Junior Parents Flock to Harvard

Junior parents got to feel like kids again this weekend.

Not only did hundreds of parents come to campus, as they do every year for Junior Parents’ Weekend, but juniors and their parents even crowded Eliot House dining hall to capacity this Saturday for a class-wide ice cream bash—where they consumed 23 gallons of frozen treats.

The bash, a new part of the weekend this year, was a send-off for the 1,300 parents who registered for this weekend’s events.

Mothers received star treatment at the luncheons in the House dining halls on Saturday. Upon arrival, dining hall workers presented junior mothers with pink carnations.

Parents and students all enjoyed a special meal of made-to-order pasta dishes.

Several area hotels were booked full, including the Charles Hotel, where junior parents occupied about 80 percent of its capacity, or 230 rooms, said Beatrice Lehmane, a reservation agent at the Charles. The hotel even set out a spread of drinks and snacks in its lobby Friday afternoon.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 said he was pleased that many parents made the trip in spite of increased anxiety about travel.

“The reports I heard from masters and senior tutors were that the receptions were very well attended,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I am glad that so many parents were able to attend, and that travel worries seem not to have kept them away.”

Student performances and panel discussions entertained parents throughout the weekend.

A program at Sanders Theatre called “Snapshots of the Arts” included appearances by the Opportunes, an a capella group, Expressions, a dance troupe, and the ’03 Steppers, a team of juniors who chant class slogans as they perform their step dance routine.

The Immediate Gratification Players, an improv group, and the Collegium Musicum choir performed in other separate events.

Members of Un Poquito Más, a Latin American band that played at Cultural Rhythms last month, said they were excited about the chance to perform for a receptive crowd of junior parents at the Eliot ice cream bash.

“It was wonderful because we always love playing for new audiences, and a lot of us are juniors so it was a great opportunity for us to show our parents what we do,” said Veronica M. Wissel ’03, one of the band’s three lead singers.