Rams enjoy revamped Homecoming and Family Weekend
By Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriguez
Associate Editor
On a pair of warm and sunny fall days, Framingham State University held its Homecoming and Family Weekend. Families visited their loved ones, alumni returned to their alma mater, and current students took the time to enjoy the festivities on Oct. 2 and 3. The weekend was packed with many activities. On Friday, there was the Campus Fitness Center's grand opening, welcome receptions for each of the University’s four colleges, a family game night, a Suit Jacket Posse (SJP) show, and the “Moonlight Breakfast.” On Saturday, there was the “Walk and Talk” with the Wellness and Prevention Center, a career development panel, the city’s “Framingham Fest” right across Route 9, the University’s “Festival FSU” in and around the McCarthy Center, and several sports games. Rachel Spezia, associate dean of students, said Homecoming and Family Weekend as a whole was planned by a steering committee made up of various departments, such as Athletics, Student Experience, Family Engagement, Alumni, Communications, and Campus Events. The committee also had a student representative, senior English major Dylan Pichnarcik, she added. The committee started planning in the spring, she said. “We all come together and focus on the traditions that we have, but also bring new ideas,” Spezia said. She said there were changes this year to get more student organizations involved. The number of people who went to the Moonlight Breakfast, which was revamped by Meghan Larkin and Chris Addario, tripled, she said. “I feel like we made some really good changes that resulted in more people attending and people being satisfied with the weekend,” Spezia said. She said there were six alumni vendors at Festival FSU. Additionally, there was also a balloon artist and a magician, she added. Eric Gustafson, vice president of university advancement, said over 200 alumni went to Homecoming and Family Weekend, though that is an estimate. He said Homecoming was a University-wide event that involved everyone. Getting students, family, alumni, faculty, and staff together for such an event was a “rare occurrence,” Gustafson said. The Athletic Hall of Fame was a great way to honor athletes of the past, he added. Liz Phillips, the director of alumni relations, said the committee that planned Homecoming tried to make sure that everyone could be included in the festivities. There were many different events so that everyone could find something they enjoyed, she said. She said there was a boost in attendance throughout the weekend. “It was really exciting to see so many familiar faces and some new folks coming back to campus,” Phillips said. The Moonlight Breakfast was Friday night, and it was full of students, their families, and alumni. At the breakfast, there were DJs and music-based BINGO. One of the DJs was senior international business major Nathan Piette. He said he DJs public and private events as a job. “But it’s extra fun when I get to DJ for my friends at school,” Piette said. SGA was asked to help out at the Moonlight Breakfast, he said. Piette is vice president of SGA. “I think we got the best job,” he said. He described the food as very “breakfast for dinner.” SGA Senator and senior finance major Khoa Bùi said the breakfast was one of his favorite events. “We had a lot of administrators as well as members of SGA help out, like staffing the event, playing music, and serving food, just having a great time,” Bùi said. There were also tables for affinity group meet-ups, including veterans and active military, the CIE, legacy families, Hilltop, and The Gatepost. Several members of the administration were involved in running the breakfast, including President Nancy Niemi. Niemi said she always participates in the Moonlight Breakfast and believes it is a good time to celebrate with everyone. “I mean, who can not be happy eating French toast sticks and maple syrup at 10:00 at night?” Niemi asked. She said she’s proud to serve her community. “I love feeding people, making them happy, and working. They’re always surprised when they see us serving them, but I think we should,” Niemi said. She said she was looking forward to the other activities throughout Homecoming and Family Weekend, such as the sports games and the festivals on campus and in the city. Niemi said that Homecoming changes over time. “Different classes of students and their families have different relationships to it. So it’s just a great time to welcome the community back and say, ‘We’re so glad you’re here. Let’s celebrate!’” Niemi said. Vice President for Student Affairs Meg Nowak Borrego said she enjoys the Moonlight Breakfast every year, and it had new attractions this year. “The students and staff added new things. The music, the games, and then we have alumni affinity groups here now,” Nowak Borrego said. She said she likes the fact that Homecoming is combined with Family Weekend. It places both families and alumni on campus and gives students opportunities to interact with them both, she said. “I just love the energy and having all the people on campus this weekend,” Nowak Borrego said. She said she was glad there were activities on both Friday and Saturday, so that families who could only come on one day would still get a fun experience. Nowak Borrego said she hopes students who don’t have visiting family still enjoyed the weekend and “hopefully feel welcome at all the events, and it doesn’t feel like you can’t go because your family’s not here.” Senior English major Marlín Polanco said she was looking forward to enjoying the food and company. “They don’t do this often, and it seems pretty cool. So, you know, I thought it’d be fun to community build and see what’s going on,” Polanco said. Sophomore computer science major Vincent Nacedo said he had a fun time at the Moonlight Breakfast and he enjoyed the muffin he had. Senior finance major Yair Rachmany said he came to the breakfast for the food and the community. “I’m a big fan of the moon, and I love breakfast. The combination of the moon and breakfast sounds incredibly good. And I also love free food,” Rachmany said. At a table for The Gatepost was Alex Smith, an alumna from 2008 who majored in communication arts and minored in journalism. She was at The Gatepost for two years after she transferred to Framingham State in 2006, she said. She worked as a graduate assistant for The Gatepost for the 2011-2012 academic year, she said. At the time, she was in graduate school at Emerson College. “So I would come in on Thursday night and help lead copy edit sessions and mentor students and