First football game of the season was lastnight.  It was a warm one, but the important part is that the Deacs won!  Score was 41-3; recap here.  I’d take a repeat of that score every game day, thank you very much 🙂

It’s the end of the first full week of classes and probably a good time to say a few things about academics.

The first is about student academic integrity and parental involvement in academics.  We assume that all parents and family members know this, but as a reminder there should never be a situation where a parent or family member is doing academic work for the student.  Your students are held to the Honor Code and their work must be their own. Dr. David Levy, Associate Dean of the College and Chair, Honor and Ethics Council, wrote a great piece on this topic that I commend to all our families.

The second is about students accessing resources that can help them in their classes.  Any time a student is having difficulty in a class, he or she should go to the professor’s office hours for assistance.  There are other great and FREE resources on campus: the Learning Assistance Center (for tutoring), the Math Center, the Chem Center, the Writing Center.

There are also occasional seminars or workshops on academics that are available to aid your students.  There is a series coming up starting next week that may be of interest.  This one is How to Prevent a Panic Attack on Your First College Science Exam.  (Where on earth was this when I was a student?!?!)

The third academic point is about using time wisely while you are a student.  There are a lot of things to do in college – classes and labs, studying and homework, clubs and activities, intramural sports or exercise, hanging out with friends, etc.  How you spend your time is important.  At the beginning of the semester, students (of all class years) are trying to figure out what the right balance is for them – work and play, sleep and fun, etc.  They’ll get there.

One of my favorite sayings about time is from an old Tolstoy story: “There is only one time that is important — Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power” (full version of this great short story is here for any fellow English major types).  So urge your Deacs to make good choices in how they spend their time (and good choices in everything else), but let the choices be theirs.  They will learn from trial and error and need to navigate their own path.

If you haven’t sent a care package to your Deac, think about sending one.  They already miss your homecooked food, I assure you.  And give them a call today 🙂

As a reminder, administrative offices are closed on Monday for Labor Day.  Classes in the college will run as scheduled unless professors indicated otherwise on their class syllabus.  This is a good time to remind parents of how to get in touch for urgent situations that cannot wait until Tuesday.  If you have an urgent need to reach someone at the university because you have a concern that must be addressed quickly, University Police is our 24/7 contact.  They can assess the situation and determine who best to address your concern. The 24-hour contact number for University Police is 336.758.5591 (non emergency) or 336.758.5911 (emergency). They can get in touch with on-call duty staff 24-hours/day.

Have a great long weekend, Deac families!

— by Betsy Chapman

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