91��ɫ Celebrates Family Weekend ’22 With Meals, Events, and a Mental Health Discussion

Family members watch fireworks on the Burke-Pinchin quad

With more than 50 events, nearly 40 academic classes to visit, and picture-perfect weather, Family Weekend 2022 offered a plethora of moments for students to enjoy with their guests.

At least 2,400 family members joined their students October 21–23 for 91��ɫ’s traditional fall weekend of reconnecting and enjoying campus and community.

During the day on Friday, family members had multiple ways to get a taste of their students’ academic experiences, from departmental receptions and open houses to sitting in on academic classes such as Classical Social Theory, Elementary Chinese, Statistics in Real Life, Introduction to Computer Systems, Solar System Astronomy, Basic Music and Songwriting, Homer, State and Local Politics, and more.

The Friday night family barbecue dinner in an enormous tent on Whitnall Field and the food trucks behind the football stadium on Saturday afternoon provided central locations for mealtime mingling.

Throughout the weekend, student groups as well as campus departments and programs organized presentations, receptions and meals, performances, exhibitions, open houses, exercise classes, and participatory workshops.

Friday evening’s a cappella concert had a full house.

With several varsity competitions at home, the Raiders were represented well by women’s hockey, field hockey, women’s soccer, and football.

The weekend was able to run without the public health precautions of last year. That said, in recognition of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on students’ well being, a special event titled “Mental Health Matters” featured a panel of experts discussing the mental health of students, how families can support them, and how students can help each other. The panel featured author and speaker Lynn Toler, JD; “The Truth Doctor” Courtney Tracy, LCSW, PsyD; psychologist and intergenerational trauma expert Mariel Buqué, PhD; Dawn LaFrance, assistant VP of Counseling and Psychological Services; and Dr. Ellen Larson ’94, director of Student Health Services.

Saturday evening, do-it-yourself s’mores kits made gathering around firepits on the academic and residential quads all the sweeter, topped off by a fireworks show on the campus hill.