Fordham hosted their annual family weekend from Oct. 27 to Oct. 29. The weekend was full of events from Spooky Bingo to a Continental Breakfast. The weekend was presented by the Campus Activities Board (CAB) which is under the Office of Student Involvement (OSI).
Jaclyn Wickersham, FCRH ’25, president of CAB, explained that Fordham’s Family Weekend is unique compared to other universities because it is run by students.
“I think it’s, like, really special that Fordham lets CAB put this on because you have actual students planning what they want their families to see,” said Wickersham. “The Office of Student Involvement gives us, like, the reins to kind of plan what we want to see and what we think our families would want to see and what other students want to show their families and get that unique perspective.”
“Our Fordham Family can be found all over the world (literally) so it is an amazing weekend to see families come back to visit their students, experience all that we love about Fordham while being able to make some special memories with their students as well,” said Arlene Ganess, assistant director for student organizations and programming. “It’s a long-standing tradition and our families really look forward to a weekend on campus, reuniting with their students and honestly a beautiful thing to see, especially the amount of hugs I saw between families and their students!”
Wickersham explained that there are 10 different committees on CAB, one being the Special Events Committee — which planned the whole weekend. The executive board of the committee are Kiri Kenman, FCRH ’25, Megan Blaustein, GSB ’25 and Zoe Skinner, GSB ’26.
Kenman said that they started planning for Family Weekend in July.
“The hardest part was coordinating all the moving parts. There are nine events over the three days with nearly 3,000 attendees across them and we have a team of about 30 [CAB] executive board members plus general board members to facilitate everything,” Kenman said.
Ganess added that another difficulty of planning was Family Weekend falling right before Halloween.
“Family Weekend is a date that is chosen by the university so it is out of our control when it happens, so a lot of students reached out to us a bit upset it was during Halloweekend,” Ganess said.
The nine events included a Welcome Reception, Spooky Bingo, Continental Breakfast, Parents University, Welcome and Conversation with President Tetlow, Game Day Lunch, Cards to Home, Maroon Mainstage and a walking tour of campus with the former Fordham Law School assistant dean.
Kenman added that Maroon Mainstage, which included nine performance groups, had to be coordinated with over 300 family and friends, tech run by Fordham Backstage, photographers and emcees from FET Stand Up.
“The weekend was a success because of all the support we got from everyone who participated, but it definitely took a lot of forethought and logistical planning to make sure it ran smoothly!” Kenman said.
The performers included the Hot Notes, Ramblers, B-Sides, Satin Dolls, Jetés, Dance Co-Op, Flava, Candela Latina and Sláinte.
Sophia Ricci, FCRH ’24, president of the Jetés, explained that they did three pieces from their upcoming production of the Nutcracker and one piece from the ballet La Bayadere for their performance for Maroon MainStage.
“We like to showcase these pieces because our dancers work so hard on them all semester, and hopefully, seeing those dances will encourage audiences to come see our full show.
Also, it is nice to be able to practice some of our dances in front of an audience before the show to ease nerves,” Ricci said.
Ricci added that they find it important to participate in events like this because they value outreach to help make ballet a more accessible art form for both the Fordham community and wider Bronx community.
“Maroon Mainstage is a really supportive environment because you get to watch the other groups perform and compliment each other when you come off stage,” Ricci said. “I always love watching the other dance groups because they perform such a wide variety of dance styles, and the a cappella groups never fail to impress me.”
“I’m happy that my family had the chance to visit Fordham this family weekend! It was the first time my whole family was together on campus, and we were lucky to have beautiful weather to tailgate and watch the football game on Saturday,” said Molly Farrell, GSB ’25. “They loved seeing the campus and the new McShane Center, and we finished the weekend by eating out on Arthur Ave!”
“My dad and I ate in the dining hall on the second floor of JMCC for the ‘families eat free’ weekend thing. It was kinda fun to relive my first time eating in the dining hall, because I got to see the curiosity on my dad’s face,” said Alexandra Tamsi, FCRH ’24.
Wickersham explained that Parents University was one of her favorite events that was planned. It included university staff from both FCRH and Gabelli on a panel, and it gave parents an insight into the classes that are being taught and where their money is going in terms of education, said Wickersham.
For Kenman, she enjoyed planning the Welcome Reception and Resource Fair, which had over 700 attendees.
“Aramark always comes up with a fun menu of hors d’oeuvres and mocktails which this time included lobster puffs and mojitos. We also had representatives from 10 campus clubs and organizations who tabled at the Resource Fair and mingled with students and guests,” Kenman said.
Kenman added that the event would not have been possible without OSI, other CAB committees, Fordham Backstage, professors/administrators, Aramark catering, President Tetlow, assistant dean Robert J. Reilly, everyone who attended and Cristina Stefanizzi — who photographed all the events.
CAB’s next big programming event will be Holiday Week, which will be from Dec. 1 to Dec. 8, which will include all 10 committees working on it.
“I hope students got a bigger sense of Fordham pride in themselves after Family Weekend. I saw so many students giving their families personal tours of Fordham, showing them where they ate, their favorite spots on campus, what their classes looked like, introducing their friends and more,” Ganess said.
