
“I think this program is fantastic,” Rochelle Enderton said. “I think it’s very useful. I hope it’s permanent.”
Parent and Family Weekend lasted from Friday to Sunday and included 20 various activities, such as the Richmond Haunted Mansion, a brunch and a walking tour of historic downtown Logan.
“What we have tried to do is make it very variable,” Andersen said. “We have said, ‘Here are a whole bunch of things going on this weekend. Pick and choose which you would like.’ We have left it up to the parents and families to decide together with their students what they want to do.”
The Parent and Family Weekend Brunch was the opportunity to “get everyone together at least once and give everyone a welcome,” Andersen said.
More than 300 people came to Saturday’s brunch.
“We are pleased as punch,” Andersen said.
“We would love to get to the point, and I mean this quite literally, where we are talking about thousands of people,” he said. “We would love for every student to be welcoming their parents. We are thrilled with the turnout, that the response has been what it has been.
“The programs that we have established for this office are going to stay. This trend of parental involvement is not going anywhere, and we think that’s great. We would love to show parents how they can be a good resource for their college student. There are things that they can really be helpful with. We are committed to these programs.”
The Office of Retention and First-Year Experience is located in Room 314 in the Taggart Student Center, and is a resource available for all students in connecting to USU, Anderson said.
Three children clap along with the Spirit Squad as they perform for students and their families during Aggie Family Day on the Quad. (Cameron Peterson)