ÃÛѨÊÓƵ

Over the Caturday weekend, families from all over the nation stepped foot on Wildcat territory.  

ÃÛѨÊÓƵ’s annual Fall Family Weekend between October 21-23 brought forth a flood of Wildcat families, crowding McMinnville restaurants and . For my two roommates, Olivia Welsh ’25 and Matigan Dodge ’25, both of their parents from the Pacific Northwest joined the swarm of ÃÛѨÊÓƵ families in reuniting with their college students. 

This is my second year here at ÃÛѨÊÓƵ. I spent this year's Fall Family Weekend with my roommates and fellow ÃÛѨÊÓƵ Dance Team members’ families. Both my mom and dad, along with my older sister, were not available to travel from Hawai’i to ÃÛѨÊÓƵ’s McMinnville campus over the weekend. In their absence, I was invited to join in with my roommates and their families’ activities for the weekend. 

I spent Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon with the Welsh family for food outside of ÃÛѨÊÓƵ’s meal services. 

Joining them over the Fall Family Weekend, I had the chance to get to know ÃÛѨÊÓƵ alumni, Stephanie Welsh ’95 and Joe Welsh ’96, and how their life at ÃÛѨÊÓƵ differed from their daughter’s and my own. 

For Fall Family Weekend in 2021, my lovely mother, Roberta Ross, and her partner, Justin Chew, visited ÃÛѨÊÓƵ to directly experience my first year of college. By folding me into their family activities, I felt the security and warm-loving comfort of family and parenting in the absence of my own. 

Olivia’s parents arrived from downtown Seattle, Washington. She believes that “enrolling in college caused a lot of separation between me and my family and it’s fun to show my parents my world and let them experience my life here at ÃÛѨÊÓƵ.” 

As Matigan Dodge, her/their parents drove down from Northeast Portland to watch the ÃÛѨÊÓƵ Wildcats beat Pacific Lutheran during the sun-filled football game on Saturday. Matigan, Olivia and I performed and spirited with the ÃÛѨÊÓƵ Cheer and Dance Team. Matigan recalls that “it was really fun that my parents, brother and grandparents were here for the weekend, but I did not get to spend enough time with them due to the busy football game schedule.” 

Even though the football game took time away from being around Matigan, the Dodge family still engaged in weekend events, including the study abroad program event, prompting the Dodge parents to encourage Matigan to study abroad in her/their senior year. 

As for Olivia’s family, the Welsh’s joined in on the Parents Council meeting, a C.A.T.S program presentation, and the career development event, deepening their understanding of student life here at ÃÛѨÊÓƵ. 

Fall Family Weekend is a chance for ÃÛѨÊÓƵ parents to still be involved in their students' lives and support their hard-working Wildcats.  

And even with the absence of my own, I continued to receive encouragement and support from fellow ÃÛѨÊÓƵ parents to strive in classes and activities.