While college is a huge adjustment away from home, Bucknell is bringing a little bit of home to Lewisburg this weekend. 

The weekend of Sept. 16 is Family Weekend, and according to Amie Fox, Assistant Director of the Center for Alumni & Family Engagement, there are a number of activities planned. 

“It is going to be two days of fun bonding experiences that’ll certainly create memories for life,” Fox said. 

Fox has been planning the event for the past 10 months, beginning with the largest events such as the entertainment and meals under the tent, which involves coordinating vendors, catering and staff and then coordinating those events with the campus events that are already in place, such as athletics. 

“Our planning process began at the end of last year’s Family Weekend going through feedback surveys that went to families and faculty and staff debrief documents,” Fox said.

After the first stages of the planning process, Fox reached out to campus departments that have done events in past years for Family Weekend, including all of the academic departments, Student Affairs and University Affairs. From there, she began building a schedule. 

Her team then built a website for families and a registration form and created a communication strategy. Once all of that was in place they worked with families to coordinate their individual needs, everything from dietary restrictions to personal preference on the activities.   

The weekend is advertised extensively by the University, partly because it is going to look a lot different than the previous couple of years. 

The COVID-19 pandemic created policies and procedures that repeatedly changed the way Family Weekend could be the past two years. But this year, the consistency and similarity to that of before COVID-19 will certainly be back on campus. 

“The schedule is able to be much more comprehensive this year and features some new events such as Happy Hour Trivia and the Murder Mystery Dinner that we think provide a good variety of entertainment,” Fox said. 

Currently, there are 55 events happening this weekend. About a quarter of those events involve outside vendors, another quarter are student performances or athletics events and the rest are put on by faculty and staff. 

“Each event is pretty individualized,” Fox said. “We try to have something for everyone including events that are educational, active, entertainment and school spirit based.” 

Not all parents can make the drive (or flight) out to Lewisburg to see their son or daughter this specific weekend. Currently, about half of students will have family members attend Family Weekend ranging from parents and grandparents to siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends.

Fox expects around 4,000 participants during the weekend with nearly 3,800 currently pre-registered.  

And while the planning of Family Weekend is one thing, the anticipation for it on behalf of student’s is another. After asking a few student’s their thoughts, there seems to be a variety of plans. 

“I really am looking forward to seeing my mom and my sisters because I miss them very much,” Tim Goodrich ’26 said. 

Maddie Heinemann ’26 also said that though she doesn’t have any formal plans for the weekend, she can’t wait to see her family and indulge in the creative activities that are prepared.

Mateo Herrera ’26, athlete for Men’s Varsity Water Polo team, is also very excited to see his family come all the up from Florida to watch him play for the first time in-person. 

For specific times and the full schedule of events, check the plan here.