One of the fascinating aspects of university life is its traditions.  And every school has them – some widely held and passed from generation to generation, some of them springing up with the current crop of students, some known only by a handful – like a secret handshake – and observed rarely.

On the Old Campus (Wake Forest’s original location in the town named Wake Forest, near Raleigh, NC), there was an administration building that had the seal of Wake Forest College inlaid in its floor.  The seal was in the center of a beautiful lobby, and in the times I visited there with Old Campus alumni, they were careful to tell me not to walk on the seal.  It simply wasn’t done, against some unwritten code of honor that said you don’t walk on the seal.

Several years ago, the cement walkways on the Quad (Hearn Plaza) were torn down in a construction project.  The cement was replaced with red brick walkways, and the project was massive enough that they couldn’t get the whole Quad done in one summer.  So for one year we had half cement, half brick, with the entire Quad being bricked the next summer.  At the end of this process, a large bronze replica of the seal was placed in front of Reynolda Hall.

There is obviously a lot of foot traffic in front of Reynolda Hall, and the seal gets walked on countless times a day by students, faculty, staff and visitors alike.  But *should* we walk on the seal?

If you station yourself at one of the nice benches outside of Reynolda and watch the passersby, you’ll notice that some are careful to sidestep the seal.  They might have connections to the Old Campus (grandparents who went there), or maybe they are children of alumni who have heard about not walking on the seal, or maybe they are part of the Traditions Council, our group that is keen to uphold some of the treasures of our past. Or maybe they don’t walk on it for some other reason.

It always pleases me when people don’t walk on the seal.  It is an important part of our past, and as an alumna and one who cherishes our traditions, I choose not to walk on it myself.

I wonder how many students know of this tradition?  Would they care to keep alive a tradition from the old campus, if they knew it?  Or is this a practice that is destined to be one that only a few will follow?

There was a pretty strong rain Sunday afternoon, there was rain all day Monday, and for today and Wednesday there are storms predicted.

Good.  Let’s get all of it out of our system now, and leave this coming weekend and Monday pristine and beautiful for graduation.

There’s a small army of WFU faculty and staff who work on Commencement, and I can promise you this week is Go Time in terms of getting all the final details ready.  Some will be sweating the forecast, because it’s just what you do.  If you’re a betting man or woman, do you want to look at the 10 day forecast?

The rain is problematic because there are a number of major activities that usually take place this week: putting up the tent, delivering and setting out the 10,000 chairs on the Quad, touching up the paint on railings and speed bumps.  Still, the Commencement machine is well oiled, and they know what they are doing.

For now, let it rain.  And then let it stop.  We all want sun for the 20th and 21st.

During the break in the academic year, we are going to be featuring some of of our terrific colleagues at Wake Forest. Today we meet the person who helps keep the Parent Programs office running smoothly: Joanne Ritter (’74), Administrative Assistant for Parent Programs.

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In the interest of full disclosure, you and I sit right across from each other and have worked together for many years.  You are my right arm.  But for the benefit of others who don’t know you as well, here we go…

How long have you worked at WFU?
6 fun-filled years

In laymen’s terms, what do you do at WFU?
I support the Parent Programs staff.  This is everything from answering the phone, trying to help students or parents who contact us, to assisting with campus events and New Student Receptions, and more.

How would you characterize Wake Forest students?  What are some common attributes they have?
The ones that I have had the privilege to meet are super nice and polite and crazy about Wake Forest.

What advice would you give to current Wake Forest parents?
Call us if you need anything.  We are here to help.  Think of us as your students’ local moms.

What do you like best about working at Wake Forest?
The people I work with and the gorgeous surroundings.

In what year did you graduate and what was your major?
I graduated in 1974 with a degree in psychology.

What are some of your favorite memories from your time as a student?
My favorite memories involve the wonderful friends I made here and still hold dear.

Let’s move to our bonus round, shall we?

