Although the university offers planned events for Sibs Weekend, many students forgo those and show their siblings Athens in a more personalized way.
The university offers events ranging from ziplining at The Ridges to sports events, but for Meena Patel, a freshman studying sociology and criminology, none of those events are as good a fit for her twin sister’s visit as going to play with puppies.
“(Because she has a car), we’ll go to Petland for sure,” Patel said. “We have a Petland at home, and last time we went home, instead of meeting at our house, we came straight from school and went to Petland.”
Patel also plans to show her sister some of the nature Ohio University offers. She said her sister has never been to Athens aside from driving through.
“She hasn’t really seen the campus,” she said. “So I’m going to take her to Bong Hill and the pond on South Green.”
Michaela Sturgill, a freshman studying wildlife and conservation biology, is also planning to incorporate dogs into her Sibs Weekend events.
Recently, she went through the process of registering her dog to live in the dorms with her, and the puppy is coming to live with her Saturday. She said her sister is very excited.
“(My sister) said, ‘Why don’t you just wait and get (the dog) when I’m there, and I can help you,’ ” Sturgill said. “I think she’s more excited than I am.”
She also plans to give her the college experience she never had.
“She didn’t really get into the college experience,” Sturgill said. “She went to a really small college back home … so she’s never been inside a dorm, never been on a big campus, and she’s really excited to see what it’s like.”
Philip Hickey, a sophomore studying integrated media production, has found a way to show his sister, Kate, the work he does and the career field he wants to go into.
Hickey is bringing his sister to the 48-hour shootout, a weekend-long event in which groups of amateur filmmakers team up and work to make a short film in only 48 hours.
Even though she is not allowed to help with the production, Hickey said he’s excited for her to just be on set spending time with him and watching the process.
“This is her first Sibs Weekend, so I feel bad that I’m dragging her around for media things,” Hickey said. “We’ll still hang out. The shootout is only half making things and half goofing around at Alden at four in the morning.”
This weekend will not be the only time Kate has been exposed to her brother’s productions. Hickey said he’s enlisted her help on small projects in the past, but those projects were not as “ridiculous or intense” as the shootout will be.
Although the shootout is going to take up much of the weekend, Hickey said he and Kate will have some free time on Saturday to see what the campus has to offer.
“I’m not in the editing process,” Hickey said. “So we’ll probably go find a punk rock show or something Saturday night.”
As far as the events on campus go, Hickey is not impressed. He would prefer to show his sister a side of the campus that the university doesn’t offer events for.
“I hate the idea of manufactured fun … it’s like ‘Hey, come to college and do these predetermined activities,’ and that’s not what college is like,” he said. “College is fun, I’d rather go find a horrible punk rock show.”
