Wake ‘N Shake
Yesterday’s Daily Deac talked about snow. Our teams here are monitoring the forecast. Best guess is we won’t have any reasonably dependable forecast until Thursday morning. As of 11 am today via weather.com, which is my app of choice, it is saying we will have showers Thursday that could turn to snow, but not much more than a dusting. Know that we are keeping an eye on it, and that in the event that there is a change in schedule on Friday, it would be announced in all the normal ways.
One of the favorite spring traditions is Wake ‘N Shake, our student dance marathon that benefits cancer research. This is a wonderful way for students to get involved in a cause bigger than themselves, meet other students, and have fun. The Student Directors of Wake ‘N Shake – Mary Britton Anderson (’20), Felton Hatcher (‘20), and Kylie Reed (‘20) – have sent some information that they wanted the Daily Deacdom to have. Here goes:
The disease of cancer has touched many of our lives in painful and tragic ways. Here at Wake Forest, we are seeking to find a cure for cancer through a somewhat alternative method. Wake ‘N Shake is our very own twelve-hour dance marathon, and Wake Forest’s largest student philanthropy event of the entire year!
This year, on March 21st, we will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of Wake ‘N Shake. From noon to midnight students will come together as a community to dance with friends and family. Entirely student-led from its inception in 2006, Wake ‘N Shake has cumulatively raised over $2 million for the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund. This fund directly supports the world class research at the Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Linked here you can see the impact that our work is having at the cancer center. Because of the generosity of our community and the hard work of our students, our efforts have been able to fund the development of a new cancer drug that is in its last stages of clinical trials! We hope to continue that work by building on the success of previous years. Last year marked the first year that our fundraising efforts broke $400,000, and it is our goal to break that enormous threshold again.
We have a great leadership team of more than 40 students and just over 200 committee members assisting in the planning and execution of this signature event – not to mention the 1,400 or so students that come for an awesome day of dancing and celebrating life in the spirit of Pro Humanitate.
Please visit our website at www.wakenshake.com or email us at wns@wfu.edu if you have any questions. We hope that your son or daughter will join the Wake ’N Shake Team on March 21st in the fight against cancer.
You can watch a fun Wake ’N Shake video here. Particularly for our P’23s who have students who might still be trying to find their niche and activities to get involved in, Wake ‘N Shake is a great outlet.
— by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)