Today marks the official start of family weekend at Canisius College. With the middle of the semester quickly approaching, resident students have been away from home for over a month now. The Office of Student Engagement and Leadership Development decided to revive family weekend in order to give students an opportunity to show their families around campus and give them a small taste of what they are doing at school.
Director of Student Engagement Jason Francey says that when he first began at Canisius, one of his main priorities was bringing family weekend back and making it even better than before. Canisius has not hosted a family weekend since 2013.
Francey believes it is important to invite families to campus, especially for first-year students. He said, “A lot of them are away from home for the first time, and if they're not going to be seeing their parents until Thanksgiving, it helps to alleviate some of that homesickness if we are able to bring their parents to campus for a little bit.”
To kick off the weekend, Canisius is hosting a reception with President Stoute in order to give families and students a chance to meet the new president and mingle amongst each other as well. This event did require pre-registration.
There are plenty of events planned for the weekend, many aimed at giving families a small taste of what being a student at Canisius is like. “I wanted parents to be able to experience some of the stuff that their students were learning in the classroom,” Francey explained. “So we worked with some of our faculty partners to put on different lectures that are going to take place Saturday morning.”
Along with academic sessions, parents and family members are also invited to the men’s soccer game on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Also on Saturday afternoon, families are invited to “mega Fall Fest.” Francey said, “Fall Fest will be bigger than it's ever been before. We have a full carnival with prizes. So we have a bunch of carnival games coming — different inflatables [...], four food trucks and real axe-throwing, so it's gonna be lit.”
Saturday night, comedian and magician John Cassidy will visit campus to perform in the Montante Cultural Center at 8 p.m. “He is high energy from the moment he steps on the stage to the moment he leaves. You'll be laughing and having fun with him,” Francey said.
To round out the weekend, there will be a brunch in the dining hall on Sunday morning followed by a family mass in Christ the King Chapel at noon.
For the full schedule, visit canisius.edu/student-experience/student-life-housing/family-weekend.
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