This year’s family weekend was jam packed with activities and students who were thrilled excited to see their families again.

This year’s family weekend proceeds will benefit the Women with Children Program in honor of Sister Jean Messaros’ 50^th jubilee.

“Family weekend is an opportunity to bring parents and family back to campus. Even though the students just got here, sometimes this is the most difficult time because they get very homesick, so we like to bring them back to campus, show it off and give them some fun activities to do together,” said Darcy Brodmerkel, Director of Student Activities.

The weekend started off with a performance by Kris Karut, a hypnotist, at Lemmond theater. The Schweiger family had a particularly good time at the performance.

“We went out to lunch together, and we went to the hypnotist. The hypnotist was pretty funny because one guy thought he was Tarzan and grabbed some poor random girl he didn’t know and called her Jane,” said senior philosophy and pre-DPT major Jacob Schweiger.

Schweiger’s mother, Kelly, agreed that the hypnotist was funny, and she said she liked the new patio and number of activities this year.

“This family weekend I plan on eating and sleeping, and I hope to also go to Casino Night. I’m really just happy to be with the family and see my sons again,” said Fred Schweiger, Jacob’s father.

“I got to see my girlfriend Lauren who came to visit for family weekend and we had a good time together. We walked down to the labyrinth at the edge of school. We also found two dead squirrels near there, one of which I almost stepped on,” said sophomore speech-language pathology major Noah Schweiger.

Saturday was jam-packed with zip-lining and rock climbing, hosted by SOAR, and the Cross Country Cougar Classic events in the morning. The afternoon held a volleyball match against Penn College, Paint with Passion, field hockey and “It’s a Small World After All: Race, Multiculturalism, and Superheroes” and “Reforming the Church: Why Pope Francis Matters” lectures. Later in the evening, students and their families populated Casino Night, while sports fan saw men’s soccer take on York College.

“I’m spending some time with my mom and we did Paint with Passion together. It was really fun, we could paint whatever we wanted and because my mom knows me and because she’s such a big fan, she painted a Flyers logo, and I painted a mess and I have paint all over my hands, but it was very nice since they didn’t tell us what we had to do. Some people were painting their dogs or a sunset, so it had a very chill vibe,” said sophomore occupational therapy major, Carolyn Maguire.

“It was nice that you were allowed to figure out what you wanted to paint and get to learn some techniques such as spreading colors and thinning your colors down, and never getting too much paint in your water,” said Meg Maguire, Carolyn’s mother.

The Berrin family took advantage of the zip-lining experience and had a blast while doing it.

“We all got to climb, but my sister was too small to zip-line. It’s good to see my family again, since I haven’t seen them in three weeks,” said first year occupational therapy major Kiera Berrin.

“The campus is beautiful and I’ve had a lot of fun so far with zip-lining, it was a little scary but fun. We got to see Kiera’s room again, which is cleaner than she’s ever had it at home. Plus, parking was a breeze. There were plenty of spots open,” said Diane Verrin, Kiera’s mother..

“ Just spending time with Kiera is fantastic,” said father Daniel Berrin.

Other families took the opportunity to be together to do other things off campus, which was the case for sophomore education major Ashley Johnson’s family.

“We love this campus. However, we actually spent the day at the mall. JCPenney had some really great sales, and you know you always have to go to Target and Five Below, and fortunately there was a Moe’s nearby since that’s Ashley’s favorite place to eat, and from there we went to Sonic and got milkshakes,” said Michele Johnson, Ashley’s mother.

Family weekend  wrapped up on Sunday with a Women’s golf match against Wilkes and a SOAR fun day at Frances Slocum State Park.

First year occupational therapy major Lexi Sasso’s mother not only enjoyed the weekend, she said she was happy about where her daughter ended up going to college.

“We’ve had a great time just spending time together. My favorite part is Mercy Hall, with all the beautiful woodwork. However, what sold me on the college is Insalaco hall and the art gallery and that there is an appreciation for art. I’m just very comfortable being here and knowing this is my daughter’s second home,” said Pat Sasso.