As orange and red hues brighten our campus quads, we are breaking sweaters out of the bottom of our dressers and preparing our best tour guide impersonations to welcome you — our loved ones — to College Hill.
Whether you’re stepping foot on campus for the first time or revisiting favorite spots discovered during Family Weekends of years past, The Herald is here to help you cultivate a perfect visit and give you a glimpse into why our campus is a home away from home.
WaterFire is usually a staple of these October weekends. This year, due to University budgetary constraints, the public art exhibition won’t be offered. But be sure to reference “Your guide to Family Weekend 2025” to fill the gap with events and activities hand-picked by Herald staff members. Grab a meal on Thayer Street, attend a lecture from a renowned scholar or simply spend time with each other, relaxing under the falling leaves that are starting to carpet our sidewalks.
For many, Family Weekend is the perfect antidote to the pangs of homesickness that come from packing up childhood bedrooms and moving into dorms. But when we can’t see our parents in person, a call home — which occurs far less frequently than most parents desire — gives us the energy to power through the week.
Yet, year by year, the ache for home subsides as Brown becomes a second one. And as any home does, College Hill has shaped us in ways that we often do not know until later. For new and old Brunonians alike, this weekend is an opportunity to welcome you into our second home — and for our families to meet our chosen families. We hope you love it here as much as we do.
Amid a weekend chock-full of events and activities, we hope you take a brief pause from the bustle of campus life to share a meal, stroll across the Main Green and appreciate fleeting moments of togetherness. However brief these days may be, we hope you walk away with a sense of the people and places that make us feel like we belong — the community that turns College Hill into a home.
Editors’ notes are written by The Herald’s 135th Editorial Board: Tom Li ’26, Ryan Doherty ’26, Owen Dahlkamp ’26, Julianna Chang ’26, Anisha Kumar ’26 and Yael Wellisch ’26.
