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Volume CXXXII, Number 4 |
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Parents welcomed to campus
NUPUR JHAWAR
STAFF WRITER
From attending academic classes to visiting various museum exhibitions, parents will certainly keep busy this Parents Weekend. The Office of Events and Summer Programs will try to give the parents a taste of the College, with faculty hours, student presentations, museum exhibits, campus tours and parents meetings filling up every hour of their schedules as they experience Bowdoin in one weekend.
Parents Weekend, a tradition since the 1960s, gives parents an opportunity to talk with Bowdoin faculty and students and experience life at the College. From Friday through Sunday, a number of classes, student performances, lectures, Sarah and James Bowdoin Day exercises, and other forms of entertainment are available to parents. In addition to all the meetings and receptions, parents can watch Bowdoin sporting events, go on an Outing Club hike or relax in Pickard Theater for student plays.
Sarah Bond, event planner in the Office of Events and Summer Programs, stated, "If [parents] are coming from such a long distance, we want them to enjoy every bit [the weekend]." She went on to explain that she tried to schedule as many events as possible so that parents do not miss out on anything and have enough options to pick and choose what they would like to attend during the weekend. "We want to give them a taste of campus life," she asserted.
Faculty and students of Bowdoin are also organizing activities for students who are not able to see their parents or participate in the weekend. Travis Dube '04, a proctor in Hyde, plans to take affiliate Howell residents, deans and other students to the Monmouth Theater to see a play and have dinner.
Similarly, Betty Trout-Kelly, the Executive to the President for Institutional Diversity and Equity, will run a program for students of color who do not meet up with their parents during Parents Weekend. The African-American House traditionally takes faculty and students of color out to dinner in Portland. Since the number of students in this program has increased, the African-American House will arrange a meal of Caribbean food on campus. She thinks this program works well, because it is "an extension to the whole community."