Blog

Beginning your new life at the University of Michigan is an incredibly exciting step in your journey. However, it is important to stay connected with your family and foster those relationships while away from home. They are bound to eagerly await life updates — from hearing about new friends and fun activities to making sure they are supporting you from afar. As university life is destined to keep you busy both academically and socially, having strategies in place to ensure you keep in touch with your family is always a good idea.   

Create a Schedule 

Once you have your course schedule in place, creating a set time to catch up with family is a great way to stay connected and also destress. Whether it’s once a week or once a month, having that time to reconnect via phone or Zoom will allow you and your family to feel closer, even if it is just for a short amount of time. There are also many activities you can do long-distance. For instance, this Virtual Escape Room allows you and your family to play an escape room game over Zoom. In addition, there are many other activities you can do over the phone. Play games like Pictionary or virtually take your family on an adventure. You can call each other while each of you goes to your favorite local ice cream/coffee shops, show them your favorite spots on campus, or introduce them to your new friends in your residence hall! Whether you just chat and catch up or partake in a creative activity, setting aside time for your family is a great way to keep in touch.

Share Photos That Represent Your Day-to-Day Life

Sending photos while spending time with friends, at clubs, or even studying is a fantastic way to update your family and let them see you, as they will surely miss your presence! There are many fun traditions you and your family can adopt to do this. You can easily start doing this with weekly “photo dumps.” This is where you and your family would dump some of the photos you took that week into your family group chat. This gives all of you something to look forward to each week and allows you all to chat at one time and tell stories from the week. Another way to share photos is by downloading the Locket Widget app onto your cell phone. It is available on both Apple and Android devices. This app adds a box/widget onto your phone's home screen where you and your family can upload photos throughout the day. As you take a photo in the app, it automatically sends and updates the widget on your family members’ home screens. This way, you can quickly and easily stay in touch throughout your days at U-M.

Share U-M Webpages and Events 

Your family is going to ask you a lot of questions about the university as they care about you and want to stay connected with you (as well as the university you are attending). There are a variety of resources for your parents to stay up to date on campus and information. First, the Office of New Student Programs offers a Parent and Family Virtual Orientation Course for families. This gives your family a chance to learn more about the resources available on campus, policies and procedures, and advice on how to support you during your transition to U-M. With this, U-M’s Parents page gives them access to information in one spot. There are links to the academic calendar, events calendar, Student Life pages, the Michigan Daily, Michigan News, and more! This way your family can stay in the know on what is happening on campus, in Ann Arbor, and when your exams/breaks are each semester.