Book you’re reading now: Iron House by John Hart

What music are you listening to these days: Whatever they are playing in yoga and aerobic dance class…

Favorite movie: The Sting

Website you frequent: Accuweather

Guilty pleasure: Something from the blender on the porch at Bald Head Island

Favorite place to be on campus: the Quad (Hearn Plaza)

What most people don’t know about you: I don’t enjoy flying and have been by car to 48 states.  Waiting for the bridge to be built to Hawaii…

Finals are finished, and students can now – hopefully – relax.  Faculty, on the other hand, are in the massive time crunch to grade all papers and projects and get the grades in before their deadline.

Wake Forest is filled with terrific faculty members, true talents on both the teaching and scholarly research fronts.  They give both in and out of the classroom, in countless ways.  I was an English major (and graduate student) and came to know a lot of the faculty there – and they are tremendous people.  There are a lot of new faces in the department since my graduation 20 years ago.

The current chair of the department is Scott Klein, who was my thesis adviser.  He has the difficult but fascinating task of helping the works of James Joyce (among others) come alive for our students.  As department chair, Dr. Klein sends out an English department newsletter to alumni of the English program.  This most recent issue is available online here, and I recommend it to you for this reason:  the articles in it have all been written by current students and/or feature the reflections of current students.

I know two of these students well – one is a former advisee of mine, the other I know through her mother.  Both of these women are remarkably well-rounded, talented, active on campus, and I am proud to see their work here.

Most of the time for parents and family members, I suspect you don’t ever really get to see the work your students are doing.  Unlike high school, where you might see papers or test scores (and post them proudly on the refrigerator), college isn’t that way.  There is both a physical distance in college, but also students are beginning to form their own separate identities as young adults – sometimes sharing fewer of those details.  So it might be interesting today to let you take a peek behind the curtain and see the writing of these students in the newsletter.  You can get a glimpse of what they are thinking about these authors, texts, and/or lectures they attended.  Not all are English majors or minors, by the way.

I am proud of the English department for featuring these students’ reflections.  It’s a wonderful opportunity for these students to practice their scholarly writing and also think about how one writes differently for publications vs. classwork.  This is part of our “education of the whole person” mentality – where students can grow outside and inside the classroom, and practice some important real life skills along the way.

And in the interest of full disclosure: I am very proud of the two writers I know in here, and hope their parents might read this!

Today is the last day of final exams, and if your student is still here and slogging through them, my hat is off to him or her.  I have seen some students in the last few days and they look tired.  The librarians are helping the 11th hour warriors finish up with their research and studying.  The faculty are grading those final papers and final exams.  It’s not just the students who are beat – the faculty and librarians and campus life staff and various administrators are all tired too; I have seen some of their Facebook updates.  It’s just that time of year.

Many of our students will find comfort, solace and relaxation at Beach Week (aka Post Exams), sunning and funning with their friends across various beaches in NC and SC.  Others will find relief back at home, in their own childhood bed, with their family and their [much missed] pets.  We wish everyone safe travels to the beach or to home, and a safe summer.

And for those seniors who will be back to graduate on May 21st – and their proud families – please begin now in saying your invocations for good weather for Commencement on the Quad.  In a perfect world, we’re looking for mid 70s with warm sun and gentle breezes.  Perhaps the collective power of positive thinking will bring us the results we want!

Here are a few more “oldies but goodies” from our photo archives.  Enjoy!

As you might imagine, it’s a bit of a slow news cycle as we wrap up the end of the semester.  So please enjoy some of our favorite photos from this academic year.

Commencement is now only a little over 2 weeks away!  The entire campus is beginning to prep for it.  As soon as the current students leave following their exams, there will be a lot of activity to help spruce up the place before the 10,000 visitors stream onto the Quad.  There will be fresh paint, meticulous care of the Quad grass, and a giant tent put up in front of Wait Chapel.  And so much more.

If you missed our recap of dos and don’ts as you pack to come to campus for Commencement, here’s another link to it.

Commencement is the single best day on campus.  Pack your kleenex to wipe away the tears of pride, your camera for lots of photos, and give your student the proud hug of a Wake Forest parent!

