This story was written by Stacie Nielsen, of Haugen, a UW-Stout professional communication and emerging media student taught by Associate Professor Kate Edenborg.
By Stacie Nielsen
Menomonie, Wis. — Each year in early April, several hundred families from the Upper Midwest and beyond travel to Menomonie to spend time at University of Wisconsin-Stout and attend the event-packed Family Weekend.
Held April 7-9 this year, it attracted about 1,000 family members and students, and again it was the collaborative effort of many students, faculty and staff across campus.
Kallie Sersch, of Dodgeville, is a student who works with various departments and student organizations to help create and organize the events schedule for Family Weekend.
“Family Weekend is really a campuswide effort,” Sersch said. “We rely on campus departments, student organizations and the community to pull together members to advertise, represent and promote their causes by holding an event.”
Family Weekend planning starts in early fall each semester; many people are enlisted to help coordinate the events.
“From there, we start to put together a full weekend schedule,” Sersch said. “We place events during times and locations that don’t conflict with one another, manage all reservation logistics, work with our design team to develop branding for the event and then heavily advertise Family Weekend campuswide.”
Sersch, the Memorial Student Center staff and other groups cooperated to create 30 events and activities that took place on campus and in the Menomonie community.
The events included a play, Fashion Without Fabric Show, comedian, fun run, student film festival, bean bag tournament, coffee with the chancellor, tours and athletic contests.
Hannah Vogel, of Minneapolis, a graphic design and interactive media major, feels that participating during Family Weekend is another opportunity for students to get engaged on campus.
“Family Weekend is just one of the many opportunities the campus, and more specifically the Involvement Center, offers for not just students but the community too,” Vogel said. “I think getting involved on campus is so important, and more importantly enjoying those benefits with your family.”
Collaboration is a large theme of accomplishing this task. Sersch talked about the team that works together to organize the events, starting with the student center staff.
“There is collaboration between our event planners in the Involvement Center, the Conferences and Events team, the MSC Design Team and the Event Technology Crew,” Sersch said. “Along with those folks, we then rely on all of the participating campus departments, student organizations and community groups to host and manage their events that are taking place during Family Weekend.”
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Photo
A sellout crowd enjoys the Fashion Without Fabric show, one of 30 events and activities held during Family Weekend at UW-Stout.
