A photo from Parents’ Weekend in October 1984.
A photo from Parents’ Weekend, dated 1976.
By Fiona Fu ’25 and Sophia Liao ’25
Generations of students have experienced the excitement of showing their families a glimpse of Choate life since 1928. That fall, the Choate School, a boys’ school at the time, held their first “Fathers’ and Sons’ Day.” As reported by The Choate News, the weekend of November 3, 1928 would be “given over entirely to the entertainment of visiting parents” and was “designed to increase the understanding and cooperation between students, fathers, and Faculty.”
In 1941, the Choate School began inviting students’ mothers to campus on a separate date known as “Mothers’ Day.” While Fathers’ Day was typically held in the fall, Mothers’ Day usually happened in conjunction with Prize Day and Commencement in May. There were some years, however, where Choate would conjoin the two in a “Parents’ Weekend.” Or, occasionally, Fathers’ Day would be moved to the spring and include alumni as well, many of whom had children attending the School.
Besides touring campus, sitting in on classes, watching games or performances, and mingling with other parents, Choate’s “Mothers’ Association” and “Fathers’ Association” would also meet during their respective weekends to discuss matters pertaining to the School, such as budgeting.
Records of Rosemary Hall, the girls’ school, are much sparser. However, photos and news clippings affirm that they had their own Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day by the 1960s as well. Their Fathers’ Day would coincide with the Hockey Banquet, during which the Rosemary Hall field hockey team would play a game and have a celebratory dinner.
When Rosemary Hall moved from Greenwich to Wallingford in 1971, the schools shared the weekend but held Rosemary Hall’s Fathers’ Day one day before Choate’s. So, while parents were welcome to stay both nights, events would be specific to Rosemary Hall and Choate on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
After Fathers’ Day weekend in 1973, the Administration commenced discussions for future improvements. Some of the questions asked in a memo included how to encourage more parents to visit, and whether or not there should be an opportunity for fathers of Choate students to meet the fathers of Rosemary Hall students. In 1974, the two schools finally combined their Mothers’ and Fathers’ Days to one Parents’ Weekend in October, and the timing of the event has been fairly consistent since then. It was renamed to Family Weekend last year to be more inclusive to different family structures.
Although the name, schedule, format, and programming of Family Weekend has evolved over the years, many hallmarks of the event have remained consistent. For example, parents have always been invited to attend their children’s classes and see the teachers work their magic firsthand. In addition, Choate’s sports teams, particularly football, have always played major games during Family Weekend.
One of the most important features of Family Weekend are the parent-teacher conferences, an opportunity for parents to meet each of their children’s teachers one-on-one. This scheduled practice only began in 1993 — prior to that, individual conferences were not scheduled into the weekend’s programming, and parents could only speak to teachers briefly by walking into their department buildings without a streamlined booking system.
With the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, the organization of Family Weekend was dramatically shifted. Instead of holding parent-teacher conferences on campus, families resorted to using Zoom to connect with teachers, advisers, and coaches. While the initial purpose of holding conferences on Zoom was to safeguard the health of the community, it has evolved to become a convenient and inclusive way to make conferences accessible to families that cannot come in-person.
“As a teacher, it is easier to ensure I can connect with every family no matter how far away they live,” Humanities teacher Mr. Jim Davidson said. “For international families in particular, who feel it’s really difficult to come for just a few days, Zoom really helps them out.”
Even as classes have returned to being in-person, Choate has continued to hold parent-teacher conferences virtually. Last year, parents could sign up for virtual parent-teacher conferences on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. However, this year, conference opportunities have expanded to offer times from Monday through Thursday, in both the morning and evening. This allows families in different time zones or with other scheduling conflicts to find a suitable time to connect with faculty, coaches, and advisers.
Reflecting on his 48 years at Choate, Mr. Davidson recalls one particular Family Weekend when John Madden, a Super-Bowl-winning football coach for the Oakland Raiders, came to visit his son Joe Madden ’85.
“He came and everybody was all agog. But he just said, ‘I’m here to watch Joe. Let’s turn our attention to the team,’” Mr. Davidson recounted. “Even though a lot of parents wanted a picture taken with him — and he was gracious — he deflected it. It was about watching his kids … He just wanted to know what his kids’ experience was.”
Family Weekend also highlights the interconnectedness of the Choate community, particularly for veteran teachers who have the opportunity to reconnect with old students unexpectedly.
“I’ve been here long enough that some parents that I’m seeing were students of mine,” said Humanities teacher Mr. Ned Gallagher, who has taught at Choate for 36 years. “They’ll come in, they’ll stop by my office and say hi, and it’s always a fun chance to just reconnect with people that I knew back then.”
Despite the many forms Family Weekend has taken on in the past century, its intent has always been clear: to give parents and families a chance to connect with the thriving community at Choate.