talk to students about different aspects of journalism and communications and media,” Smith said. On Saturday, the University held Festival FSU from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The City of Framingham held Framingham Fest, a separate festival in the Framingham Center, right across Route 9 from campus. The featured transport between Festival FSU and Framingham Fest was the Black & Gold Express Trolley. Phillips said that instead of competing with the city’s Framingham Fest, the committee decided to invite them to be part of Homecoming. “They made us part of their Framingham Fest, which is why we incorporated the trolley this year, to get people to Bowditch, to Maple, to Framingham Fest, and to Salem End and McCarthy,” Phillips said. At Framingham Fest, she saw Sam the Ram compete in the mascot competition, she said. Sam came in second out of the 15 mascots around the city, she added. At Festival FSU, there were several events, including a student organization fair, multiple classroom experiences, a Taste of Culture held by the CIE, a Reset Room held by the Wellness and Prevention Center, and off-campus vendors. Another event was the “DuckQuest.” Pichnarcik said the University holds the “DuckQuest” every year. “We hide a bunch of rubber ducks on the upper part of campus,” Pichnarcik said. Each duck corresponded with a prize, he said. Emma Laurie, the program coordinator for the CIE, said the Taste of Culture had foods from several different countries. In the past, the Taste of Culture events were focused on one culture, she said. “But we decided that we wanted to bring it all together for Homecoming this year, so that students who may otherwise not have visited O’Connor Hall could have seen it here with their families as well,” Laurie said. They had dishes from Brazil, Mexico, Jamaica, Nigeria, Taiwan, Syria, Israel, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and China and Southeast Asia, she said. They also had a table run by Shani Turner, a member of the Indigenous Natick Nipmuc tribe, which encompasses the Framingham area. She said she is an “Indigenous interpreter or artisan.” Across her table were several of her artifacts, including furs from various animals and her family’s regalia, she said. She said she was lucky to have built a bond with the University. “We had a mural that was created in the library, so I was there and I danced at the mural,” Turner said. Pam Lehmberg, director of Wellness & Prevention, ran the Reset Room, which was a quiet room with calm music, drinks, and small activities. “We wanted a space where people could come and do relaxing activities - a little break from all the excitement around, to do coloring, meet other people, chat over some beverages, some games, breath work, origami, all those different things,” Lehmberg said. This was the first time they held a space like this during Homecoming and Family Weekend, and it appeared to be a success, she said. Students and families sat around the table, coloring and conversing with each other. Senior pre-health major and SEALS member Iz Shields said she and a few other SEALS were working with Lehmberg to host the Reset Room. “We talk to other students who come to the event, share the resources, try to make people feel kind of more comfortable,” Shields said. Jenny Callaghan is an alumna from 2005 with her bachelor’s and 2008 with her master’s, both in elementary education. She teaches in Franklin, and she runs a side business called “Hook and Whiskers,” she said. She was running a table full of crochet animals with her son. She started her business when her husband asked her what she was going to do with all of the crocheted animals and clothes she made, she said. Normally, she crochets animals, but in the winter, she’ll sometimes make winter hats, she said. She’s invited every year by Spezia, she said. This was “my third or fourth year. Sometimes, like last year, we were outside. So yeah, she just invites us as part of Homecoming,” Callaghan said. She and her husband met each other at Framingham State, she added. They were planning on seeing one of the games. At another table was Emerson Harris, an alumna from 2024. She majored in fashion design, and she’s a content creator who goes by “Candymon.” Her work focuses on Japanese pop culture, she said. She works as a vendor at several anime conventions and music events. “My goal is to spread Japanese music culture into the United States,” Harris said. She mostly sells candy bracelets, and she works on the board of an independent Japanese music nonprofit called “Idol Rhapsody,” she said. When she was at FSU, she was very involved in extracurriculars, she said. “I was Anime Club president for two-and-a-half years, and I was also heavily involved in the Gaming Club, and the Film Club, and the Comic Book Club while I was here,” Harris said. Zoe Moore, an alumna from 2014, majored in English, and now works for the Division of Graduate and Continuing Education (DGCE). She was running a table for DGCE. She said they “wanted to increase our visibility to undergraduate students on campus to talk about our graduate programs if they want to return for grad school.” Part of their table was a “leaves of gratitude” project, where attendees wrote what they were grateful for about their experience at the University, she said. “We’re not quite sure what we want to do with the leaves yet. We might make a tree, or a wreath, or a festive garland in the DGCE office,” Moore said. She encouraged undergraduate students to visit their office in Dwight Hall, room 202, if they’re interested in graduate school, she said. SGA ran a tie-dye table out on the hill up to Crocker and May Hall. Bùi said that at the table, everyone received a piece of cloth and learned how to tie-dye different patterns. “They get to pick from a variety of colors, and they get to learn how to do different patterns of tie dye, and then they can take their piece home afterwards,” Bùi said. Sabrina Grammatic, program coordinator for the Center for Student Experience and Career Development, said she helped the student organizations with the signups, activities, and being available to assist during the event, she said. Grammatic is also an alumna from 2022 with her bachelor’s and 2023 with her master’s in English, she said. Her favorite part of Homecoming was the Duck Quest and seeing families have a good time, she said. “The vibe has been really good for all of Homecoming, I think. So we’ve really been bringing the atmosphere,” Grammatic said. [ Editor’s Note: Dylan Pichnarcik is Editor-in-Chief, Nathan Piette is a Staff Writer, and Sabrina Grammatic is a co-Advisor for The Gatepost. ]
