Family Weekend is all about timing. Usually scheduled for the end of September, it sits snugly between the start of school and fall break.
“This was the best time academically to schedule Family Weekend,” said Jodean Schmiederer, assistant dean of students. “The events we plan also provide parents with chances they wouldn’t usually have if they came on any other weekend.”
Despite the foul weather, Family Weekend at Elon went off without a hitch.
“The only weather-related adjustment required was the location of the picnic lunch on Saturday,” Schmiederer said. “At 7 a.m., we made the call to move the picnic into Alumni Gym instead of leaving it outside and they very quickly transformed the gym for us.”
The family picnic was one of many events planned last weekend by a multitude of resources for visiting families. Other events included the Collage concert, breakfast at President Lambert’s house, a meet-and-greet session with professors on campus and mini-classes for parents of students.
The mini-classes were taught by distinguished faculty and staff members and recipients of the Daniels-Danieley Excellence in Teaching Award. Subjects discussed during the classes included this year’s common reading selection, sales, leadership, memory and more.
Planning events for Family Weekend is a combined effort.
“The events are planned through a campus-wide effort including student life, the provost’s office, parent programs, or athletics and the coordination of efforts is managed through my office,” Schmiederer said.
According to Schmiederer, parents of freshmen and seniors attend Family Weekend most frequently. The former are usually visiting for the first time, while the latter are usually visiting for the last.
But Family Weekend doesn’t stop when the parents leave. Planning for next year begins almost immediately.
“We are always looking for ways we can make families’ experiences even better,” Schmiederer said. “We formally ask for feedback from them. A survey link was printed in the schedule and an email reminder will be sent to them later this week. We routinely use this information to make improvements for next year.”