Geneseo played host to over 900 parents and 200 guests for the 2012 Parents Weekend from Friday Oct. 19 to Saturday Oct. 20. “We had a wonderful weekend of parent and student participation,” said Director of Parent Relations Tammy Ingram in an email.
According to the Geneseo website, families had the opportunity on Friday evening to attend Kaleidoscope, a concert presented by various groups in the department of music and the department of theatre and dance. Families also had the opportunity to see Cothurnus’ production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” which ran throughout the weekend.
Many families attended Parents College on Oct. 20 and were given a choice of eight 45-minute classes taught by faculty in various departments. Several class options included “Cancer from a Biologist’s Perspective” taught by Distinguished Teaching Professor of Biology Robert O’Donnell and “‘You Said What’: Exploring Language as Symbolic Action” taught by associate professor of communication Meredith Harrigan.
President Christopher Dahl welcomed families on Oct. 20 and discussed the “power of transformational learning and the privately funded opportunities Geneseo students have for life-changing learning.”
Families also had the opportunity to attend a variety of athletic events, such as women’s soccer versus SUNY Potsdam and ice hockey versus Nazareth College on Oct. 20. According to Ingram, the most attended event was the Study Abroad Fair presented by adjunct lecturer in English Wes Kennison.
“[Kennison] did a great job at presenting the various options for study abroad at Geneseo and how feasible study abroad can be,” said freshman Noah Sider. “I always knew I wanted to study abroad in college, but the presentation showed me how many options I have.”
Director of College Union and Activities Chip Matthews presented a Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development workshop titled “FISH!” based on the book by Stephen C. Lundin, which discussed human relations.
“It was a very self-reflective workshop,” said Matthews. “It’s one of those things where parents and students … can have conversations together about its uses in their family.”
Three Geneseo alumni presented a panel titled “What I know now, that I wish I knew then…”, where they discussed how they optimized their time at Geneseo.
“[The panelists] really stressed the GOLD program … which I had heard about before … but they made me realize it’s something I should do,” said freshman Layna Gray.
On Saturday evening, families had the opportunity to share a meal at the Fall Harvest Dinner, where guests were served turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes.
“I found that sitting with other Geneseo families at the dinner was much better than going out to dinner with just my family at a restaurant,” said freshman Heather Asselmeyer.
To conclude Parents Weekend events, Limelight & Accents hosted the comedy troupe The Second City presented its show in Kuhl Gymnasium at a highly attended event.