After the initial adrenaline rush of the first few weeks of school, reality starts to set in. There are tests and papers, projects and power points, and 7 a.m. isn’t really getting any easier to wake up at.

It’s at this time where the cafeteria starts repeating food options and a routine becomes a pattern. As the weather outside gets colder, the summer camp facade begins to fade and the consequential homesickness starts to set in.

These reasons and more are why the timing of Millikin’s Fall Family Weekend is perfect. Occurring right at the start of fall, or the end of summer, Fall Family Weekend provides students with a chance to share what they’ve been up to and parents a chance to support their adjusting children and have fun here at Millikin.

Past events have included an art show on the arrival court, a movie showed on the quad, and an opportunity to take a picture and save it as a momento. Often whole families will take a moment to explore outside of campus, venturing as close as downtown Decatur and even as far as The Great Pumpkin Patch, a 200 acre farm that has been featured by Martha Stewart, in Arthur Ill.

This year’s Fall Family Weekend will follow the trend of years past with a variety of events occurring all around campus. The big event of the weekend for a lot of students at Millikin is the School of Music’s Collage Concert, an event in which each different class performs a taste of their repertoire to create a medley, or collage.

Isabelle Glimco, a sophomore commercial music major shares her thoughts on the Collage Concert and Fall Family Weekend, “I’m really excited for my family to come up and for them to experience college like I do. I’m excited to perform with Blu Bop and for my family to see all the hard work that I’ve put into my jazz ensemble. We don’t really plan on going anywhere outside of campus, except for maybe Donnie’s or The Blue Spoon. My dad loves the owner of The Blue Spoon, he thinks he’s hilarious.”

A Taste of MSC, Fall Family Brunch, and Roaring 20’s night, round out the exciting events of the weekend.