Today’s Daily Deac is a little bit of everything.  Stay with us as we meander through various and sundry notes and observations.

The weather is perfect today.  Sunny, nearly 80.  You’re warm if you stay in the sun, but you aren’t baking.  A walk across campus feels refreshing and not too hot (unless you are carrying a really heavy load in your backpack or messenger bag).

On the Quad around 11 am, there was an animated game of football being played by what looked like kids from late elementary school or early middle school.  They must be here for a field trip.  I must have seen them toward the end of their visit, because their teachers were lining them up to get a picture of them.  So imagine about 20-30 kids, all lined up in the walkway mid-Quad, Wait Chapel in the backdrop.  Evidently the cool colors for the youth of today is neon anything.  I saw lots of neon greens and oranges.

Even on a day like today, there were a fair number of students in the library.  My observation about the students I saw:  those who were sitting in the atrium at tables tended to have their laptops open and appeared to be working on them.  The students I saw peppered in random chairs in the stacks or other areas all seemed glued to their phones.  Now, I didn’t see the content of the atrium table laptop screens, so they could have been IMing their friends (rather than working), so filter that as you will.  I just found it curious that nearly all the students sitting in nooks and crannies were on phones vs. having their heads in a book.

WFU is in the news, as it often is.  I caught a glimpse of Inside Higher Ed, where there is an article about students seeking advice from campus chaplains on career direction.  Our own Andy Chan, Vice President for Personal and Career Development, is quoted in the article:  “I think a lot of times, we get so focused on outcomes — do students have a job, do they go to grad school — that all the energy is focused just on what a student might be skilled at,” he said. “And sometimes that might take a student down a path that’s not the right fit for them as a person.”

There are some noteworthy athletic events coming up as well.  As seen on the WFU home page: “The No. 16 WFU field hockey team will host No. 1 UNC at Kentner Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 9, at 5 p.m. Enjoy free hot dogs, pom poms and buttons while supplies last. Wear black to black out the Tar Heels! Admission is free.”  Our field hockey team is amazing, and we really would love to see LOTS more black and gold than Carolina Blue.  So urge your students to support our Deacs.

Also from the home page: “The WFU men’s and women’s basketball teams will host their annual ‘Black & Gold Madness’ event on Friday, Oct. 24, in Reynolds Gymnasium. The event will follow WFU volleyball taking on Miami at 6 p.m. Both events are free.”  This is a really fun event, the first look at our basketball team.  Hopes are high among the Deacon faithful that Coach Manning will usher in a new era of greatness on the court.

Reminder too that Sweet Honey in the Rock will be on Thursday evening via the Secrest Artist Series.

Finally, I give you the fourth and final photo from our Unity and Respect campaign (and the other three to show the change from week to week).  This has been a meaningful way for campus members to gather and show their unity and respect for all.  I am rather sad it’s stopping, to tell you the truth.

This is a special campus, with special people who give so much to our students (and faculty and staff) every day.  I wish you all could know the folks in this picture.   I am so proud to work among them.

Together Tuesdays 1  Week one

 

 

 

 

 

together tuesdays 2  Week two

 

 

 

 

together tuesdays 3

Week three

 

 

 

 

unity and respect 4  Week four

 

 

 

– by Betsy Chapman

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