We’re still on hiatus during the long weekend, but we found a real treasure in the photo archives.

This is Amanda (’13), a student I came to know her first year here.  She is an incredible young woman: accomplished, bright, fun, involved on campus.  Here she is at Commencement, the culmination of all her hard work (and good times too!)

And this is Amanda during freshmen orientation – at the ‘Taste of Winston Salem’ event.

I love being able to see a picture of her at the beginning of her Wake Forest career, and now this one at Commencement – her new beginning.

If you haven’t already, Deac families, find (or take) a picture of your student as he or she arrives on campus the first day.  And hang on to it, so you get to see how much your student has grown by Commencement.

With the long holiday weekend coming up, we’re taking a little time off at the Daily Deac.  We’ll be back next Tuesday, but thought you might enjoy some of our favorite Commencement pictures.

If you look at the Quad Cam – at least as of this moment – the Commencement tent is still up, but that’s pretty much the only trace of Commencement equipment that is left.  The only other sign that something had happened there is if you look closely, you can see a streak down the center of the grass where the aisle had been for the processional and recessional.  That grass always gets trampled down and muddy (even in years without rain).  Before you know it, it will be reseeded and back as good as new.

Unless they come to Summer Session, our students normally never see everything that happens in the summer.  When they are gone, we do a lot of campus maintenance – could be to residence halls, academic buildings, offices.  Already in the big parking lot near Alumni Hall, there is a giant mountain of sand.  For what purpose I do not know.  But anything goes during the summer.

Commencement was held yesterday on the Quad, and there is much to say about it.

First, we had some terrific speakers.  Gwen Ifill was the main event.  Her speech talked about caring about something and doing things that matter, and I think it would have resonated with our students who really have exemplified our Pro Humanitate motto.  In addition to keeping her speech short and sweet (read it here), there were moments of levity, such as when she took a picture to tweet later, and also moments of great poignancy, when she talked about her mentor, Tim Russert of NBC’s Meet the Press fame.  Tim had been a good friend of Wake Forest and had agreed to give the commencement speech before he passed away unexpectedly.  That commencement is still tinged with pain for me, because I bet he would have given a magnificent speech.

Dr. Hatch also spoke to the graduates about grit – the ability to be scrappy and nimble and to work harder until you master your task.  He cited some very interesting research about what made successful people successful, and grit has a lot to do with it.  Read his full speech here.

For those who did not attend – or did, and want to remember every minute – there is terrific coverage on the Commencement News page.  This has everything from speeches, programs, social media coverage and more.  I commend it to you.

Finally, the weather.  The University made the call to hold it outside on the Quad despite the chance of light rain in the early morning.  It really did not do much more than drizzle a couple of times before the ceremony started.  At the end, almost at the minute that the graduates entered the recessional, the skies opened and we got a pretty good rain.

Still, graduating on the Quad is a cherished tradition of students, and even though they got wet at the very end, I can promise you that from what I hear from past classes who had to graduate in the Joel because of rain, they feel cheated of one of their most anticipated moments.  So while I am sorry for the rain at the end, I am glad that our students got to celebrate their Commencement in the way they’d been dreaming of since coming to campus.

Congratulations to the Class of 2013!

Commencement weekend is almost here, and we wanted to give our Deac families a way to be a part of all the action, whether you are here on campus or whether you want to follow along at home.

For those of you who use Twitter and will be on campus this weekend, we encourage you to tweet your Commencement experiences using the hashtag of #wfugrad.  Our crack team of social media experts here will be pulling together tweets and adding them to a Storify series they are working on.  And if you can’t be here – but want to see what Commencement is like – set your Twitter search for #wfugrad and you’ll get to see all relevant tweets.

There is initial coverage of Commencement on our social media web page, where they share pictures of graduates and their best memories of Wake Forest.  It’s a really cute feature and you should check it out, Deac families.

For those of you who are data wonks, we have a list of past Commencement speakers, as well as a ‘did you know’ section with fun facts.

There is also a link for a Commencement Live webcast for those of you who might want to watch the ceremony online.

Finally, if you have not discovered the new Quad Cam, you want to check it out and bookmark it.  This is a new feature and will allow you to get a glimpse of the Quad (Hearn Plaza) any time.  It will be especially fun to watch as the 10,000 chairs get set out and you see the amazing setup – and even more amazing fast takedown – of all the chairs and equipment.

The ZSR Library sent out its zsreads e-newsletter this week, and one of the featured articles was about outdoor reading rooms.  These outdoor spaces have become more popular and are a wonderful way for your students to stop, take a few minutes pause and read a book or a magazine for a few minutes and try to find some “me time” in the midst of their busy schedules.

Thought you might enjoy reading their story below.  You can also subscribe online at their website to begin receiving this library publication (see subscribe section at the top left of the page).

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This spring, two outdoor reading “rooms” opened on campus. One is just outside the east (Starbucks) entrance to the library. The other is located on the patio near the south side of Reynolda Hall. ZSR Library sponsors the collections in both locations. Each reading room features a selection of books (mostly fiction) as well as current magazines and newspapers.

These rooms are part of a larger initiative whereby WFU commissioned the Biederman Group to enliven outdoor spaces on the Reynolda Campus. Biederman’s most famous project is Bryant Park in New York City. In addition to the reading room, the Reynolda Campus quads now feature an outdoor piano, board games and other fun enhancements. Take a break this summer and relax in the sunshine with a good book or magazine.

Today’s Daily Deac is an invitation for New York City Wake Forest parents and families.  One of my colleagues in Employer Relations is sponsoring an event in NYC and wants all area Deac families to know they are welcome – encouraged, even! – to attend.  Here is the text of her email invitation below.

