This morning I took a long wander across campus. As I approached the steps leading up to the Quad from the Benson-Reynolda parking lot, I saw a few teen boys sitting on the steps. They looked too young to be summer school students; I figured they were campers. They were several feet apart from each other on the steps, spaced in an artful way that almost made it look like they were being arranged for a photo. Each was sitting silently and reading a book in their lap. All well dressed, clean cut.
I got up to the Quad and saw that it was filled with discreetly-spaced young men. All silent, all reading. They weren’t clumped together talking, as you would expect from summer campers. They were peppered along the sidewalks and chairs, each engrossed in their silent reading. As I got closer to some of them, I realized they were reading Bibles. So they must be here for some sort of faith-based camp.
When I started making my way toward Poteat field to head to my office, I saw there were young ladies reading in the same silent, well-spaced-out way along the sidewalks and walls near Poteat residence hall. I have to say it looked a bit surreal, almost like a movie set. Normally you do not see a good number of students sitting silently, no movement at all, just reading at evenly spaced intervals.
In other news, a colleague of mine sent me this article yesterday from US News on roommate adjustment. While Wake Forest does not allow first-year students to choose their own roommates, there is some good wisdom in this article. Whether your student is a new first-year or is an upperclassman living with a roommate of their choosing for the first time, it’s worth a read.
