Parents, Relatives to Arrive on Campus
Parents, siblings and family members from all over the country and the world will convene on campus for Exeter’s annual Family Weekend this weekend. By a recent count, more than 630 families have registered to come to campus, which will make the total visitor count close to the average, around 1500.
Students, who have no class on Monday, have the option to go out of town or home with their families, or may elect to stay on campus. For the administration, Family Weekend is a feat to plan. “Of course, parking can be tough, lines in the dining hall can be longer, [and] the number of out-of-towns needing to be processed is large,” Arthur Cosgrove, Dean of Residential Life, said.
Dean of Students Melissa Mischke agreed. “My whole staff will work the half day on Saturday, where we normally have one person.” She explained that by bringing more than 1000 extra people on campus, or essentially doubling the student body for a weekend, presents many logistical issues.
To keep the weekend as organized as possible, the Office of Institutional Advancement sent emails to all families, asking them to register before coming to campus. With this information, nametags are then made, maps printed, and each office of both the faculty and staff does their best to prepare.
For students, however, Family Weekend provides a respite after the first half of fall term. “It’s a bit of a mini break early on in the year if you’re missing your family,” prep Anna Clark said. Clark described the timing of family weekend as strategic. “You’re about a month in and you have a feel for what the school is, but you also are starting to lose at least some of the initial excitement about the beginning of school,” she said.
Senior Jad Seligman agreed, and explained that while families may keep in touch, it can be hard to grasp the day-to-day life of an Exonian in a literal sense. “Family Weekend is really valuable,” Seligman said, “because it lets parents really understand what’s going on in their kids’ lives. It’s hard to understand what really happens here until you’re on campus and you can experience it.”
Lower Eliza Khokhar agreed with Seligman. “Classes with parents can be distracting sometimes,” she said, “but it’s important for them to see what we’re doing in class instead of being clueless.”
However, many students expressed concern and frustration that the PSATs are scheduled during class times on Saturday. “Saturday classes and family weekend and PSATs are too many things to be organized on the same weekend,” upper Will Ettinger said.
Khokhar, who is also taking the PSATs, felt similarly. “[The scheduling of the PSAT and Family Weekend is] a little rough,” Khokhar said. “I feel like my parents would like to see all my classes, and they can’t because I’m taking the PSAT. They’re making a trip to come here, and I won’t be able to see them for a part of it, which is a little frustrating.”
Mischke said that the timing of Family Weekend and the PSATs has created some problems, but wasn’t a possibility to schedule around. “About half of our students won’t be in class on Saturday,” she said, “so I’d guess a lot of classes will be cancelled.”
Each year, Mischke said that there is a decision whether or not to hold classes on the Saturday of Family Weekend, and a choice either way presents unique challenges. “When we don’t have them, parents are upset they don’t see enough classes, and then when we do, parents are upset that some get cancelled or they complain that there’s too much to do,” she said.
Along with some logistical and planning issues, Family Weekend can be difficult for students whose parents can’t be on campus. “At some point, [it] can be a little exclusive for students who live very far away and whose parents can’t come, but I think that’s a relatively small issue,” Seligman said.
Clark, whose parents do not plan to attend Family Weekend, said that while she has made plans, “if I had to stay in the dorm the whole weekend, and a lot of people would be going home or out of town, it’d be pretty sad.”
Despite potential problems with logistics, planning, and inclusivity, family weekend is an important and appreciated time for the majority of students. Khokhar said that for her, it represents a time to reconnect with her family and show them her life at school. “It’s definitely important that we have it,” she said.
Seligman added that a vital aspect of a good relationship between family and student is allowing families a connection to the Exeter community their children spend their year as a part of. “[Family Weekend] allows parents to make a connection to the community that their children are such a large part of.”