By Paul Patras, Newswire Intern
Last weekend, families returned to campus for Xavier’s annual Family Weekend celebration. While some parents drove only a few short hours, others drove across state lines and some parents even took planes to reach Cincinnati.
Xavier’s Office of Student Involvement provided buses to transport people to and from BLINK so families could avoid the parking hassle.
For many Xavier students, Family Weekend was a nice change of pace, coming at the halfway point of the semester right in between midterms and finals. For some, it was a time to reconnect with loved ones, especially for those who hadn’t left campus or been home since August. For others, it was a nice breath of fresh air to leave Xavier and grab dinner off campus, head downtown and spend time with their family.
Xavier offered events all weekend such as bingo, a chili cook off, Xavier Theatre’s performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and the Xavier Singers concert, just to name a few.
Xavier Singers’ Saturday fall concert was one of several student group performances that took place over Family Weekend. Over the course of the past few months the singers, band members and dancers have been practicing a plethora of songs to perform. This culmination of their hard work came to fruition Saturday morning as they performed for all to see in the bottom floor of Gallagher Student Center (GSC).
During Family Weekend, parents were able to meet fellow parents, meet their children’s friends and visit the various locations around campus where their students work and have class. Students studying on campus Saturday or Sunday morning may have seen fellow students giving parents and younger siblings impromptu tours of the various buildings they frequent during a typical school week.
The final event on the Family Weekend itinerary was mass in Bellarmine Chapel.
“The week leading up to Family Weekend, I was so excited to see my parents after not seeing them for three months. It was great showing my family how my dorm room had changed after settling in, and they were surprisingly shocked by how clean it was,” first-year Parker Salestrom said.
“I became a tour guide for them, and everyone’s favorite part of the tour was me showing them Albers Hall where I passed out after the first biology lab dissection. I had such a great time simply hanging out with them and catching up with one another about what they’ve been up to back home,” Salestrom said.
Xavier also provided bus shuttles downtown for families who were interested in witnessing BLINK, a biannual light festival across downtown Cincinnati that featured light shows, murals and food. BLINK was an event that lasted all weekend and proved to be a unique experience to get off campus and see Cincinnati in a new light.