Creighton’s 15th annual Lil’ Jays Weekend event welcomed young relatives and friends of current Bluejays for a weekend of fun activities.
This event serves as a great opportunity for children to visit with their older siblings as well as to experience a bit of college life.
Creighton’s Inter Residence Hall Government (IRHG) hosts the event
each year.
According to community outreach chair Sara Sanders, Lil’ Jays Weekend is a fun time for current students, or “big Jays,” to spend time with their younger siblings without taking a break from classes.
“This time of year can get kind of stressful, and it’s always fun to have your little sibling around and enjoy the nice weather,” Sanders said.
Programming chair for IRHG, Sonnie Lee, had his younger brother on campus for the event last year.
“[My brother] actually wanted to visit me sometime, and I was like, oh, this is the perfect weekend! It’s tailored toward siblings … so I had him come at the ideal time, and I just wanted to see him,” Lee said.
Both Sanders and Lee were heavily involved in the planning process for the weekend, which had been going on since
the end of Christmas at Creighton.
The event itself took place last Friday through Sunday, and the theme was “CreightonGets Animated.”
“We actually knew that we were going to have ‘Frozen’ playing, so we were trying to figure out what [theme] would be all-inclusive and apply to both boys and girls, so who doesn’t love animated movies?”
Sanders said.
One of the changes made to Lil’ Jays Weekend this year was that, rather than having each residence hall host its own activity on Saturday morning, the halls put together a field day event on the KFC lawn. According to Sanders, the field day featured things such as bounce castles and cotton candy, which catered to both younger and older children.
Another big event was the baseball
game on Saturday at TD Ameritrade
Park. Both Sanders and Lee said they
believed these events were important in demonstrating to the lil’ Jays what life is like at Creighton.
“I think [Lil’ Jays Weekend] is showing that there’s more to college than just studying,” Lee said. “We have these events with little [siblings] and show them all aspects of campus life. We take them to a baseball game and show them the Omaha community a
little bit.”
Sanders said she hopes the event will continue to grow.
“Everyone talks about Creighton’s family on campus, so I think it’s pretty clear that [families are] an integral part of the Creighton community,” she said. “[Lil’ Jays Weekend] is just a small way that IRHG can be a part
of that.”