Grandparents (and Grandfriends) Day, organized by Director of Development Geno McKenna, will take place on Wednesday, November 23, in the Commons and Triton Center. 

Students can meet their grandparents in the Commons at 10 a.m. for coffee and visit for 30 minutes. Mass will follow at 11 a.m. in the Triton Center and go until 12:15. 

“I like the feeling. People are very excited when they come here. Grandparents usually don’t come to school often, and it’s a nice time to see them, and everyone’s excited,” said McKenna. 

The expectation is that about 375 grandparents will come to the event.  Students whose grandparents aren’t available are encouraged to invite “grandfriends” to the event.

Registration information was sent out to parents via email. 

“It’s up to the parents if they want to send it out to the grandparents,” said McKenna. 

If parents missed the email, the form is on the website under Events and Grandparents Day and will be open for registration until  Monday of Thanksgiving Week.

The staff parking lot will be open for all the expected visitors. 

“We have students that volunteer to open the doors to the atrium when the grandparents arrive, greeters at the door before mass, students outside with Mr. Masarik to assist with parking, and students standing on Maryhill to direct grandparents to the parking lot,” said McKenna. 

Students can volunteer to help by talking to Campus Minister Daniel Kriegl, who is in charge of the mass.

“It’s one of our most cherished days here at NDA,” added McKenna. “It’s kind of the last day of good weather for a long time, and it’s right before Thanksgiving.” 

Although he usually works with fundraiser programs, McKenna says Grandparents Day is not a fundraiser because it is all about people connecting with their family with joy.

“I like the feeling because it’s not often that grandparents come to our school, so you can just feel the excitement,” he said. “Plus, grandparents love nothing more than to see that their grandchildren care about them.”

Matthew Stein and Emma Zankoul, Journalism I students, contributed to this story.