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It’s no surprise that many of our students want to live and work in New York City—it’s an energetic, vibrant city that offers growth and challenging professional opportunities for our students.  With this is mind, we are excited to let you know about Wake Forest Connects – NYC.  

On June 5th, we will host a networking event designed to help connect current students with Wake Forest alumni, parents, and friends who live and work in the New York area. The event will kick-off with an industry panel who will share advice, tips and strategies for effective networking.

Following the panel discussion, students will have an opportunity to participate in structured networking (in small groups of 8-10) with a wider group of industry professionals.  The evening will end with an open networking reception for all participants at the LCL: Bar and Kitchen (co-sponsored by Scott Gerber P ’17).

We’re caught in a bit of a slow news cycle, Deac families.  Commencement is still a week away, and our students are either home for the summer or (more likely) are at Beach Week, that glorious refuge of sun and fun when exams are done.

Much of the campus is wrapping up its yearly work – entering grades, spiffing up the campus for Commencement weekend, getting everything ready for the new students who will arrive this fall.  The Parent Programs office, too, is coming to the home stretch.

And we need help.  From 632 of you to be exact.

Normally in the Daily Deac we don’t talk about fundraising, because there is so much more newsworthy things to tell you about each week.  But one of the reasons Wake Forest is as special as it is – and can provide everything it provides to its students – is because there are a lot of people who believe in what we are doing here, and who support the University’s Parents’ Campaign of the Wake Forest Fund with gifts beyond tuition.  Those Wake Forest Fund dollars get used in a lot of ways – to recruit (or keep!) the best faculty, to create innovative new programs and capitalize on opportunities that will benefit our students, to technology and library facilities and student aid….and so much more.

My office is responsible for the success of the Parents’ Campaign of the Wake Forest Fund.  We have a participation goal of 3,100 Wake Forest families (current and past parents/families) that we are trying to reach.   Right now we are at 2,468.  Which means we need 632 more families to make a gift to the Parents’ Campaign of the Wake Forest Fund.  And that’s where you come in.  We need your help to get there.

So here is my plea to you today…

If you are a regular reader of the Daily Deac, I hope you’ll consider a gift, of any size.

If your student has grown and developed in positive ways while at Wake Forest, I hope you’ll consider a gift, of any size.

If you love the Quad and this beautiful campus, I hope you’ll consider a gift, of any size.

If you bleed Gold and Black, I hope you’ll consider a gift of any size.

[You get the idea.]

We do a lot of amazing things here, but we don’t do it alone.  We do it with your support – and the support of alumni and friends too.

If you will help us by being one of the 632 families we need to reach our goal before June 30th, here’s how to do it:

Make a gift online at our secure online site.  Be sure to check the box for Parents’ Campaign, and choose a designation within the Wake Forest Fund (most of our parents choose one of these: Wake Forest Fund, Wake Forest Fund for the College, Wake Forest Fund for the Library or Wake Forest Fund for the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy)

Mail a check (payable to Wake Forest University) to:  P O Box 7227, Winston-Salem, NC 27109.  You can specify the designation in the memo line (again, most of families choose between the Wake Forest Fund, Wake Forest Fund for the College, Wake Forest Fund for the Library or Wake Forest Fund for the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy)

We don’t need you to send a million dollars – a gift of any size from 632 Deac families will allow us to reach our goal.  If all our regular Daily Deac readers made a gift, we’d get there!

Thank you for considering a gift – and for all you do for WFU.   Go Deacs!

Today’s Daily Deac has been guest written by the Office of Sustainability.  This is a great message for our senior families!

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Many members of the Class of 2013 will leave Reynolda campus behind this spring, but all Demon Deacons carry Wake Forest values with them wherever they go.  These values include our campus-wide commitment to sustainability.

For a third year, the Office of Sustainability is asking graduating seniors to solidify their commitment to environmental stewardship and social justice by signing the Green Graduation Pledge.

Seniors will have the opportunity to sign the pledge when they pick up their tickets for graduation from the University Bookstore on Friday May 18^th and Saturday May 19^th from 9-4pm.  The first 250 signatories will receive a coffee mug printed with the Green Graduation pledge, which reads:

I pledge to take into account the social and environmental consequences of any future endeavors and to work to improve the sustainability of the communities in which I work, live and play.

Though we say goodbye for now, we know the Class of 2013 will always fly the colors black and gold and live the color green.

If your student is not graduating, you will hopefully have him (or her) home for the summer.  If having deep conversations is part of your normal parent-child dynamic, the summer might be a great time for you to ask some questions that might help your student unpack his or her experience this year.

This is not a time to grill your child necessarily, because I don’t want to suggest that you put him or her on edge or on the defensive.  But you might want to have an adult conversation where you ask your student about some of his/her Wake Forest experiences and reflect on your own college experiences as applicable.

Here are some thoughts for posing some deep questions (thanks to the Mentoring Resource Center for ideas!)

What were some of the things you loved best (whether classes, people, experiences) and why did you love them?

What did you not enjoy, and why?

What surprised you this year?

Where did you feel like you grew the most?

If you were starting Wake Forest all over, what would you do differently and why?

What were the differences between the best and worst decisions you have made?

What has made you the happiest?

How can I best help and support you during your college journey?

Also, parents, I encounter many students who feel apprehension about pressure to please their parents – either by choice of major, by being involved in the same organizations their parents were in, via their GPA, etc.  This pressure may or may not be coming from you, but some of your students feel it, even if they are just imagining that pressure.

If you are not intentionally putting pressure on them, be explicit and tell them so.  Sometimes they need to hear that their parents or family is OK with them just as they are, and that they are not expected to walk your same path.  Acknowledging that to them may release a considerable amount of pressure for them.  As smart as your kids are – and they are plenty smart – sometimes they still need to hear the obvious: that you love them for who they are, unconditionally.