Families descend upon Homewood

Family Weekend, held Nov. 1 to Nov. 3, was judged a success by its coordinators, who credited rigorous planning and numerous activities for the high attendance.

"From what I hear, people were very pleased with the schedule. We had a lot of things going on for parents coming to visit their kids," said Assistant to the Dean of Student Life Bill Smedick, who directed and coordinated this year's event.

Hopkins Parents Association played a large supporting role, via Mary Ellen Porter, director of the organization. The Office of Student Affairs took charge of event planning, rather than the Office of Student Development, in part of a widespread administrative outreach to parents.

"Given our relationship with the Parents Association," Smedick said, "it just made more sense for us to manage the event this year."

The Association Web site provided links to weekend schedules and a fully furnished visitation guide, among the other services provided for families visiting their undergraduates on campus.

Dean of Student Life Susan Boswell and Dean of Academic Services William Conley wrote the mission statement that welcomed parents to spend the weekend with their undergrads.

"I think it went well," Boswell said. "All the events were well-attended, and we had close to 80 percent of our registered parents sign in early on Friday, which we didn't expect."

Activities that day included Open Classes for parents to attend in the morning, a "Student for a Day" lecture series, guided tours of the Sheridan libraries, as well as open house visits to Student Financial Services, the Mattin Center, the Digital Media Center, the O'Connor Rec Center and the Career Center. Hillel sponsored a Shabbat dinner in the Glass Pavillion at Levering, and Coffee Grounds was up and running at 10 p.m.

According to Smedick, trophy events included the Capitol Step's sold-out performance at Shriver on Friday night, alongside a totally booked crab-cake luncheon decked with potato salad, coleslaw and brownies.

"I tried the Maryland crab-cakes myself," Smedick said. "And I have to say, the people were well-fed."

Mail-outs and online registration made event planning easier. Once parents were on campus, however, they had the opportunity to see a fuller picture of all the activities. Barnstormer's performance of Neil Simon's Rumors got excellent feedback, as well as the student-run performing arts showcase. Likewise Diwali, which wasn't listed on the schedule (although widely advertised), boasted a full turnout, packing audiences almost to the point of discomfort.

"Yeah, we were happy to see that," Smedick said. "The more like sardines the better. Everybody seemed extremely impressed."

Workshops began running at 10 a.m. on Saturday, featuring classes with descriptions like: "Your daughter wanted to be a surgeon since she was five -- but suddenly she's talking about Writing Seminars."

Changing Majors-Midstream gave parents the opportunity to meet with Assistant Dean of Academic Advising John Bader and mull over the straight-and-narrow of career planning. Other lectures offered how-to techniques and general information on finding off-campus housing, financing graduate and professional school, and keeping undergrads involved in student life at Hopkins.

Homewood Museum opened at 11 a.m. and gave guided tours of the historic villa before kick-off on Hopkins field, where families filled the stadium for the game against Dickinson. There was also a decent turnout of Blue Jays supporting the girls soccer team against Franklin and Marshall later that evening, despite the chill.

Planning family outreach programs like Orientation and Parents Weekend are just part of the effort made to keep parents in touch with their child's academic life at Hopkins. The first interaction is usually through the admissions office. The Parents Association works to facilitate parent relations with Student Life and Development for undergraduates at Hopkins, through those Homewood offices respectively.

Asking students whether or not they like the idea of having the administration formally invite their parents to visit gets mixed responses. Many parents chose to attend classes on Friday, otherwise following their students through their daily schedule and to lectures.

"I felt like they were stalking me," said one freshman international relations major.

Nevertheless, most parents were enthused and took advantage of the opportunity to see Hopkins faculty in action.

"We pay the tuition, son," one father said. "Consider this following up on an investment." To which his son responded, "Thanks dad."

Given the success of this year's activities, Student Life is looking ahead to next year.

"Our fall theme worked well I suppose, but in terms of events I think we will see what was the best and just stick with what works," said Smedick.

Evaluation forms are made available on the Web site, and Student Life is waiting to receive a formal response from parents.

"After a program like this we'll usually get together some numbers on attendance and some general comments, just to see what events were popular and what events were not," Boswell said. "Next year's schedule will be based on that evaluation. But I think the weekend went extremely well, and we look forward to next year.