Knoxville became a playground for students and their parents this past weekend at the 2012 Winter Family Weekend.
The three-day event kicked off Friday with a check-in at the Student Services Building. About 600 students participated in 10 events around Knoxville, including a dinner at the Neyland Stadium West Club on Saturday and a Family Weekend Lunch on Sunday.
Patrick Ladd, assistant director of Parents Association, said the events gave parents an opportunity to see campus life.
“At different times of the year, family weekend gives parents the opportunity to visit campus, visit with their student and kind of get an idea of what types of things are happening on campus,” Ladd said.
Ladd also said Family Weekend is nostalgic for former UT students.
“A lot of the folks who come back for family weekend are alumni, and they are always happy and surprised to see the places where they used to have class and used to walk around when they were here,” Ladd said. “It’s just a real good opportunity for folks to stay connected with their students and what’s happening on campus.”
Provost Susan Martin spoke to students and parents during dinner on Saturday about some new enterprises.
“She informed parents about ‘volvision’ and the ‘quest to be a top 25 institution,’” Emily Parker, director of Parents Association, said.
“It kind of gave an update because ultimately the parents the stakeholders,” she said. “They’re helping our students financially and supporting them to be here, so hearing from top-level administrators like the provost and meeting with them at dinner is very helpful for them to find out what’s going on at the university.”
Parker said the majority of visitors attended the Vols and Lady Vols basketball games Saturday and Sunday. Parents and students bonded over UT’s victories against Georgia and Auburn.
“It really gave parents an opportunity to go to a ball game with their student,” Parker said. “A lot of the students chose to sit with their parents, or their parents asked them to sit with them. Maybe the students didn’t ‘choose,’ but they sat with them.”
Latasia Woods, coordinator of Parents Association, said the organization attempts to change the events so the parents don’t come back the next year and do the same thing.
“The previous years we’ve had dinner at Calhoun’s (and) lunch at the UC,” Woods said. “We try to do different things and different menus.”
Woods said some families have attended every Family Weekend, so it’s important to change the schedule each year to avoid disinterest.
The Parents Association is already planning the next Family Weekend for September 2012 and expects about 700 people to attend.
