Valerie Oti serves as the program assistant for Parents and Families Services and Kerri Fowler is assistant director of Parents and Families Services. Technician sat down with them to discuss Parents and Families weekend, which occurred last weekend.
Could you explain your roles in Parents and Families services?
“I manage the helpline, a phone number and an email where parents can contact us online with their concerns,” Oti said. “I also manage the parent volunteer program and the VIP program, which is a discount program for NC State families.”
“I oversee the various events and communications that we do, our parent-ally leadership program,” Fowler said. “We work in tandem, Valerie and myself with our director, Stacy Fair, to be a pipeline for parents, a support office for parents to try to help them help their students.”
What is Parents and Families Weekend?
“It is a weekend that invites parents back to campus,” Fowler said. “This week it fell 6 weeks after move-in, which is a good time for parents to come back and see how students are acclimating to the campus… Parents and families weekend is an example of when we want [families] to get involved with Wolfpack activities, experience some traditions alongside their student… and also get that peace of mind that their student is doing alright.”
“Our goal has always been for the weekend to be a reflection of campus life,” Oti said. “And that’s why we have been able to forge partnerships with various departments across campus to get everyone engaged.”
What have historically been the most popular events at Parents and Families Weekend?
“I think the obvious answer is the football game and the pre-game event,” Fowler said. “That’s usually one of the most popular events for students in general.”
What do you do to ensure that all families have access to activities that they would enjoy participating in?
“Especially in the past five years, we really have pushed for it to be an all-access event for parents,” Fowler said. “There may be a few people that are not interested in the football game… we have some events that require tickets and some that don’t, and when we’re looking at a reflection of campus life, we give them an opportunity to dine in the dining hall with their student, to paint the Free Expression Tunnel and also engage with campus partners and ask questions.”
For parents and families, I imagine that getting to this event is one of the most challenging parts in participating. What do you do to make this event affordable so that everybody can come and see their student and enjoy the festivities?
“The goal here is to make sure that parents can come and have a good time without paying for events,” Oti said. “Parents coming from long distances are able to receive discounts on hotels… We have it in mind when we design events for the weekend to make sure that some of our events are free.”
“We also work with athletics when looking at the game weekend to make sure that the ticket is an affordable game ticket but also a fun game ticket,” Fowler said. “We want as many families as we can fit in the stadium… we’ve reworked the whole way that the event flows so that more people can attend… we serve all parents, so we want our events to be open to all parents.”
How do you believe that this event extends to students that may not have family members who can make it to campus or students that don’t have contact with family members?
“You are a part of the Wolfpack family,” Fowler said. “If you’re not part of a cellular [family] unit or there’s not someone that you want to come to the game with, think about your friends, think about the support you’re getting right here on campus… think about someone whom you’ve turned to who’s now in your corner because that’s really what it’s about, having a fun weekend with that individual.”
“Our events are also accessible to students across campus,” Oti said. “As long as they are aware of all of the events, especially on main campus, they are welcome.”
