Tech’s annual Family Weekend offers Institute tours, tailgate party

Robert Nesmith
Communications & Marketing

Students will be nearly two months into the fall semester as Tech opens its doors to welcome parents of students as part of Family Weekend, an annual event that has become a substantial campus tradition.

Family Weekend 2009, Sept. 25 and 26, offers parents and family members of Georgia Tech students the opportunity to experience what makes Georgia Tech such an exciting place to be. Family members can attend seminars, tour Tech’s colleges and schools and star gaze from the Georgia Tech Observatory. Social events include breakfast with Dean of Students John Stein, an evening trip to Six Flags Over Georgia and a concert at the Ferst Center for the Arts, all culminating in a tailgate party before Saturday’s football game.

Friday’s events will run for most of the day. Morning and early afternoon seminars take place at the Global Learning and Conference Center (GLCC), while tours of and presentations from the colleges and various schools will be in the afternoon. President Bud Peterson will deliver his State of the Institute address from 12:50 to 1:30 p.m. in the GLCC.

Also early Friday afternoon, New York Times reporter and author Warren St. John will speak about his book, “Outcasts United,” which depicts the story of a soccer team in Clarkston that is comprised of refugee children. The event has garnered more than 200 RSVPs from parents planning to attend.

Kimberly Sterritt, director of the Parents Program, encourages faculty and staff members to get involved during the weekend and interact with parents as much as possible. “Academics and the overall learning environment are top of mind for these parents,” she said. “Family Weekend, in particular the academic receptions, provides a fantastic venue to take part. It will be a fun weekend!”

On Saturday, the weekend culminates with a tailgate party, complete with a barbecue, prior to the Yellow Jackets game against the University of North Carolina. So far, attendees have bought more than 1,800 tickets to the game. As of Sept. 2, more than 2,100 parents—568 families—had registered. Communications Officer Rachael Pocklington said this places the event on track to meet or exceed the number of participants who attended last year.

For Director Kimberly Sterritt and Pocklington, this is the first year they are flying “solo” for this event. Last year, the Parents Program was moved to the Division of Student Affairs, as the department was previously part of the Alumni Association. For Family Weekend 2008, both the Association and Student Affairs collaborated on the event. “We have had some very big shoes to fill,” Sterritt said. “[The Alumni Association] is indeed a tough act to follow.”

While taking this event on, Sterritt says she and Pocklington are glad to build on the strong foundation established by the Alumni Association. “Thank goodness for [their] meticulous planning and knowledge on event execution.” Nearly 100 Student Affairs staff members will assist in the weekend’s events.

“We are seeing an increase in registration for Friday’s seminars,” she said. Included in the registration fee, seminar titles range from “What’s Next for Your Tech Student?” and “How to Be Successful at Tech” to a history of the Institute and information about this year’s InVenture Prize Competition.

A challenge for the office is to increase the participation of a broader spectrum of parents. “Almost 60 percent of attendees in the past have been parents of freshman students,” Pocklington said. “[Some of] the seminars and other programming are designed to speak to parents of older students. The challenge is keeping it fresh, because we want people to come back. This program can be meaningful to parents of all students, not just freshmen.”

To bring back parents of upperclassmen, Sterritt is seeking to expand the weekend’s offerings in the future. “We’re changing up some of the seminars, adding to the events and developing some programming for Friday evening that continues to showcase the amazing happenings on campus and continues to encompass the spirit of Georgia Tech,” she said. “It may be fun to incorporate the Campus Recreation Center’s Leadership Challenge Course next year, for example.”