Our Wake Forest Clubs program has a terrific offering coming up, in the spirit of our Pro Humanitate motto.  They are encouraging all Wake Foresters to join 4Good – doing 4 days of good in their home communities.

Parents may not realize this, but you are welcome (encouaged, even!) to join in activities in your local Wake Forest club.  You need not be an alumnus/alumna to participate, just someone who loves the school!

The email I received from the Wake Forest Clubs program is below.  We’d sure like to see a lot of proud Wake Forest parents represented in the 4Good initiative.  If you do participate, please take some pictures and/or send us your reflections at so we can share your good works.

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Take time for a little more give! Join hundreds of Wake Foresters around the country on June 1-4 as we give back to our communities and together we’ll make the world a better place. Click on your city below to get involved with other Wake Foresters in your area!

If there’s not a WF Club in your area, you can still participate! Volunteer in your community between June 1 – 4, and then share your story with us. Email us, tweet with #4goodwfu, post your photos, and log your hours. Find out how: wfu.edu/4good .

Please register with your individual club (and don’t forget to order a t-shirt!):

Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Charlotte, NC
China
Denver, CO
Greenville, NC
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
Nashville, TN
Palm Beach, FL
Philadelphia, PA
Raleigh, NC
Richmond, VA
Roanoke, VA
San Diego, CA
Washington, DC
Winston-Salem, NC

Took a pre-8 am stroll around campus and with classes having officially ended, there were almost no students milling about.  I saw a couple of joggers making the loop around campus, and as I got closer to Poteat Field, I saw a group of maybe six young men, half of them shirtless, running soccer drills on the field.   There were long, bright blue sticks coming up out of the ground in a pattern, and a couple of them were standing opposite each other and kicking the ball zig-zag through them.   Others were kicking the ball to each other with more force (and more distance between them), and occasionally one would kick too hard and his partner would scramble to keep the ball from rolling down the hill onto the street or into the Worrell parking lot.  These guys looked serious – either proper soccer team members or club soccer, cleats and everything, and in great shape.

On the Quad this morning is a series of 8.5×11 sheets of plain white paper, each with the number 5 typed on them.  No idea what they mean, but if you are reading this and know, email me at and clue me in on the mystery.  Also on the Quad was chalked in several places “Workforstudents.com.”  (If you type in that website, it takes you to something for Vector Marketing, which supposedly has sites all over the US and needs manpower).  I first thought the address was “Workforeststudents.com” – since our students are fond of calling us “Work Forest” – funny how your eyes see things sometimes.

Also on the Quad, there were a couple of trees that were minimally rolled.  Not all the trees, just a couple of them.  Not sure of the significance.  As I made my way back toward my building, I saw that there was a stray toilet paper roll above the Kappa Sigma lounge (along with a volleyball).  Some student left a cobalt colored bottle on one of the lounge walls in that same courtyard.  Bud Light Platinum.  I don’t know if that counts for “upscale beer” to college students.

The dumpsters are in place to help students rid themselves of the flotsam and jetsam collected during the semester.  In a few days, they will probably start blocking off some of these lots to help students be able to load their cars.

There are flowers blooming everywhere, both of the planted variety and the flowering trees variety.  I loved these tall red flowers from the parking lot between Reynolda, Benson and Davis.  This picture of the flowering tree doesn’t capture its full beauty, but in person it looks like it has snowed all over the ground, beautiful tiny white petals.

Today is Reading Day, which means everyone gets the day to study before exams start tomorrow.  It should be a quiet day on campus, unless you are in the ZSR Library, which I predict will be packed.  Also, kudos to our fine ZSR staff for kicking off another Wake the Library, which will help your students have a great venue for those late night studies (and some fun).

Finally, one programming note for our new parents of the Class of 2016: the New Students website is now live.  New students who have paid their deposit should have received an email yesterday alerting them to the presence of the site.  Parents will receive an email today – we’ll mail to all new parents who have completed their Parent Record Form and provided us with an email address (if you have not, please do so!).  You and your students should check this New Students site frequently throughout the summer.  And stay tuned here on the Parents’ Page as well!