Welcome home, Deacs!
Today starts our multi-day move-in process. First-year students are arriving from today through the 20th, then returning students from the 20th-24th. It feels like a lifetime since we’ve had students on campus. Even though it is not “back to normal” (since “normal” isn’t really possible during a pandemic) I am still glad our students will be back and we can make a “new normal” together.
My office is working remotely, so I was not there to see check in, but I am told from a source on the ground at the LJVM Coliseum that things at check-in seemed very positive, folks are flexible, and that students are being resilient in all of this new normal. That’s good news. I also got some pictures from Ken Bennett of a few families moving in (see end).
We appreciate each and every student and family member who is living out Show Humanitate by wearing masks, keeping their social distance, and practicing good handwashing and cough/sneeze hygiene. Keep up the “Safe Six” LOL
There are still many, many moving pieces to the fall semester and we are continuing to work on key issues and processes. Since I have been occupied in a lot of that work, today I’ll share some news being reported to me from several fronts:
The ZSR Library has posted its hours for the week. And Camino Bakery is open!! Your Deacs are lucky ducks! They are one of my favorites; our family goes to Camino pretty much every weekend (my Class of ’27 son would recommend the Double Chocolate cookie, Mr. Daily Deac would tell your students to get the Pain Au Chocolat, and I would recommend the Everything Swiss croissant). But truly, you can’t go wrong with Camino.
Our Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life invites families to learn more about what is happening on campus for our Jewish students. There is also a link within so you can sign up to receive their newsletter going forward.
Our Athletics team is holding a voter registration drive for student-athletes today. (Don’t worry, there will be other voter registration initiatives on campus this fall too; more to come as I have it.)
Our ’24 students got an email today about their New Deac 101 course in Canvas and some good reminders as school begins. Read it here. Speaking of our ’24s, I saw a story about move-in that mentioned that our new Class of 2024 was “admitted from an applicant pool of nearly 12,000. Seventy-three percent of the class were in the top 10% of their high school classes.” Go, Class of 2024!!
Finally, with all the COVID craziness this summer, I did not get this on the New Students website in time for new families to see it, so wanted to be sure new families know about Wake Wash, a student entrepreneurship venture. Here is how our Wake Wash students describe their business:
We are Wake Wash, Wake Forest’s exclusively licensed student owned and operated laundry delivery service. We provide laundry bags for students, who leave their dirty clothes outside their dorm room which we pick up and return washed and folded two days later! We’ve developed a robust COVID-19 strategy that provides a completely contactless laundry option for your child, ensuring the safest possible way to do their laundry. We are preparing new off-campus options which we are very excited to launch before school starts, including a fully antibacterial house cleaning service and laundry delivery! Please visit our website for more information, or contact us directly at bryanp@wakewashwfu.com with any questions. Go Deacs!
As a reminder, once the academic year starts, we will not be updating the New Students website; everything will be on parents.wfu.edu. And the Call Center is open this week from 10 am-3 pm at 336.758.7500.
— by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)