This week’s message for first year families is taking a bit of a break from the norm.  Today we’re talking about “A Day in the Life” – and for students, faculty, and staff alike, there is not necessarily a “typical” day.  Some of us are more regimented than others, some have fuller schedules, some have jobs with more moving pieces than others – but largely speaking we are all pretty busy.

Here’s a snapshot of some things that your students probably do every day:

- Sleep (as late as possible, for most students)
- Go to class
- Hit the library, either to study or for Starbucks
- Meals on campus – could be a grab-and-go item, or a sit down lunch in the Mag Room, the Pit, or Benson
- Exercise – could be running or jogging, taking classes in the Miller Center, playing intramural or club sports, etc.
- Social life – hanging out with friends, involvement in student organizations, parties, ventures off campus
- Homework and studying – a lot of this tends to get done in buildings after hours; if you go into Manchester Hall on a weeknight, you will see students in every conceivable space – chairs, benches, study rooms
- Sleep (late, late at night)

The typical Wake Forest student has a lot of activity crammed into his or her day.  It’s a culture of high achievers, and they like to be busy.  Our students seem to have more of a nighttime orientation as well.  Lots of late studying, late meetings for organizations.  While a lot of administrators end up leaving work at dinnertime or early evening, the campus continues to be  a hub of activity well into the wee hours.

So what does a day in the life of the Parent Programs office look like?

- Exercise at dark-thirty in the morning, then prep for work
- Select your caffeine of choice – will you get it at the office, bring it from home, or secure yours on the way in to work?
- Go to the office
- Prepare the Daily Deac blog entry for the day
- Check the WFU web for stories that might be of interest to Deac families; periodically add items to the Parents’ Facebook
- Meetings: could be with other departments, current advisees, other students or parents who need assistance, or with prospective families
- Do the work of the office (too numerous and varied to list!) but it often involves helping triage parent requests or questions and working with other campus departments to connect the right people to the family for assistance
- Leave work – could be to go home, go to WFU events, etc.
- Check email throughout the evening
- Go to bed long before your students do : )

University life is its own little ecosystem.  There are many different schools, departments, and offices.  They are all interrelated in some way or other; each of us plays our particular role within the campus.  One of the things I like best about Wake Forest, though, is the connection between departments and between people.  We work well together to get things done, and we are trying always to work in the best interests of the students and the educational process.

The other great thing about working at Wake Forest is you never know the impact you might have with a student.  By taking the extra time to help him or her, you might be helping make their day a little better, their mood a little brighter, their outlook a little more positive.  Very, very rarely do we ever get confirmation that something we’ve done made that kind of a difference – but I like to think it is possible with every interaction.