Happy Friday to our Deac families! I hope wherever you are, you’re wearing some form of gold and/or black to show your school spirit!
It’s another beautiful day here on campus, should reach the 80s, with lots of sun and everything in bloom. Spring is just magnificent at Mother So Dear.
A staple every Friday is the publication of the Old Gold and Black, our student newspaper, and there are a few items I’d draw to your attention. There is a great profile of Scott Klein, professor and chair of the English department. Full disclosure: I am very biased here because he was my graduate thesis advisor and one of the smartest people I have ever met – incredible scholar, also an amazing pianist and overall great guy. He’s also a dog lover, and in graduate school we used to sit for his family’s two dachsunds, the hilariously named Ampie (for Ampersand) and Umie (for Umlaut). His course on James Joyce was one of the most interesting classes I took at Wake Forest, and if your student is interested at all in Joyce, urge him or her to seek out Dr. Klein’s class.
I have also become a big fan of senior Hamlin Wade (’12) who is a contributing columnist for the Old Gold and Black. His thoughts this week are about how there are 49 days left of school – and what students should do to make the most of it.
There is a lovely article about dining services – how the students come to know the staff here and some of the relationships that are formed, making a sort of second family. I can attest that this is true. As a student here, several of my friends and I always had the same breakfast every day and we were known affectionately by the staff as “the grits girls.” When we were getting ready to graduate, the ladies in line said “what are we going to do without our grits girls?” and we were equally sad to be missing their smiling faces every morning.
Want to see what else is in the Old Gold and Black? Read it online.
And since it is Friday, we’ll close with our weekly reminder to call your kids today. Studies show that if parents call and talk to their college students on Friday afternoon or evening, those students are less likely to engage in high-risk behavior such as excessive alcohol use. You don’t need to talk explicitly about alcohol – just talk to them, remind them you are here, you love them, you miss them. It’s the contact that matters.
