Couple of Move-In Thoughts
These are perhaps more geared towards our incoming P’23s, but hopefully still some things to note for future trips.
We get a lot of questions from incoming families whose students are doing a Pre-Orientation program, but the one we get most of all is ‘when should we move our Deac in?’ And here I fall back on my oft-repeated phrase: there are no rights or wrongs, just what is right for you.
Every Pre-Orientation program will email their students instructions on which day to move in, and what time they depart campus (if applicable). If you want to move your Deac in at their Pre-Orientation move-in day, you can bring 100% of their stuff and move in. The pro to that approach is there are fewer people moving in, so you should have a less congested experience. The con of moving everything in at Pre-Orientation is you have no helpers to move your Deac’s stuff in. Some families will send their Deac to campus with the bare minimum they need for Pre-Orientation (so less hauling of boxes for you) and then they will bring the full haul on August 21st for official move-in, so they benefit from all the helpers who bring things up to their room.
If you plan to drop your Deac off at Pre-Orientation (and then stay here until official Orientation on 8/21-22), you can stay in town and enjoy what Winston-Salem has to offer, or you can visit some other great NC destinations. If you are looking for cooler temps in the mountains, Blowing Rock and Boone are great towns about an hour and a half away. Two and a half hours away is Asheville, another fun, funky mountain town (known for its great food and tons of local breweries). If you are more of a beach type, we are about 3.5 hours away from Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington, NC, or 4.5 hours from Charleston, SC. There is lots of good golfing to be had, too, many folks like Pinehurst, NC for that (about an hour and a half away).
All these trips, by the way, could be good options for your Thanksgiving break. My first year at Wake, instead of flying me home during the craziest travel days of the year, my P’92s drove here and we went to Charleston for Thanksgiving. Somewhat weird not to be eating turkey in your own house, but it was fabulous for not having to cook and clean your house and do dishes. Just a thought.
For all new parents, on Move-In day (8/21), you will drive to your Deac’s residence hall. Helpers will help you unload all your items onto the sidewalk or lawn, then one parent/family member drives on to park the car, and your Deac (and any other family) get out to check inget your keys, etc. Student athletes help carry boxes and suitcases up to your Deac’s room, which is a huge help. That move-in help is only available until 2 pm, so be advised. (For our P’22s, ’21s, and ’20s, I regret to inform you that the move-in help is for new incoming families only).
We are looking forward to meeting all our P’23s and their Deacs! And to having all our upperclass Deacs back!