Thousands of Ƶ families participated in a series of events over the fall semester as part of a reimagined Family Weekend experience for 2020.
Although this year’s new take on Family Weekend certainly looked different from years past, the experience successfully continued the tradition of providing Ƶ parents with opportunities to reconnect with their students and the campus community.
With new Ready & Resilient health requirements in place, parents and families of current students were able to participate in a reimagined Family Fall experience this semester. The line-up included a rich set of virtual options for learning more about campus and reconnecting with the Ƶ community, with innovative new offerings featured alongside the traditional signature Family Weekend events. Visit this page to see a collection of archived Family Fall video events.
The festivities kicked off on Sept. 29 with a College Coffee Catch-up and concluded on Nov. 11 by partnering with Ƶ Hillel for with “Behind the Scenes in the Writer’s Room” featuring Leonard Dick P’20, an Emmy Award-winning TV writer for shows including Lost, House, and The Good Wife. Over the course of seven weeks, thousands of attendees participated in more than 40 events total, including a university update from President Connie Ledoux Book, a “Coffee with the Deans” series, cultural performances and concerts, a discussion about the history of Ƶ, an athletics-themed Phoenix Flavors cooking show with Ƶ Dining, and more.
“I have really enjoyed everything I participated in,” says Kris Jones P’22. “Although we would all rather be on Ƶ’s lovely campus visiting our kids, this is a pretty stellar substitute.”
Sarah Dalrymple P’22 attended the Coffee with the Dean event with Rochelle Ford, Dean of the School of Communications. “It was a great way to learn more about the university and the variety of opportunities for students,” said Dalrymple. “My daughter is a junior strategic communications major, and I had not yet met Dr. Ford. She gave a great presentation about the School of Communications.”
Families were also able to show their Ƶ pride throughout the fall with a Family Fun Pack, which contained a garden flag, window clings, and postcards. Fun packs are still available for purchase at this link.
Information about the dates and format of Family Weekend 2021 will be released at a later date.