Tuesday Thoughts
This past weekend was Homecoming – and from all the accounts I heard, it was a beautiful and fun weekend, capped off by a win over Army. This was the first Homecoming I had missed in ages, but I was still with a lot of Wake Foresters, as my niece (’05) was getting married and was surrounded by her WFU friends. You can catch up on some of the action via Tagboard, which compiles some of the best of Homecoming as seen via social media.
There are a couple of events that students may want to take note of and attend. These are activities that might expand your students’ minds and perspectives, or help them exercise Pro Humanitate. Feel free to share these and discuss with your Deacs:
– The World Cultural Festival is this Friday, September 26th. “The sound of West African drums and laughter will fill the airwaves and the scent of food from around the world will tantalize your taste buds as you anticipate the first bite at the Office of Multicultural Affairs’ 6th Annual World Cultural Festival. The much anticipated event will take place on Friday, September 26, 2014 at 5:30 pm-8:00 pm on Manchester Plaza (rain location: Benson 401). World Cultural Festival is free and open to the entire campus community.”
– Israeli/Palestinian Conflict: A Forum for Understanding will be held Thursday, October 2 7:30-9:30 pm in Wait Chapel. There will be a panel discussion of expert WFU faculty, faculty emeriti, and chaplains. This sounds like it will be a very strong program, and might help your students understand some of the complex issues at the intersection of politics, religion, and geography.
– Project Pumpkin will be held October 29th, 2014 from 3-6 pm on the Quad and in Wait Chapel. This is an amazing community day where our students come together to create a carnival atmosphere for local students to have a safe place to trick-or-treat. Students can volunteer as an escort to take children around campus to trick-or-treat in the dorms, carnivals, and haunted houses. They just sign up, come to a training meeting, and then show up on the day of Project Pumpkin! Students must attend one training meeting in Wait Chapel: October 22, either 7-8 pm or 8-9 pm, or October 23, 6-7 pm or 7-8 pm.
– Every Tuesday at 11:50 am, there is a “Together Tuesdays” photo on the steps of Wait Chapel. “We stand for Unity & Respect,” they say on the Z Smith Reynolds Library Facebook page. This was started – I think – as a collaboration between Faculty Fellows and the ZSR Library. Last week there were only about 10-15 people in the photo. When I went up there today, there were tons more folks. This is available to all on campus, so we welcome students interested in unity and respect to join us. You can compare and contrast the first two pictures at the end.
Finally, this one is more about you, parents and families. Midterms and access to grades: there is a new system in place for parents to have access to their students’ grades. The old paper forms that were on file in the Registrar’s office no longer exist. Instead, there is an online Proxy Access process where students can choose to share grade and other information with their parents or other designees. The student is the one who has to grant access – so if it is important to you to be able to see midterm grades etc., you need to talk to your student about granting you proxy access.
