With freshly fallen autumn leaves crunching underfoot, nearly 700 visitors arrived on Haverford’s campus for Friends & Family Weekend 2025, an annual celebration of connection and campus life. From academic sessions to hands-on workshops to photos with everyone’s favorite furry friend, the Black Squirrel, the weekend gave families the opportunity to see the College through their students’ eyes.
From Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, friends and families, alongside their Fords, engaged in campus and arboretum tours, lectures, and activities all designed to highlight the depth of the Haverford experience. The festivities began Friday afternoon with the grand opening of the Student Life Suite, a renovated space on the garden level of the Dining Center designed to foster student connection and engagement.
On Saturday, after delighting in regional treats at Wawa with Wendy, where guests learned more about campus priorities and shared their ideas and questions with President Wendy Raymond, they headed to Chase Hall to learn more about Fords’ entrepreneurial spirit in a session run by Shayna Nickel, director of the Haverford Entrepreneurship Program.
In Lutnick Library, Conservator Bruce Bumbarger led an interactive bookbinding workshop, introducing participants to the art of pamphlet-making, the 17th- through 19th-century equivalent of Twitter. Meanwhile, in the VCAM Maker Arts Space, families tapped into their creative side as they crafted miniature furniture while learning more about the creative space available to students.
Saturday’s “Fords & Friends: One Team Rally” brought the community together in a burst of Haverford spirit that coincided with a historic moment on the pitch: Men’s Soccer finished the season undefeated after topping rival Swarthmore 1-0. It was the team’s first undefeated season since 1945.
The weekend concluded with a Sunday morning gathering at the nearby Haverford Friends Meeting, offering a moment of reflection on the College’s Quaker roots and the value of community. As the images our photographers captured attest, Friends & Family Weekend 2025 was a vivid reminder of the connections that make Haverford feel like home.
Photos by Jon Yu ’12 and Patrick Montero.
