Fordham Hosts Send-Off for Incoming Students and Their Parents

Members of Fordham’s Class of 2015 and their parents joined Fordham alumni, and they kept on coming. All told, more than 200 members of Fordham’s extended family from Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon and Passaic counties trekked into a wooded glade in Van Saun Park in Paramus, N.J., on Saturday, June 18, for a summer barbecue.

Forty Rose Hill and 10 Lincoln Center students engaged in animated conversations with their peers and made new friends, while Fordham alumni shared their college experiences and thoughts about Fordham with the students’ parents. People ate and lingered, groups shifted and generations mixed. For incoming students and their parents, it was a great initiation into the Fordham community.

Nine prizes, including Fordham T-shirts and hats, were raffled off.

Dawn-Marie Yardis, FCRH ’78, leader of the Fordham Alumni Support Team (FAST) for the Northern New Jersey Alumni Chapter, coordinated the event and created a festive atmosphere with maroon and white balloons and 22 tables covered in maroon tablecloths.

Fordham’s undergraduate admission and alumni relations offices co-sponsored the event, which was part of the University’s summer send-off program. Every summer, the University works with Fordham parents and alumni to host receptions across the country for incoming freshmen and their parents.

The regional events provide a unique opportunity for incoming students to meet fellow students in their neighborhood and for their parents to get to know each other.

—Sean McCooe, FCRH ’80, President, Fordham Alumni Chapter of Northern New Jersey