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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Going the distance, families travel great lengths for UA family weekend

The UA student body is comprised of residents from all 50 U.S. states. That means that this Family Weekend, families will be traveling far and wide to participate in the festivities.

Here is a snapshot of where just a few students’ families are traveling from:

Aside from cities in Arizona, the most commonly travelled-from state is California, specifically, Orange County. But family members are also flying in from every region of the U.S., from states like Georgia, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

While many students have family coming for the weekend, some don’t have family coming at all. Many family members are either too far, like in the case of some exchange students, or do not have the means to make the journey to Tucson.

Some students have family members coming—though not exactly for Family Weekend.

“[My french horn recital] is on Family Weekend,” said Wade Williford, a sophomore studying French horn performance. “We didn’t plan it that way, but it worked out.”

Williford’s mom and dad are flying in from Houston this weekend to watch his recital and to spend time with him.

Nick Flanery, a history and German studies senior, has his parents coming for Band Day instead of Family Weekend. Flannery’s parents come every year from Cincinnati to enjoy Band Day festivities, which happen to coincide with Family Weekend this year.

While a majority of those visiting this weekend are whole families, a few students’ family members are coming alone. Graham Smith, a physics junior, has a mother flying in from Georgia and Paige Hanraty has her mom, dad and sister flying in from Philadelphia.

Other students will have inverted family weekends, with either them visiting their families, or their families going away for vacation. Chris Vance, a physiology senior, has parents leaving from Tucson, without him, this weekend.

“My family lives [in Tucson],” said Vance, affirming that he is able to and does see them often. “But my family is actually in South America this weekend—they went away instead of visiting.”

Kaitlyn Martin, a psychology freshman and ride operator at Castles N’ Coasters, said she gets to see her parents every weekend when she drives up to Phoenix for her job, and this weekend is no exception.

Regardless of distance, some families will definitely be coming to the UA to spend the weekend with their Wildcats.


Follow Andy Alvarado on Twitter.


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