Senior Maherin Ahmed’s parents are not coming to family weekend. Nor did they come to any of the previous three that Ahmed has experienced in her career at Whitman College.
“My parents live in Bangladesh, so its like another continent,” said Ahmed.
International students like Ahmed are not the only Whitman students whose families are not coming to this year’s family weekend, which occurs Friday Oct. 22 through Sunday Oct. 24. For Ahmed and sophomore Christopher Bryson, whose parents did not come last year, family weekend tends to be similar to every other.
“I just call it a normal weekend. I’ll occasionally come across some friends who will introduce me to their parents, or I’ll hang out with others who can’t have their parents come over,” said Bryson.
Bryson said that he did not participate in any of the special events, like planetarium shows.
“I didn’t even know they were scheduled,” he said.
Ahmed, however, does. Last year as an RA she took tickets for the Varsity Nordic performance. She signed up for those duties in part because she did not have family coming.
“I remember my RD promising brownies and apple pies,” she said.
She says she usually watches a movie with other international students during the weekend.
Naturally, not all students who are visiting with their families go to the scheduled events, either.
“I didn’t do any of the school activities. I just used it more as an activity to see my mom,” said sophomore Charlotte Hill.
Last year, Hill’s mother came during family weekend; this year, her parents are not coming to family weekend. However, they did come visit her for her birthday in early October.
“I feel like parent’s weekend can be any weekend, really,” said Hill.
Bryson also has family visiting off-schedule, though in his case very rarely. His parents are coming in Thursday to see him perform in “The Government Inspector”, and leaving on Friday, before the official start of family weekend.
However, this is not the case for Ahmed, as the main obstacle keeping her parents from visiting is distance and cost.
“I wish I could show them the campus, so they could see what Whitman has to offer,” she said. “I hope they’ll be here for graduation.”
