Marta: Hi and welcome back to the University of Louisville. My name is Marta and I’ll be your host for this episode. Today I am joined by Jessica, Assistant Director for Special Programs, and she’s here to tell us about the upcoming Cardinals Parents’ Weekend.
Jessica: Hi Marta, how are you?
Marta: Doing good, how about you?
Jessica: Doing well.
Marta: Awesome. So, what is Cardinal Parents’ Weekend?
Jessica: So, Cardinal Family Weekend is an annual event that happens in the fall of every academic year, and it’s a time that we invite family members of all kinds. Whether that is, you know, traditional parents, siblings, grandparents, those individuals that, for some of our students, may not be blood relatives but are truly family. Anybody is welcome to come to campus, see the life that their student has built over the last month and a half since the beginning of school, and experience Louisville. We are in the middle of an amazing city and so, the borders of our campus, we want them to go beyond those, experience what the actual city of Louisville as well as campus have to offer.
Marta: That sounds awesome! So, what kind of events could we expect at Cardinal Family Weekend?
Jessica: So, um, I forgot to mention Cardinal Family Weekend will be September 23rd to the 25th. We have events mostly centered around that Friday and Saturday, and also we’ve really designed them to be a la carte, so we want these events to really component our families’ experience here, we don’t want them to take over. So, you can participate in some, you don’t have to participate in all, so they are here for all of our families. We have several events like I said on that Friday. We are going to be having a Welcome Reception from 5 to 9 PM in the Red Barn. It’s a time we ask that you come pick up your tickets you’ve pre-purchased, your T-shirts that have been pre-purchased, but it’s also a time to come in, relax a little bit, especially if you’ve had a long drive, or a flight; we have family members coming from all over the country and I even saw an international address on one of our registrations as well. So, we have family members coming from all over and we want to provide that time for maybe their student to come to relax a little bit with them. We’ll have a cash bar and some hors d'oeuvres, some music, and just that environment to welcome individuals there. If they have any questions, that’s a great time to ask them. Cardinal-palooza is an event that SAB is going to be putting on, it’s open for students but also family members that want to come, whether it’s a younger family member or maybe just a young-at-heart family member, they’re going to have a lot of inflatables and different things like that on the 2020 Quad, from 3-7 PM. We have our annual “Parent of the Year” Award, and this is just really highlighting (while we believe every one of our family members is important) a parent or parent-figure in a student’s life in giving them that award. So, students can nominate anybody that they view as a parent figure in their lives and that award ceremony is going to go on at 7 PM in the Kurz Family Visitor Room, which is on the second floor of the SAC (room 212). It’s just a very short ceremony where we want to honor our parents and also give away that award. And then last, but not least, a little fun, we’re going to have Matt the Knife, who is a well-known traveling illusionist, goes to colleges all over the country. He’s going to be in Strickler Hall Middleton Theatre. That is “first come, first serve,” it is going to be a really fun event and he’s amazing, I’ve seen him before, I’m really excited for him to come to Louisville. It’s a little bit of a fun reprieve on that Friday night, at 8 PM Matt the Knife will be here.
On Saturday, of course, we have the big football game taking place at noon down at Cardinal Stadium. You do have to purchase tickets for that, and you can do that through our website, or through the ticket office through athletics. We’re playing South Florida, so hopefully we’ll win there. Three hours before, we are having our Cardinal Family Weekend Tailgate that’s going to happen on the 2020 Quad, happening at 9 AM. We’re definitely going to have some breakfast food or brunch food for everybody. Tickets are required there as well; you do have to buy a ticket for your student to attend. We will have tickets at the door for that event. We will also have a Beer Garden that is sponsored by our Red Barn Alumni Association taking place in the Red Barn, so to supplement that amazing group as well. That will be a cash bar in the Red Barn as well during that time.
Then Sunday, we know that’s a big travel day, everybody has to get home, it’s been a big weekend for everybody. So, on the way out of town, we’re encouraging students to, if they want to take their families to the Ville Grille, it is going to be open for brunch, or that may be a good time as well to go see the city. There’s also the annual chili cook off, I believe is happening on that day, so that’s going to be a smaller event which everyone is welcome to as well. Sunday is very much a, you know, “take it as it is”, we hope that you get to explore whatever your family wants to do. We want you to do that. So, it’s just a really fun weekend, again, the events are here to compliment your family’s experience, not take it over, and we’re excited to get our families in town.
Marta: Wow, that sounds awesome. And it sounds like you’ve got a lot of good things planned, and maybe something for everybody to enjoy.
Jessica: Yeah. We try to meet everybody where they’re at.
Marta: Absolutely. So, can you elaborate a little bit on why Cardinal Family Weekend is important?
Jessica: I think Cardinal Family Weekend is that time for, on the students’ side, to really show their families, you know, this is the life I’ve made. We all know it’s a huge transition from high school to college, or even for a commuter student that may live at home, or a residential student, this is a time to come and welcome everybody to the life they’ve truly made. We very much value the place of family members here at the University of Louisville, we believe they are integral to a student’s experience, they are the support team at home. They’re the ones that are getting some of the calls sometimes, and we are all about what family means for our students. We see the University of Louisville as a giant family, while we realize our students have that support system as well. Whether it is a blood relative or a family that they have collected and made themselves. Personally, I did not grow up near my family, they were about two hours away, and I was that person, I was close with my mother and my father and my brother, but whenever it came to Grandparents’ Day or something like that, we had a family that we had to make on our own due to, of course, just logistics. And so, I truly support, and we want to really focus on, that family is whatever a student wants it to be. I think Cardinal Family Weekend is another time on the students’ perspective to show off their life, and the family’s perspective just to kind of check on that student. It’s been a different month-and-a-half, right? It’s been, you know, it seems like maybe yesterday that you dropped your student off, but it also maybe seems like a year-and-a-half ago, even though it’s been a month-and-a-half. So, it’s that time to come and check on them. Your student may be feeling like, “Oh, I’ve got this, I got this.” And maybe kind of check in as a family member, like, “You’re getting it a little bit, but you’ve still got some room to grow.” And just make sure everything is good and to experience this amazing life that your student has developed here at the city of Louisville and at the University of Louisville.
Marta: That sounds awesome. Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about Cardinal Family Weekend?
Jessica: Yeah, so tickets are still available, if you’re listening to this prior to the event. You can go to https://louisville.edu/parents/events/familyweekend and you can purchase tickets for both the tailgate and the game, while tickets are available. That game ticket is at a discounted price than if you were to go through the ticket office. We have a special discounted price for our Family Weekend. So, if that’s something you’re interested in, remember this is is a la carte so if you’re like, “We are not a football family,” we’re totally okay with that. You are also welcome to attend any of our events that are free, and the full list of events are on that website as well, and they indicate whether a ticket is needed or if you can just show up. If at any time anybody has any questions, they can email parents@louisville.edu or they can find us on our social media accounts and you will be able to talk to me directly. We hope to see you at Cardinal Family Weekend here in a few days!
Marta: That sounds awesome and thank you so much for sharing these resources with us.
Jessica: Yeah! Have a great day.
Marta: You too, thank you. By the way, did you know that the University of Louisville Counseling Center is open from 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. It is located in Suite W204 in the Swain Activities Center. You can make appointments online at Louisville.edu/counseling/appointments. Reach them with any questions you may have at < coping@louisville.edu or by phone at (502)852-6585.
Thank you for listening to our podcast today and stay tuned for the next podcast coming soon.