First Year Experience hosted the 2nd Annual Friday Knight Welcome for parents, family members, students and staff. On September 9, UCF hosted guests to hors d’oeuvres and a night of entertainment on Memory Mall. The registered attendees received their official 2011 Family Weekend T-shirt as well as an event guide that detailed the weekend’s festivities. Just as the event got underway, the rains came and put a damper on the event. However, families and staff braved the weather to still attend, making the event a success even after facing troubling conditions.

As family members and students arrived, they were greeted by Orientation Team members as well as staff members from many departments and offices from across campus. The casual atmosphere provided staff and family members with the opportunity to have discussions about the campus, Family Weekend programming and about student success at UCF. Even though the show was not intended to start for another hour, SAK Comedy Lab helped lighten the mood with some comic relief poking fun at the windy, rainy conditions of the event.

As guests found their seats for the show, SAK Comedy Lab performed their “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” style improvisational show for over an hour. SAK made sure to involve many of the participants, three special attendees were assigned the duty of deciding judges for each of the skits performed. Volunteers were also taken throughout the evening to perform on stage, act as puppeteers and to provide sound effects for the SAKtors. Two students receive one time passes to SAK Comedy Lab, after participating in an improv sketch.

Following the evening’s entertainment, a few individuals were lucky enough to receive gifts from SDES and First Year Experience by having special tickets placed underneath their seats. These attendees were given UCF parent apparel along with other UCF merchandise, in preparation to cheer on the Knights in Bright House Networks Stadium against the Boston College Eagles the following evening.

Approximately 400 guests participated in FYE’s Friday Knight event but overall, Family Weekend had 3,400 registered guests for events during the total weekend.

FYE is an office in the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services.