Sophomore Family Weekend an eagerly awaited event that begins today will give students the opportunity to reintroduce their parents to Dartmouth and share with them a part of their college experience.
The weekend is the second official Dartmouth-sponsored event in which students' parents are invited to campus to take part in pre-planned events. Unlike First-Year Family Weekend, Sophomore Family Weekend gives parents a more intimate feel for Dartmouth life, as only members of the Class of 2013 are on-campus.
"Most people don't go to school in the summer, so you don't really know what's going on with your kid," says Alex Martin '13, a co-chair for the event. "It's a good sense of how the school operates in the summer and what goes on because students -get a lot more involved in the summer."
To plan for the weekend, several student organizations have arranged various activities and events for parents and other family members, Martin said.
Some of Friday's events include wood and ceramics workshops, family photos, trips to Dartmouth's Organic Farm, student-led campus tours, a special collections library tour and a lecture on "26 Things for Parents and Grandparents to do at Dartmouth."
Additional events for students and their families will be held on Saturday, including "pancake paddling" with the Ledyard Canoe Club, an ice-cream social and a speech by College President Jim Yong Kim on "The Dartmouth Experience."
On Sunday, students will finally bid their parents goodbye after a bagel breakfast hosted by the Dartmouth Outing Club.
"Planning basically started last spring ... It was kind of like come in, let's talk about what we need to do, and when we can start meetings," he said. "We're kind of organizing most of the background events that are going on during the weekend."
Class Council will coordinate activities for the weekend, funding and staffing student activities. In addition, Class Council will provide volunteers in order to facilitate the procession of the days' events.
"We've spent a lot of time and energy scheduling a lot of manpower work," he says. "It's looking like it's going to turn out pretty well."
Martin said he anticipates over 600 family members to arrive in Hanover this weekend, adding that he and the other planners have made an effort to avoid crowding by preparing a wide variety of activities.
"There's a lot of separate events that go on at the same time to attract many interests," he said. "We already have 350 families signed up. It's just a range because they may or may not come, but it's increasing."
Heather Roland '12 said she remembers her family weekend from last year and shares Martin's excitememt for this year's events.
"I thought family weekend was great last summer," Roland said. "It was nice for my family to be able to come up and see Dartmouth in nice weather when campus wasn't as crowded."
Staff writer Jay Webster contributed reporting on this article.
