From hiking at Old Man’s Cave or listening to some Beatles music, Dads Weekend served up success from its many activities.
Tyler Call, one of the leaders of the Outdoor Pursuits’ hike to Old Man’s Cave and a senior studying outdoor recreation and education, said Saturday’s trip gave people a chance to enjoy the nature surrounding Athens.
“For a lot of people that don’t grow up with nature settings, this may be a different kind of bonding experience to share the natural beauty with their family members,” Call said.
For those on the hike, father Tom Hamilton and his son, Andy, a freshman studying music production, said they enjoyed the scenic views that the trip had to offer.
“We got a chance to talk…I enjoyed doing that,” Tom said. “We’ve done some camping together, …but not a whole lot of nature type stuff, so I wasn’t sure quite how he would enjoy it, but he seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Any time you can get a teen to use their cell phone to take pictures of things you know you did something right.”
Andy said he liked getting a chance to catch up with his dad.
“I thought it was cool,” Andy said. “I thought we had a chance to talk whereas we don’t really have that a lot since we’ve kind of been away so I thought it was cool to catch up. I didn’t think I would like the nature as much, but it was all right.”
With the success of Saturday’s activities, Victoria Vincent, university events executive for UPC and a senior studying exercise physiology, said UPC’s Brunch with The Beatles brought the audience back with tribute band Abbey Road, and sold out the event.
“I would say today was a success definitely,” Vincent said. “Everything that we said we were going to deliver on, we delivered on. We had our photo booth, our caricature artist, the band’s been playing, they’ve been playing the whole time, so I think it’s been going well and people are enjoying it.”
Kip Traughber, an Ohio University alum, who attended the event with his daughter, AJ, a sophomore studying biology, said he was excited to see the band and be back at OU.
“I liked it,” Kip said. “I went to school here so it’s like coming back home.”
Listening to the music that they both love, AJ said it made the brunch a fun event for Dads Weekend.
“I’m enjoying it because its Dads Weekend and my dad and I both love The Beatles,” AJ said.
University officials are considering allowing parents into classes so they’re exposed to the academic side of OU, said Jenny Hall-Jones, dean of students.
“We’ve toyed around with those ideas to try to figure out could we have more of an academic component because right now it’s the social component it’s like go to the football game, go to the comedian…but we also think it would be really kind of fun and interesting for parents to see the faculty and the academic side,” Hall-Jones said.
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