Photo courtesy of Haven Hospodar. Pictured above, Hospodar and their family pose with their critters at the Coffee and Critters event.
Family Weekend is hosted every year at St. Ambrose University and gives students a chance to show their family members what it’s like to be a fighting bee for a weekend. It also provides an opportunity for students to reconnect with their loved ones, as they may have not seen them since the semester began.
The SAU women’s volleyball team started off Family Weekend with a bang. Playing Indiana South Bend in the Lee Lohman Arena, they secured an exciting 3-1 win.
The Campus Activities Board (CAB) hosted its first event of Family Weekend on Friday night, September 20th, with a family trivia night. Students and family members tested their knowledge for a chance to win gift cards to the bookstore and Whitey’s.
“My family really enjoyed the family weekend,” says pre-nursing freshman Maya Nelson. “We especially enjoyed that there were activities for all ages. The older members of my family had a lot of fun at the trivia night.”
“Family weekend was a blast!” says Ambrose alumni Ella Schmidt. “Post-graduation, I moved to a different city for work, but my friends are at St. Ambrose.”
On Saturday morning, September 21st, groups of students and families gathered outside of the Rogalski Center Ballroom minutes before the next event. This event that gets younger siblings, students, and parents excited is CAB’s Coffee and Critters.
CAB provided 20 different animal options to make into adorable stuffed animals. These stuffed animals came with small hearts to put inside, adoption certificates, and even tiny Fighting Bees t-shirts! Animals ranged from cows and horses to leopards and wolves.
“Family weekend was a perfect time to participate in traditional Ambrose festivities, especially CAB’s stuff-a-critter event,” Schmidt says.
Photo courtesy of Carley McGovern. Pictured above, students and family members enjoy the Coffee and Critters event.
There were also refreshments for this fun morning event. Sodexo provided lemonade and coffee, and CAB picked up donuts from Donuts and More. While the refreshments lasted for a couple of hours, all 200 stuff-a-critters were gone within 30 minutes!
“The next day my younger sibling joined us for coffee and critters. Lastly, we ended the day watching the SAU football game,” Nelson says. Students and their families watched the Fighting Bees in action, including both the football players and the halftime show presented by Ambrose’s reigning champion dance team.
Nelson says her family loved all of the events, saying, “the best thing about Family Weekend was being able to show my family what my life is like at Saint Ambrose University.”
