Connecting Lancers and Families: The Growth of Mount Marty's Hospitality Family Program

This is the third year of the Mount Marty Hospitality Family Program, which was established to help make the college transition and experience smoother for new students by providing additional support through a connection to the greater Yankton community. 

Currently, 70 students have been matched with families in the community, with some families having more than one student. These families check in with their students frequently, answer any questions they may have about the community, and act as the student's home away from home. Sometimes, this means a phone call every few weeks, a home-cooked meal once a month, or attending a Mount Marty sporting event!

"Being a hospitality family has given our family the opportunity to connect with Mount Marty University (MMU) and our community in a unique way," said Cody and Erica Garvey. "We have always supported MMU athletics but now have a more meaningful connection to the school, especially the women's basketball program. Our daughters not only look up to Signe as a person and an athlete, but they also think of her as a part of our family. … It seems like whenever we are able to spend time with Signe, she creates a special memory with our daughters. The way she interacts and connects with them is special to watch as a parent."

Signe Bang '26 is from Denmark and greatly appreciates having a connection in the Yankton community. "I am super grateful for the opportunity to have a hospitality family. Knowing someone from outside the school has been super helpful, and my host family has been really supportive and able to help and assist me through my first semester at Mount Marty."

The Garveys make a point to reach out to Bang every couple of days to see how she is doing and if she needs anything, but this partnership has come to mean much more than check-ins to both the Garveys and Bang. Garveys said, "Our daughters want Signe to be a part of everything that we do as a family, like trips to the movie theater, birthday parties and holiday get-togethers. One of their favorite things to do is make arts and crafts projects they can deliver to Signe. They even find it fun to make trips to the grocery store, but only if Signe goes too." Since being paired with the Garveys, Bang has competed in a Turkey Trot with her hospitality family, attended a Thanksgiving meal, and even watched the Garveys' daughters' basketball games, which the girls thought was so cool!

Bang said, "It always makes me so happy to see them [the Garveys] at my basketball games. Their daughters play sports too, so I hope that I maybe, in some way, can be a role model or inspire them. In that way, I hope I can give something back to the Garveys because their support and assistance have given me so much."

To learn more about the Hospitality Families Program, visit the MMU Hospitality Family Guide Overview. To sign up to be a Hospitality Family, register here. 

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About Mount Marty University

Founded in 1936 by the Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery, Mount Marty University is South Dakota's only Catholic, Benedictine institution of higher education. Located along the bluffs of the Missouri River in Yankton, with additional locations in Watertown and Sioux Falls, Mount Marty offers undergraduate and graduate degrees focusing on student and alumni success in high-demand fields such as health sciences, education, criminal justice, business, accounting, recreation management, and more. A community of learners in the Benedictine tradition, Mount Marty emphasizes academic excellence and develops well-rounded students with intellectual competence, professional and personal skills and moral, spiritual and social values. To learn more, visit mountmarty.edu.