September 3–9, 2008, Number 508
Fall Semester Begins
Classes resumed this week and it was such a change for me. Compared to this summer, campus was packed, so to speak, and it was great to see so many students back for the start of Fall Semester. Believe it or not there are actually a lot of things taking place this week. This article is going to discuss the events that are happening on campus and off campus as well as a bit of information about Family Weekend.
Community Expo
The Community Expo event is set up for local businesses and non-profit organizations to come to Michigan Tech’s campus and make contact with the students. The event runs from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm on Wednesday September 3 with tables set-up all over campus. Some of the organizations include: Superior Graphics (do designs for t-shirts, BROOMBALL JERSEYS, and other designs students might need done) Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (volunteer opportunities available to students), Econo Foods, Domino’s Pizza, Fine Line Tires and much more. Many of these organizations are just looking for an opportunity to meet and talk to students and usually have goodies to take with too! For a complete list of all the vendors that will be on campus check out this website. I hope your students get the opportunity to get on campus and check out some of the local businesses.
K-Day
This Friday, September 5 is the day for a great Michigan Tech tradition: Keweenaw Day (a.k.a. K-Day). To celebrate this special occasion, students get half the day off with classes ending at noon. The event is usually held at McLain State Park (depending on the weather) in Houghton County with buses shuttling students back and forth from Campus to McLain and vice versa. The event runs from noon until 4:00 pm with student organizations setting up tables and events for the first-year and returning students to have an opportunity to learn about what organizations and student groups are available to them. There is going to be free food offered as well as live music and other fun activities. On the K-Day website you can explore more information about the music bands that are taking part in this year’s battle of the bands, see what student organizations are already registered, as well as who to contact and photos from previous years. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us and it will be a beautiful day to enjoy the festivities.
One of the biggest groups of students on campus are the Fraternities and Sororities. I can’t speak from my own personal experience, but I do know of several friends that have joined both Fraternities and Sororities and have had an amazing time. They tell me of all sorts of stories about the volunteering opportunities and the friendships that they have made through joining these organizations. Michigan Tech has a department known as Greek Life that works with the students involved in Fraternities and Sororities to help them. There are Leadership, Scholarship, and Service opportunities available through all these organizations as well as an opportunity to create life-long brotherhoods and sisterhoods. There is a Parents and Family page for this organization that is a letter from Jason Bergeron, Assistant Director for Greek Life and Leadership. If your son or daughter is thinking about or might be interested in a Fraternity or Sorority have them visit the different Greek Organizations when they attend K-Day or they can check out the Greek Life webpage for more information.
Family Weekend 2008
Many of you should be receiving a pamphlet in the mail this week from COMPASS that talks about Family Weekend. This year Family Weekend is on October 10 through the 12. This is a great opportunity to come up to Michigan Tech and visit with your student, see what they’ve been doing for the first month since the start of the school year. The brochure opens up with a personal letter from President Mroz and then continues on to list what to do to prepare for Family Weekend. The Family Weekend 2008 homepage is where families can register and sign up for events to attend. The website also has links for tickets, what events will be taking place, a recipe contest, lodging and more. The recipe contest was very interesting to me and the brochure talks about it on the bottom of the second page when you first open the brochure. It’s a chance for families to share their favorite foods with other Michigan Tech families and enjoy great food. The very inside of the brochure contains the entire weekend’s events, laid out for families to check over. There are events taking place on both Friday October 10 and continue on Saturday October 11. There’s so much to do that no family will be bored. I strongly encourage families to at least try and make it up for this weekend to visit and enjoy the fall colors with their students. It means a lot to the students and it is a great time. If you’re family is thinking about attending it is very important to get hotel rooms now as this weekend usually gets booked quickly.
I hope all of your students are enjoying their first week back and that the homework load isn’t too heavy just yet. If you have any questions or comments about this article feel free to email me at my personal email address. As always suggestions for future articles are welcome.
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885