The weather begins to cool as the trees bordering the Quad turn a reddish hue. The smell of fresh apple cider and warm cider donuts, trademarks of the New England region, fill the surrounding air — along with the anguished cries of students who have discovered that tickets to the Homecoming football game have once again sold out.
Yes, fall is just around the corner and so are the newly-separated Alumni and Family Weekends, with the latter just one week away on Sept. 30th!
Many students were initially confused as to why the two events were held on separate weekends. According to Assistant Director of Student Involvement at URI, Maureen McDermott, the reason is in part due to the success and excellent play of the University’s football team.
“Demand for tickets is high,” McDermott said, “and when you combine Alumni and Family Weekend, it becomes very limited to who is able to get tickets”.
While Family Weekend is open to all families of URI students, McDermott mentioned that the historical majority of those planning a visit to Kingston are the families of first semester students.
“I want to say probably 80% of our population over the years is probably first-year [families], maybe 85%,” McDermott said.
“Families want to come back to see their kids, and it could be their first or their last, or whatever student is here in their line of children! They’re just excited to get back to see them.”
Despite the split, Family Weekend appeared to have bolstered it’s 2023 event lineup, with many fun activities taking place both on and off campus, ranging from the inaugural “Sea Services Symposium” on Friday at the Quad, to a Football Watch Party in the Brookside Hall multi-purpose room on Saturday for those unable to secure tickets to the marquee matchup against in-state rival Bryant University.
Two weeks later, Alumni Weekend kicks off on Oct. 14th when the football team takes on the University of Richmond at Meade Stadium. Lots of fun events are scheduled, such as public skating at the Boss Arena (1-2:50 p.m.), and the College of Pharmacy All-Years reunion at the famous “Rhodyville” block party (10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.).
However, according to the URI Alumni Center website, many events will be appearing for the first time on the Homecoming calendar, such as the Young Alumni social at the Charlie O’s Tiki Tavern, located next to George’s of Galilee.
Kathryn Vani, assistant director of alumni engagement at URI and an alum of the University, felt that the nostalgia of the location, once a college student hotspot for those living down the line, would create a unique homecoming experience.
“We thought that would be a cool idea because to alums 10 years out and younger, Charlie O’s meant a lot,” said Vani. “It’s not a thing anymore, but it’s kind of nostalgic to have that be part of the weekend, so that’s why we went with that venue.”
Michele Nota, vice president of alumni engagement at URI, feels that Homecoming is special because it is unique to each and every alum that returns to Kingston over the span of the event-filled weekend.
“Our alumni base, consisting of over 140,000 all over the world come back during Homecoming and have their own memories they want to relive,” says Nota.
“They enjoy their affinities through a reunion, or their own gathering and that’s happening even without us, which is actually kind of fun,” said Nota.
“We’ve heard of whole floors of dorms getting together in a house down the line for that weekend in an Airbnb. So we want to help them organize how they experience the University.”
Despite Homecoming only occupying three days on the calendar, preparation for the festivities began in January. The reason for this, according to Vani, is due to the sheer amount of partners that want to help contribute to a memorable weekend for URI’s alumni.
“We work with community partners, inter campus partners, vendors, outside vendors and we have relationships with food trucks,” Vani said.
“We just want to make it a community experience for alums. So that takes a lot of preparation and a lot of pre planning especially to get on people’s calendars to be made available for this weekend.”
For some alums, this will be their first time visiting since possibly when they left with their degree, and will return to a Rhody that has certainly changed since their time in Kingston.
“It’s so different for a lot of them to come back with all the new developments on campus,” Nota said. “It’s crazy for them to come back and see the progression, and just how things have changed over the years.”