FUSA Brings College Experience to Siblings

During the weekend of Feb. 20-22, Fairfield students were encouraged to share their college experience with their siblings.

Sponsored by the Fairfield University Student Association, the annual Siblings Weekend featured numerous activities, including the award-winning comedian and juggler Marcus Monroe, an under-the-sea carnival, bingo and a movie night.

According to FUSA Chair of Programming Lindsey Hanley ‘15, over 70 siblings registered and attended Siblings Weekend this year, a slightly higher number than in previous years.

Freshman Emily Gaudet found the event accommodated for her sister’s age group well, who is a junior in high school.

“It gave her a good opportunity to get a good feel for college life,” she said.

However, Briana Morgado ‘18, felt that the amount of siblings in attendance could have been higher had FUSA advertised the event more, saying, “No one I’ve talked to knew about it.”

Despite this, Hanley viewed Siblings Weekend as an overall success.

“All of the events went off really well and everyone seemed to be having a good time,” she said.

Hanley acknowledged, however, that one of the most difficult tasks in organizing Siblings Weekend is finding activities that are suitable for a variety of different age groups, and that this is something that FUSA is looking to improve in years to come.

According to Hanley, FUSA faced a minor setback in planning the event when the original comedian they had booked had to cancel due to the weather, but despite this, “FUSA programmers did a great job troubleshooting,” and managed to book Monroe as a replacement.

Hanley attributes some of the success of Siblings Weekend to the fact that FUSA changed the process this year, which took some of the stress off the programmers.

“In the past we would have the Special Events board plan the entire weekend, which is usually only 2 or 3 people,” Hanley said. “We restructured the entire programming board a bit for the 2014-2015 school year which led to the chair and vice chair of programming overseeing the weekend and working, while each of our 10 programming boards were responsible for an event or checking everyone in.”