Juniors' parents swarm The Bluff

By Kate Peifer, Staff Writer -- peifer14@up.edu

Parents to your left and parents to your right. Parents in the day and parents out at night!

Last weekend, UP hosted the annual Junior Parents and Families Weekend, an event for students and their families to embrace, tour, smile and converse about their lives on The Bluff.

"This was a good excuse for my parents to come down and see me," junior Hilary White said. "I'm able to show them my school and what I do everyday and also Powell's and downtown Portland."

White's parents and sister visited Hilary from Bothell, Wash. to see the place Hilary has called home for the last three years.

"It's great to see her in her own element," said Mary White, Hilary's mother. "She feels comfortable being herself here and I can see that."

"Yeah, herself in a galaxy far, far away," Doug White, Hilary's father, chimed in.

Although the White family decided to go off campus to spend quality time with Hilary, the UP campus was buzzing with activities and events all weekend.

Junior Mallory Milligan and her mother attended the "Life After College" presentation.

"My mom found this really interesting, and even though I felt like it was all stuff that I had been told before it quickly became apparent that my mom hadn't," Milligan said. "Now that she does know, I realize that she will be pushing those things discussed during the meeting a ton more."

Another event on campus called the College Bowl involved a trivia game where two opposing teams, the parents and the students, participated in a competition to answer trivia questions.

"Since 2003, never ever have the students beat the parents," Jeromy Koffler said.

Approximately 20 families attended the event, joining in on friendly jeering and parents applauding parents and students supporting their peers.

Despite their best effort, this year was no exception.

The parents kept the winning streak alive, showing the kids who was still in charge.

"This was so much fun and definitely something we all enjoyed," Cecille Nazareno, mother of junior Job Nazareno, said.

From Sacramento, Calif., the Nazareno family enjoyed seeing Job in his everyday life at UP.

"He is very comfortable and very much at home here," Cecille said. "He wants to stay on campus instead of staying with us at our hotel because of his friends. "

"That's fine because he is comfortable and this is his home and they are his family, too," Job's father, Angelo, added.

Job's sister, Jane, got to spend time with her brother and tour the campus as a prospective student.

"She is a senior this year and got accepted," Cecille said. "So now she is weighing her options and gets the chance to see the campus for herself."

The relationship parents and family members have with their child often changes once they leave home.

According to Hilary, she and her family have grown closer since she began college.

"She is older and more independent now," Doug said. "You only have so many years to train your child and then you back off and hope they take those lessons they learned with them."

"Which I have for the most part," Hilary added.

Hilary and her sister have grown from sisters to best friends.

"We understand each other and relate to each other more," Hilary said.

Other events of the weekend included a country hoedown, a Portland Taiko performance, a president's luncheon and Sunday Mass and brunch.

"We also attended Juniors Mass on Sunday morning, and hadn't planned for it to be as crowded as it was," Milligan said. "Altogether, everything was very lovely, and honestly with all the stress junior year has brought, I was so thankful for a weekend to take a mental break with my mom."

The weekend was also an opportunity for students to show their parents where they take classes, as well as show their appreciation.

"It's great to show them every thing they've given me," Hilary said. "I'm so thankful."