So as I wrap up another Parents Weekend, I think of all the ones I have experienced as a student and as an administrator. How I experience Parents Weekend today is somewhat influenced by my experiences as a student. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I would be going to boarding school at some point during my parents' time overseas and when we reached Niamey, Niger with an American International School that only went up to 9th grade, it pretty much sealed the deal. With two older siblings who also went off to boarding school, I embraced the opportunity and was mentally prepared to be that far away from my parents at thirteen years old. I will admit that over the course of those four years I was never a student that had to deal with homesickness or anything of that nature. What I will also say is that while I didn't experience homesickness, Parents Weekend was the one time of the year that it got a bit tough. It was hard to see most students walking around with a family member who got a chance to experience their student's classes, extracurriculars, and friends. My parents never sat through my Geometry, US History, or Creative writing classes. My parents didn't meet my advisors or ever see me play any of my three sports. They didn't even really get to meet my friends whom they had heard so much about until my graduation or even later. The thing was that I knew this going in and was able to manage it for the most part, but during each Parents Weekend there were those times when I wished that my parents could just see a glimpse of my life at school.
All these years later, as an educator I remember that feeling and can imagine that there are students on my campus who get those same pangs during Parents Weekend. While I can't take away that wish of having their parents in the classroom or on the sidelines, I can step in every now and then. So that is what I do. I try to pay attention and make note of those students in my grade or my advisees whose parents aren't able to make it and I adopt them for a class period. It's not something I discuss with them ahead of time. I just show up for them so I can see them in action in the classroom. I've been able to attend some dance, french, calculus, science, and history classes. It's actually really fun for me (well, calling attending calculus fun is a bit of a reach for me). I get to attend a few classes, see the student in action, see my colleagues in action, and I get out of the office. Of course, at the heart of it is that if the student can have once less pang in their day then it's a good thing. Throughout my high school and college careers, I had a few of my friends' parents who cheered me on at games, had me over for Easter Dinner, took me in during a snow storm, helped me on my way to my Aunt's in Baltimore on major breaks, and even facilitated a college visit to Atlanta so I could make an educated decision. My parents may have been far away, but I had a lot of families who made sure I was cared for. So if I can do a fraction of that for a student throughout the course of the year, including on Parents Weekend, then I have succeeded in paying that care forward. And to those families who were there for me when my parents weren't able to be, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
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