Over the weekend Penn State Behrend hosted its Parents, Families & Alumni Weekend. While the parents and family weekend is an annual event held on campus, this year's Alumni were also invited to join in honor of Behrends 70th anniversary.

There were plenty of activities for everyone to take part in such as Friday evening’s Penn State Football Watching Party, and Behrend After Dark. Saturday hosted most of the weekend's events with the family luncheon and carnival, horse-drawn trolley tours, the chancellor’s ice cream reception, and Glenhill Farmhouse Historic Tours.

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The Glenhill Farmhouse Historic Tours were a surprise hit to faculty and Behrend Alumni Society members who hosted it. The event which was scheduled on Saturday from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. didn’t wrap up until after 4 p.m. Crowds took turns walking through the house to admire the older building which has been turned into administrative offices. Viewers were greeted with facts about the old rooms and were able to see pictures of what the rooms looked like before they were converted into workspaces, thanks to the Behrend library archives.

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The weekend’s events were orchestrated by a few departments such as the Lion Entertainment Board, Student Leadership and Involvement, and, this year, the Alumni Relation Office. Lindsey Hopkins Hall, the associate director of Student Leadership & Involvement, was thrilled to report that this year's event went off without significant problems. The weekend, which takes nearly a year to prepare, drew in 1,200-1,300 people during its busiest time on Saturday. Hall didn’t take all the credit though, explaining that maintenance and operations make events like this possible. She said, “they are the ones who make things happen behind the scenes, they move tables and chairs from one place to the next, they make sure that everything is cleaned up, and campus is clean.” She also pointed out that the Housing and Food department does backflips to help host the event, stretching their resources thin to provide excellent food for all the events.

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The events change from year to year, but some of the most noteworthy of changes were created to entertain alumni. Kristen C. Comstock, the assistant director of alumni relations, had a huge hand in putting the alumni in Parent, Families & Alumni weekend. The idea was to add the alumni component to the Parents and Families weekend because there was so much going on, “and it was a great opportunity to capitalize on and take advantage of,” explained Comstock. The Alumni department started advertising for the event back in May, sending invitations to over 35,000 Alumni.

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 Alumni that attended were able to enjoy all the events that parents and families of Behrend were welcomed to, in addition to a trivia evening held at Pub & Pie. However, one of the highlights for the alumni relations office was brought to them by alumni Dominic Lamberti.

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Lamberti, a class graduate of 1974, was a member of the first classes to live in Perry Hall. He reached out to Comstock and said it would be great to get everyone together during a reunion in honor of the weekend's events. Comstock was disheartened to inform him that, unfortunately, they had no way of knowing who had stayed in Perry Hall all those years ago. Lamberti then presented her with a roster of students who had lived in Perry along with Niagra which opened the year after. The list was over 300 names, and they were all invited via email to join in on the reunion. Those who responded were able to enjoy a picnic held down in the grove and the director of housing and food services, Mike Lindner, was able to surprise the group with a visit to Perry Hall to view their old rooms, despite the ongoing renovations.

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Comstock was thrilled with how the weekend played out, explaining that it wasn’t just the Student Leadership and Involvement, and the Alumni Society that put the events together. “The whole university participated, each school was asked to create an activity for the weekend to feature in their open house” explained Comstock. As a result, the school of science did a hike in the Gorge, the school of engineering opened up their innovation commons and showed off their 3D printing, the school of business had alumni give lectures, and the school of humanities and social sciences had the band and choirs perform.

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Many students had family up to enjoy activities with them. Kerri Acierno, accounting alumni who graduated in 1990, came up for the day to enjoy the family events and spend time with her son, John Acierno, a sophomore studying chemical engineering. John was able to show his mom around campus including the new dorm buildings on campus, specifically the new Trippe hall which he lives in.

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Kerri Acierno wasn’t the only alumni who noticed a bunch of changes. James Bruce a recent computer engineering graduate and his uncle Bill Hadley a biology graduate of 1997 came up to enjoy the events and reminisce. They enjoyed eating at Bruno's and saw old college friends. Hadley explained that there, “is a lot more buildings and people,” than when he graduated in ‘97.

The weekend proved fun for faculty also as they joined in during activities. Randy Geering, the Senior Director of Business & Operations, brought his wife and granddaughter to join in on the fun and commented, “This is great though, to see how many people are here, this is amazing.”

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Whether student, family, friend or alumni of Penn State Behrend the weekend proved to be worth a trip. The event left people leaving with smiles on their faces, proud to say in some way, “We are.”