Saint Mary's hosted the fathers of the Class of 2010 Friday through Sunday for the annual Senior Dad's Weekend, a tradition at Saint Mary's.
"The purpose of the weekend is for the senior class to escape from all the finals and papers we have due this time of year and spend a weekend with our dads," senior class president Kelly Lyons said.
Lyons, who has been looking forward to this weekend since her sophomore year, was excited to plan the weekend's events with the class board, she said.
"We chose our particular events because we wanted dads and daughters to have the chance to spend time together and meet their daughter's friends and their fathers," Lyons said. "We were really happy with the turn out to all of the events this weekend."
The father-daughter weekend began Friday with registration in Madeleva Hall at 5:30 p.m. followed by College President Carol Ann Mooney's address to the seniors and their dads in Carroll Auditorium.
The other event of the night was a beer garden in the dining hall from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Students sat around talking while having a beer with their friends and their dads. At one point during the event, some students played a game of flip cup with their fathers.
"We wanted to provide time for dads and daughters to go to dinner in between registration and President Mooney's address and the beer garden," Lyons said. "We also provided wine and pop for those who don't like beer or weren't old enough to drink."
Saturday, the class board held a game of trivia for students and their fathers in the Student Center Lounge.
Trivia questions covered a wide range of topics including Saint Mary's history, Notre Dame football, movies, current events and 90's trivia.
Trivia teams consisted of three dads and three daughters.
The highlight event of the weekend for senior Martha Walter was the Notre Dame vs. Army game watch at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown South Bend Saturday night.
"I always watch the games with my dad at home," Walter said, "It was nice to have a chance to just relax for the evening and watch it with him. There was food and a bar, and at halftime we walked around to the Hall of Fame."
Lyons also enjoyed the game watch.
"My most memorable moment for the weekend was watching the Notre Dame game at the Hall of Fame with all my dad, friends and friends' dads," Lyons said. "I think the game watch was the most popular event, but we had an overwhelming turnout for all of our events this weekend."
The weekend culminated on Sunday with Mass at the Church of Our Lady of Lorreto at 11:15 a.m.
Walter said she enjoyed the planned events, but said the quality time with her dad was best part of the entire weekend.
"The events were fun," Walter said, "but it was awesome just to hang out and catch up."
Sometimes we go a while without talking on the phone or anything because this has been such a busy year, so it was good to just have a chance to talk and enjoy each others company."
"Even though I only live about a half hour away, I don't get a lot of free time to go home," she said, "so it was fun have a chance to spend some one-on-one time together. My dad loves coming to visit and seeing where I have classes and what my life is like here."
Lyons said the weekend was successful.
"I think the weekend went well," Lyons said. "From those that I spoke with and from my experience everyone had a great time with their dad and enjoyed the opportunity to spend time together."
