An inside look at Parentfest with Principal Strever

HVRHS kicked off the 2025-26 school year with a revamped open house, renamed “Parentfest.” With a different structure and goal in mind, Parentfest was a remodel of the open house that all of Housy is familiar with. HVRHS Principal Ian Strever broke down the changes and talked about the success of the revamped open house.

Strever said Parentfest was created to “reconfigure an open house so that it was more useful to parents and formatted differently to get as many parents as possible, and to hopefully change the demographic.” The demographics at past open houses were a main factor in the rebrand, and a motivation behind the changes made to the annual event.

At past open houses, Strever noticed that “you get a lot of freshmen parents, and as the years ascend … you get fewer and fewer parents attending.” In addition to the parents being mostly those of freshman, there is also a pattern with the student’s attitude toward school; “We tend to see a lot of the same parents … people who are highly involved in education.” The changes made to the event were an attempt to break such patterns.

“If we can put on this event and get one more parent than we would normally, it’s worth it for us,” Strever said.

Parentfest consisted of two long sessions, the first running from 12:45 p.m. to 3 p.m., and the second from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. This differs from the typical open house, in which parents would “have gone block to block to block” at a set time. Strever noted that Parentfest’s schedule was meant to be flexible, to allow parents with difficult work schedules to take part in conversations about their child’s education. This goal is reflected in the new format of Parentfest “We’re always looking for ways to connect with those parents,” Strever said.

Parentfest was also an attempt to rebrand the overall atmosphere of an open house. Strever references how the tone change was an effort in large by the teachers, wanting to lighten the mood. They did this by providing lawn games and a food truck. In regards to the success of those goals — and Parentfest as a whole — it varies in terms of intention versus completion.

Strever views Parentfest as a success “in terms of the information that it provided, in terms of the tone that it had, and the resources for Parents.” He did note, however, how disappointed he and other members of the staff were with the attendance for Parentfest.

In an effort to raise attendance, Strever is considering shifting the time slots from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., making it more accessible to parents. In regards to getting more attendance, Strever believes that “it’s also the kind of thing that maybe word of mouth and time will help, too.” He hopes that those who attended Parentfest will recommend the event to others, giving the open house rebrand a better turn out for next year.