Tennessee Tech welcoming students’ biggest supporters to campus through Sunday during Family Weekend.
Director for New Student and Family Programs Courtney Brehm said parent weekend lets students know loved ones are supporting them. Brehm said this is also a chance for parents to see how their students are doing. Brehm said students often feel refreshed after time with their families.
“When [students] feel supported, they’re going to do better in college,” Brehm said. “Of course academically, but emotionally too in just their overall sense of well-being. Having that family encouragement, that involvement and that support, I just really think that makes them feel more confident.”
Brehm said students having the time to show their parents around campus and the things they are doing can go a long way. Brehm said this also gives parents some piece of mind.
“We also typically will try to have our family weekend around the time that a lot of students might start feeling that homesickness,” Brehm said. “And you know, they’ve kind of settled in from all the exciting things from Week of Welcome and things like that and they’re kind of starting to settle in to the semester a little bit.”
Brehm said there may not be a hard and fast correlation between Family Weekend and improvement of grades or happiness, but research shows supported students often perform better. Brehm said support leads to more engagement and joy because of the people cheering them on.
Brehm said Family Weekend is great for students, but it is also a big deal for the parents. Brehm said parents seeing their students feeling at home and getting involved makes them feel better.
“It can be reassuring to see, ‘My student is doing okay, they’re starting to thrive here, maybe they’re a little homesick but that’s normal,’” Brehm said. “But I think seeing the campus through their students eyes and what they’re experiencing can go a really long way in helping them know, again, ‘my student is doing okay.’”
Brehm said parents experiencing campus makes it come to life. She said seeing campus in person gives them an idea to what they are talking about over the phone.
Furthermore, Brehm said parent involvement with their students is very important. Brehm said Tech sees parents as partners. Tech may have resources to be successful, but Brehm said she understands that sometimes, students may need that additional push from their parents.
Brehm said parents can experience a faculty mini-lecture series and an online auction, among other things during Family Weekend.