A weekend filled with Lion Pride and family drew record attendance as more than 3,500 participants joined LMU’s annual Family Weekend from Feb. 16-19 for basketball games, senior toasts, the first Black Family BBQ, a Mass, performances, and more.
“It was wonderful to meet so many parents and families throughout our family weekend events,” said Senior Vice President Kawanna Leggett, Ed.D.
Lion families started arriving for Family Weekend on Thursday evening to join the crowd at Gersten Pavilion for the men’s basketball game vs. Gonzaga. On Friday, Feb. 17, families and students checked in at the Collins Center, where they received badges, tickets to various events, and a Lion Pride T-shirt to wear throughout the weekend.
One of the newer events for the weekend was a reception hosted by Leggett and Student Affairs leaders, where they met families and discussed their student’s experiences at LMU. “It was inspiring to hear the changes family members have seen in their students and the impact our community is having,” Leggett said. “We saw a record number of families this past weekend, and I can’t wait to celebrate with Lion families again next year.”
Over 250 families and students from the Class of 2023 celebrated their final year on the bluff with LMU Alumni and Family Engagement during the annual Senior Family Toast event in Roski Dining Room. Seniors and their families enjoyed bites to eat and toasted with beer from alumna Allison Kolb ’94 of Scholb Premium Ales. Christian Bartels, father of Emma Bartels ’23, offered the final toast of the evening for this year’s graduating class by saying, “The anxiety of picking the perfect college, a distant memory and definitely now achieved, LMU has been intrinsic in forming these kids into thoughtful, educated individuals, socially aware adults.”
On Friday evening, more than 3,500 students, friends, and family members joined the LMU Sorority and Fraternity Life community for the annual Lip Sync Competition, raising more than $38,000 for the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, the largest provider of financial assistance to families of kids with cancer in the U.S. Joe McDonough, Andrew’s father, who runs the B+ Foundation, flew to L.A. from the East Coast for the evening to speak about the impact of events like LMU’s Lip Sync competition have had on the lives of children fighting childhood cancer. The competition had three miracle-minute moments, where the audience was encouraged to raise extra donations and support their favorite sorority or fraternity for the People’s Choice award. All the donations went back to the B+ Foundation throughout the song’s length. The audience also participated by shining lights from their phones and yelling “Go, Sage,” to record a video encouraging one of the children battling pediatric cancer.
The evening concluded with the announcement of the winners of the competition for various awards:
- Fraternity Winner: Delta Sigma Phi, InterFraternity Council
- Sorority Winner: Alpha Chi Omega, Collegiate Panhellenic Council
- Most Entertaining: Alpha Phi, Collegiate Panhellenic Council
- Best Story: Delta Gamma, Collegiate Panhellenic Council
- Choreography: Alpha Delta Gamma, InterFraternity Council
- People’s Choice: Kappa Alpha Theta, Collegiate Panhellenic Council
- Largest Amount of Donations: Sigma Chi, InterFraternity Council
More than 250 families participated in the first-ever Black Family BBQ held at Family Weekend on Saturday at The Mbongi Spot. Families enjoyed great food, music, and performances from Kuumba, one of LMU’s dance crews. In the afternoon, families gathered on Alumni Mall, where several food trucks and community partners came together to host LMU’s Game Day Experience. Families could view the games outside while playing lawn games or head inside Gersten Pavilion to watch the action in person as women’s basketball took on Pepperdine University and men’s basketball took on Pacific University, both victories for the Lions. The evening concluded with the opportunity to watch three of LMU’s dance crews, Radix, Genesis, and Kuumba, performed on the Drollinger Stage.
On Sunday, Lion families attended Mass in Sacred Heart Chapel. Then they joined Ethnic and Intercultural Services in Sunken Garden for performances from student groups Kuumba, Grupo Folklórico, and Han Tao. Families also enjoyed tamales and pupusas from local community partners before departing.
Other sessions held throughout the weekend offered families the opportunity to learn about LMU’s campus, programs, and services:
- Campus Tours
- Career and Professional Development
- Campus Safety Services
- Intercultural Spaces
- LMU 101: A History
- LMU Dining
- SPS Support and Wellness Resources
- Study Abroad
- Student Housing
- Student Leaders in Justice and Faith Programming
- Tours of Sacred Heart Chapel.
