Overall, when I look at Homecoming and Family Weekend at St. Olaf, I’m met with a lot of fun, but also a lot of questions. The weekend itself seems like a good idea, but the timing of the event has always seemed weird to me. Why have a jam-packed weekend where students can’t possibly do everything when there are so many other weekends to spread out the fun?
Along with this schedule that seems to never line up, students have to fight wanting to celebrate Homecoming with their friends or their family. Another question that I always find myself asking is: Why is Family Weekend so close to fall break? One weekend, families come up to see students, and then the next, students are usually going home to see them again. Is this made for students who can’t go home for the break, so that they can see their family for a small bit of time or does St. Olaf just need to reschedule their breaks and fun weekends so they aren’t so close together?
When it came to this year’s Homecoming, the 150th anniversary of the founding of St. Olaf, I found that there were a lot of amazing activities, from the football game to the Limestones’ concert, Trivia Mafia, Pause Dance, and much more. What I did enjoy — as someone who didn’t have my family with me this weekend — was that these events could still be fun without leaving me feeling left out. All in all, I did really enjoy this year’s Homecoming weekend, but I do still think that it would be a good idea to separate Family Weekend and Homecoming so that it feels like less of a money grab weekend for St. Olaf. Having every fun activity so close together can make October go by quickly, and in the end, it makes it so that the rest of fall semester feels like a slow-motion walk, in pursuit to try and get to other breaks.
