For many students at Millikin University, homesickness can be a major concern. For almost everyone, especially for freshman students, being away from home for a significant amount of time can be extremely stressful. It becomes difficult to think about not seeing those who you saw almost every day while living at home, and to make matters a little worse, many of the students live far away from home and feel more homesick because of the huge distance between them and their families. In order to help students combat the homesickness that sometimes accompanies living on campus, from the 18 to the 20 of September, Millikin University’s University Center Board, a student run group that coordinates events around campus, invites family members from students who attend Millikin University to engage in Fall Family Weekend.

Amanda Lee, the student coordinator behind Fall Family Weekend stated, “The purpose of Fall Family Weekend is to give families an opportunity to catch up with their students and get a sneak-peak into what life is like on campus. It is a way for families to reunite and enjoy family bonding time. UCB tries to provide families with bonding experiences that will provide memories that last a lifetime.”

During Fall Family Weekend, students and their families have an abundance of different activities to engage in. One of the activities that students and families could experience were seeing performances by some of Millikin University’s different student music groups.

On Friday night of Fall Family Weekend, students and their families were invited to hear a Choral Concertino, hosted at Central Christian Church, while, additionally, Collage held a concert on Saturday in Kirkland Fine Arts Center. Furthermore, students and their families could also engage in the Oakwood Street Festival, a Roaring Twenties party, and a men’s soccer game. According to Amanda Lee, there were many different aspects added to Fall Family Weekend this year.

“Every year, UCB puts on the UCB Street Festival on the Arrival Court. That is something that never changes. However, this year, I wanted to add to the games that the organizations put on by bringing in a balloon artist and a caricature. We also like to provide some sort of food or dessert, so this year we invited Cherry Berry to give out free samples. The Saturday night even is always different. This year I wanted to try something new and put on a Roaring 20’s Night. I chose this event because it is something UCB has put on before, but I thought that it would be a fun event for families to attend together. There is no special purpose to the selected groups and entertainment, or even what the Saturday night event it. It all depends on the person in charge and how they envision Fall Family Weekend,” stated Amanda Lee.

Fall Family Weekend is a great way for students to reconnect with their families that they may not have seen for a long time, as well as a good way for students to show their parents how they have adapted to college life.