Downtown, campus packed with 1,200 parents

     On Saturday Nov. 3, GCSU hosted its fifth annual Parents Day. A tradition that began in 2003, the event has continued to grow over the past five years, this year attracting more than 1,200 parents.
     Initially coinciding with Fall Fest, GCSU and the city of Milledgeville have worked collaboratively in an effort to conjoin the city’s annual Sweetwater Festival with Parents Day.
     This year Parents Day was expanded to include all parents, and offered a variety of open houses, tours and family workshops.
     Each college offered an open house, which allowed parents and students to meet with faculty from each department.
     Tours of local attractions such as the Natural History Museum,   Blackbridge Gallery, the Old Governor’s Mansion, the GCSU Museum, and the Library & Instructional Technology Center were also offered.
     Family workshops featuring information on Financial Aid, Study Abroad and the new Connect-ED system were just three of the eleven workshops in which parents and their student could choose to participate in.
     This year’s Parents Day registration fee was $20, a 100 percent increase from Parents Day 2003. The registration fee covered visitor’s lunch ticket’s valued at $6, which could be use in the dining hall, Chik-Fil-A or at any downtown restaurant.
     “Now with the number of people going through Parents Day is over 1,000 you can’t seat them at lunch in the dining hall, so expanded options to spread the crowd out a little bit,” Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Dr. Bruce Harshbarger said.
     Sweetwater Festival tickets are covered, valued at $5, as well as refreshments and catering available at check-in and throughout the day.
     “Each family gets a tote bag with all the materials for the weekend in it, and a few minor giveaways. Most of the rest of the cost is printing, for instance the brochure,” Harshbarger said.
     With most activities ending around mid-afternoon, families were encouraged to walk downtown to the Sweetwater Festival to enjoy the crafts, food and music associated with the event.
“If you plan afternoon activities as part of Parents Day, you are competing somewhat with Sweetwater; and, if the weather is what it was this past weekend, it’s hard to get people to come in doors for some program that you are putting on when there are bands downtown,” Harshbarger said.
     While the Sweetwater Festival sharply contrasts the average Milledgeville weekend, Harshbarger still believes that parents understand that what they see on Parents Day is not the Milledgeville norm.
     “I think parents are here on other weekends too, so I think they have a pretty accurate perception of the school,” Harshbarger said. “When Sweetwater started, Parents Day was just growing as well, and they both needed attractions to make people realize they were going on; get people there, so it was kind of a win-win for both of them.”
      Harshbarger may be correct as many parents and students enjoyed both Parents Day and the Sweetwater Festival.
     Ellen Adolph, whose son, Tyler Adolph, is a freshman at GCSU, enjoyed spending the afternoon with her family.
     “(There are) lots of fun things to do. The parent and student seminars were really helpful. This was really fun” Adolph said.
Chelsea Thomas’ mother, Kathy McFarland, also enjoyed her day, dining at Kuro Shima for lunch, and stopping at Scoops for a snack.
    “It was a beautiful day. We really enjoyed being with Chelsea, and just hanging out with her,” McFarland said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 9 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry