By AnnaBelle Boone / The Jambar
Youngstown State University’s Family Weekend was four days of activities for students and their families.
The event was organized by Housing and Residence Life, with festivities lasting from Thursday, Oct. 17, to Sunday, Oct. 20.
Olivia Cupp, YSU’s director of Housing and Residence Life, discussed planning this year’s Family Weekend.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve really tried to make a shift to making it more of an à la carte experience,” Cupp said. “We’re coordinating and then pulling in all the other fun, community-centered events that are also happening that weekend and we’re highlighting all of the fun events that are happening on campus, so students and their families can design their own experiences for the weekend.”
Cupp has been involved with YSU’s housing department for almost 10 years.
“I’m really excited for all the fun that’s going to happen in the Chestnut Room. Lance [Nave] and their team have organized a lot of really fun activities. They’re really family-friendly, whether the student has very young siblings or whether it’s just their parents,” Cupp said.
Family Weekend activities began at noon in the Chestnut Room. Activities included a polaroid station, penguin pebble painting and creating a family tree with Penguins. Karaoke was also offered until 3 p.m.
Martina Lemos, a resident assistant at Lyden House, said Family Weekend allows students and families to connect with each other and campus.
“Family [Weekend] is a great opportunity for students and families to get together on campus and get to know each other,” Lemos said.
Lemos is also an international student from Uruguay. He said even though he cannot celebrate the weekend with his family, he has developed fulfilling relationships at YSU.
“It’s a really good experience to get to know other people, even though my family isn’t here at the moment,” Lemos said. “ I’ve made a beautiful YSU family that I will always cherish and love. I’m glad that I found so many people.”
Nave was the associate director of Residence Life at YSU. He was involved with the organization and planning of this year’s Family Weekend.
“So originally, Family Day centered mainly around our on-campus residents and their families, bringing them to campus for an experience,” Nave said.
Nave has since left the university, so Family Weekend is one of the last events Nave put on with YSU’s housing department.
“We truly try to expand that to welcome our commuter students and their families. So last year, we tried opening up a little bit more and providing a downtown experience, like the Fifth Quarter,” Nave said.
The Fifth Quarter is a program that works in tandem with businesses in downtown Youngstown. From 9 p.m. to midnight, students and families can receive discounts on food and drink with a YSU ID or ticket from the YSU game against University of South Dakota.
“This year, we were more intentional about inviting our commuter students and families. This year, we’ve provided almost 100 complimentary tickets for our commuter students to really try and expand and showcase this is a community,” Nave said.
Family Weekend had a full slate of activities for every family. Oct. 17 kicked off the weekend with an exhibit at The Butler Institute of American Art, which featured artist Mateo Blanco. Penguin City Brewing Co. also hosted its monthly Penguin City Night Market.
Oct. 18 included activities like Nightlights, a Halloween show at the Ward Beecher Planetarium, along with a Youngstown Phantoms game at Covelli Centre.
Oct. 19 began with community activities like Christmas in the Woods at Shaker Woods Grounds and Fall Harvest Weekends at White House Fruit Farm. Saturday also included a Museum Crawl around Youngstown and Fun at the Chestnut Room.