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Family members of Harvard College freshmen and juniors traveled to campus this past weekend for Family Weekend, an annual event that brings relatives from around the world to catch a glimpse of student life at Harvard.

The weekend of programming, organized by the College’s Dean of Students Office, featured open lectures by faculty, special access to Harvard museums, and historical campus tours led by the Crimson Key Society, a student organization that hosts orientation events and campus tours.

“It’s been really fun,” said Shefali Srivastava, who traveled from Washington, D.C. to visit her freshman daughter Nikhita Mandapaka ’29. “The family weekend has been really amazing, but also just seeing a child becoming a lot more independent.”

The weekend opened with a welcome ceremony at Sanders Theater on Friday afternoon, during which Harvard College Dean David J. Deming delivered an opening address about undergraduate life, according to promotional materials for the weekend. Deming also debated several professors on Saturday about how artificial intelligence, a favorite topic of his, would impact culture and the labor market, per the materials.

There were several talks delivered by faculty during the weekend. Jim Xi, who was visiting his freshman daughter Emma Y. Xi ’29 from Arizona, attended five lectures with his wife over the weekend. The talks Xi attended included one by Anthropology professor Jason A. Ur for his course GenEd 1105: “Can We Know Our Past?” and another by Sarah B. Craycraft for her class GenEd 1196: “Tradition in Everyday Life.”

“I was impressed by every single lecture,” Xi said. “The professors are just amazing.”

Kaoru Yamamoto, the mother of Emma Xi, said the weekend brought her back to her own years as an undergraduate.

“Attending lectures, it just brought back the memory of being a college student,” Yamamoto said, adding that the experience helped her better imagine her daughter’s first year of college. “Something that makes me think how I can relate my experience to hers, what she’s going through right now.”

This year’s iteration of Family Weekend is the third time that the DSO has hosted combined activities for freshmen and junior families. Like in previous years, some activities were restricted to certain class years, including the Junior Class Ring Ceremony on Saturday morning. That event, hosted in the Science Center, featured a performance by the Harvard LowKeys, a student acapella group.

Beyond the ceremonies and lectures, families also attended a tough match between the Harvard women’s hockey team and a talented Colgate University squad. The Crimson lost the game in a crushing 5-0 defeat, but parents said they still enjoyed the event.

“There was a great crowd, great support,” said Kevin Murray, who was visiting his son Drake A. Murray ’29 and attended the hockey game with his family. “Didn’t do as well as they wanted to, I’m sure, but it was still a fun outing.”

“We got a really good taste of what it’s like to be fortunate enough to be a student here,” Kevin Murray added. “We enjoyed it.”