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First-year Family Day was held Saturday, September 16th. The event was geared towards new students and their families, many of whom feel overwhelmed and confused as to where they should go for information or to join clubs and organizations. Parents often want to know what their children are getting involved in, what life in Orono is like and what is being offered by the school for activities and classes. First-year Family Day brings new students and their families together on campus for a series of events centered around available activities on campus.
Until this year, the event held in the fall was called Family and Friends Weekend, which was for students of every year. When asked why the event was changed to focus on first-years, Dean of Students Robert Dana said, “We want to have a continued orientation, so this is part of that, just to keep getting [the first-years] on their feet and getting their families feeling comfortable.”
Dean Dana added that Family and Friends weekend been delayed until February, not canceled.
“We want to be able to focus on these first-year students and their families, so bringing them early as opposed to the entire campus allows us to do that,” he said.
Dean Dana explained that it is important for first-year students to get involved during the first few weeks, and having a parent present can be helpful in getting more settled in. Parents can help students find things they are interested in participating in more easily.
The change in events will not produce a substantial change in cost.
“The cost, I think, is returned just in the good feelings that the parents and students are having,” Dean Dana said, “so I’m not concerned about it. We already have a very robust Winter Carnival week going and so the additional costs would be very minimal.”
There were a variety of different activities for families to attend as well. Events of the day included a brunch with the deans, information sessions about different clubs and organizations, canoeing on the Stillwater River, climbing sessions on the climbing wall in the Maine Bound Adventure Center, and an “ugliest couch” contest. A silent auction was also held, which included iTunes gift cards, gift certificates to restaurants and hotels, canoe equipment, homemade knitted goods, and an afghan made by a 90-year-old blind woman.
Plenty of families were there to enjoy these activities. According to Joe Mollo, director of the Campus Activities Board, “Turnout was higher than what we expected. We were only expecting about 100 families to show up.” Over 260 families had already registered that day.
“We discovered that maybe the conference room style wasn’t what they were looking for or needed, so we’re going to do an evaluation,” he said. “We’ll contact them via e-mail and ask them, ‘How can we improve and what did you like?”
Program coordinator Barbara Smith said of the event, “Parents want to see what their kids have been doing for two weeks, see who they have met, and take them out to dinner. Today is very targeted towards family.”
Bangor Daily News