This weekend, many students will spend time with their families, embarking on a variety of adventures across campus and downtown Johnson City. ETSU Family Weekend will be taking place Friday Sept. 25 through Sunday Sept. 27 with record registration.
“Family Weekend is a time when we invite all of our ETSU families to come back and visit their students, explore campus and explore all the things that Johnson City has to offer. We love that the timing falls when it’s kind of mid-semester, so families and students are really missing one another,” said Trish Caughran, Assistant Director of Family Programs at ETSU. “It’s a really great time to bring them back and let them experience the place that their student now calls home. It’s wonderful.”
Families will be able to experience a plethora of activities such as the zip line, CPA pilates and planetarium shows. Tours will be given of resources such as the Robertson Center Bucky’s Pantry and Bucky’s Career Closet which will be taking clothing donations during check-in. Friday will feature a welcome reception followed by Bucs Under the Stars, a drone show in collaboration with ETSU’s America 250 celebrations. Saturday will hold the signature Family Weekend tailgate and Buc Walk alongside ETSU Football’s game against Western Carolina University. Tickets for the game are almost sold out. Sunday, the weekend will end with a farewell brunch in the dining hall.
“On top of all the events that folks can sign up for, we also have what we call our annual Stop and Shop. These are merchants that are joining with us to offer some sort of perk or discount or freebie for anyone that comes into their establishment and shows them their Family Weekend ticket,” Caughran said. “This is growing each year. I think there are 20 that are participating this year.”
Family Weekend is the largest it has ever been.
“We always put out one final schedule, open-to-all. We had to close tickets at 1,200 this year,” Caughran said. “So, some families, obviously, still wanted to get tickets, but we have to limit, basically, to make sure that we can do the catering for everyone. Our goal is to continue growing each year, but we put together this schedule. It’s an open-to-all; no ticket or passes are needed for this. So we still want all families to come and enjoy Family Weekend, whether they were able to register or not.”
Family Weekend has grown under the leadership of Caughran. She has worked with Family Programs at ETSU for around three years. Initiatives such as Stop and Shop have been created under her guidance and continue to grow alongside Family Weekend.
“Come out, support us. If you see our families, say hello,” Caughran said. “I think that it’s so important for families to also know that they are part of the ETSU family. We spend a lot of time, effort and energy, making sure that our students feel welcome because we want that. We also want to make sure that our families feel just as welcome. Our families are part of the ETSU family.”
More information about ETSU Family Weekend can be found at https://www.etsu.edu/students/nsfp/family/familyweekend.php.
