Fostering Connections at Homecoming and Family Weekend 2025
From alumni to parents, the Wesleyan community gathered on campus for a weekend of reconnection and exploration during Homecoming and Family Weekend from Oct. 24 to 26.
Attendees had access to a variety of talks, athletic games, campus tours, WESeminars, receptions, and exhibitions—including several opportunities to celebrate the culture and contributions of the University’s Asian American and Pacific Islander alumni.
Thousands of the Cardinal faithful came out to watch the football team’s back-and-forth, 31-21 victory over Amherst at Andrus Field. Wesleyan’s defense put on a standout performance, forcing four turnovers including a blocked punt by Dylan Connors ’26, which he returned for a touchdown in the third quarter to seal the third consecutive win in a Homecoming game. Saturday’s football matchup was one of a handful of athletic events on offer, including alumni games or team practices for softball, baseball, squash, women’s lacrosse, and field hockey.
Todd Norman P’29, Rob Kilroy P’29, and their families gathered side by side on Andrus Field for the customary pre-game tailgate as their sons—Henry Norman ’29 and Tommy Kilroy ’29—warmed up. Regulars at every game, the pair spoke about the strong sense of community they have found among Wesleyan football families and coaches, noting that the University’s smaller size fosters those meaningful connections.
“Some of our first experiences getting to know each other were back when our kids were still in high school, and we were invited to the pre- and post-tailgate gatherings,” Norman said. “You could already see the connection among the parents in the program, the support from the coaches, and the family atmosphere that defines it.”
The team also held a dinner on Friday honoring the 2010s All-Decade Team for their excellence on the field. Brandon Morris ’19, a linebacker at Wesleyan, returned to campus after he was named to the All-Decade team. Morris, who works at an alternative asset management firm in Los Angeles, spent the weekend reconnecting with friends and talking to current students pursuing careers in business. Many of the classes he took here were music classes, despite majoring in economics and data analysis. This has helped him think differently in his career.
“[Wesleyan] forced me to go out of my comfort zone, learn something completely different, learn about the culture [behind the music],” Morris said, “because when you're in those classes, it's not just scales and understanding, you have to understand the history.”
Kait Halibozek ’10, a member of the Alumni Association’s Executive Committee, said she gained confidence and skills at Wesleyan that were crucial for her career development in the film industry. “I really credit Wesleyan with the critical thinking skills and interpersonal skills to do that and to be successful in doing that,” she said.
For John Chun ’94, P’28 and Simona Kwon ’95, P’28, Wesleyan is more than the campus where they met as undergraduates—it is also where they got married. Back on campus this year to visit their son, Theo Chun ’28, the weekend offered them an opportunity to revisit familiar places, and reunite with classmates and other alumni friends from over the years.
“Wesleyan is where I grew up and became an adult,” Chun said. “It’s where I learned a lot about myself.”
Engaging seminars and events
On Friday, families and alumni were welcomed by President Michael S. Roth ’78 during his address in Beckham Hall when he emphasized the need to protect and preserve both higher education and civil society.
“In a time when there's this cultivation of obsequiousness, and people are training in servility and trying to figure out how to be obedient, the values of independent thinking and creative practice, of aspirations for excellence that demand freedom—those are such important values in the world,” Roth said. “They happen on [this] campus.”
Echoing these themes, panelists John Yang ’80, news anchor for PBS’ News Weekend, and Daniel Martinez HoSang ’93, professor of American studies at Yale University, explored some of the factors that led us to this political moment and how it affects AAPI communities at the 33rd Annual Dwight L. Greene Symposium on Saturday. This year’s symposium, which honors the life and work of professor of law Dwight L. Greene '70, focused on “Shifting Narratives: Asian American and Pacific Islander Politics and Identity in an Age of Polarization.”
Alongside the Dwight L. Greene Symposium, there were also events exploring the history of U.S. and China relations and its impact on liberal arts, a concert showcasing traditional Chinese and Taiwanese music, and organized meals to offer opportunities for AAPI alumni to connect and network.
Albert Ng ’98 recalled that when he was a student, there were opportunities for exploring AAPI cultures—many of which still take place today. These events include the Navaratri Festival, a large South Indian dance and music event series, or Chinese or Korean traditional dance performances, he said. Ng, who graduated with degrees in psychology and sociology, served as an alumni planning ambassador, helping to plan the series of events celebrating AAPI alumni. The group wanted to continue this tradition and embrace the nuances of AAPI identities in their programming.
“I think more importantly than trying to define who we are, is having the space to figure that out together,” said Ng, who leads Harvard University’s transportation planning work. “I think that's what this university does, is that it cultivates that space much more than telling you who you are. And that I think is invaluable.”
There were also events highlighting the work of key centers and programs, like the Center for Prison Education’s (CPE) WESeminar, “Sixteen Years of the Center for Prison Education.” CPE’s Campus Engagement Fellow Darlene De La Cruz ’25 explained that CPE is the longest-standing prison-education program in Connecticut and one of the few degree-granting programs in both men and women’s prisons in the United States. In those years, CPE has taught over 200 students, conferred more than 60 associate degrees, and after this fall, will have conferred 21 Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS) degrees.
This year, CPE launched Wesleyan’s Degree Completion Scholarship Program to ensure that when alumni come home, they can continue their studies. One of CPE’s first BLS degree completion scholars, Shakur Collins ’26, spoke about telling his story as the program’s public relations assistant.
“I was formerly incarcerated for 22 years and I’ve been home 11 months,” said Collins, “and in 11 months, there's not a day that I don't think about how can I tell my story in a way that assists people who are still struggling, who are not considered exceptional, people who are coming home, and trying to navigate what it means to be in this different type of space.”
New names, new beginnings
On Friday evening, a small crowd toasted the next chapter of the newly christened Belzberg World Music Hall, named for Wendy Belzberg, disability inclusion advocate and wife of Strauss Zelnick ’79. The cocktail-hour celebration featured a mesmerizing gamelan performance and shadow puppet play for an intimate audience, several of whom spotted their undergraduate selves in the 1970s photographs displayed on the hall’s carpeted risers. Ahead of an emotional embrace—the hall's renaming was a surprise for Belzberg—Zelnick reflected on the renovation funded through his gift as well as two of his most critical influences: his wife and Wesleyan.
“I attribute anything that I’ve been able to achieve professionally to both the education that I received here, but also the message that I learned here, which is that anything’s possible,” said Zelnick. “And I think that remains true today.”
The weekend also saw the re-dedication of the Patricelli Center for Entrepreneurship, which moved into a new space on the second floor of the Allbritton Center. The Center supports the work of Wesleyan students and alumni who are addressing social and civic issues through entrepreneurial solutions. It was first established in 2011 through a generous gift from the Robert ’61, P’88 ’90 and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation. After the ribbon-cutting, Patricelli Center Director Ahmed Badr ’20 led a fireside chat about entrepreneurship, passion, and life paths with Robert Patricelli, Chair of the Wesleyan Board of Trustees Phoebe Boyer ’89, P’19, ’23, and Sasha Chanoff ’94.
Through all the seminars, performances, games, exhibitions, and more, Homecoming and Family Weekend gave Wesleyans the chance to reconnect with the spaces and the people that helped them develop their ability to think critically, create dialogue, explore culture, and work for a better world.
Rose Chen ’26, Jeff Harder, and Ziba Kashef ‘92 contributed to this story.
