Today is Fri-yay, because it is the end of the week, and students will be coming home to you soon. Know you must all be happy about that.
Parents and families were sent an email today about the end of on-campus instruction and some important points to consider; there was also a student version. First point to note is that we encourage your students to stay home once they get home – for all the reasons mentioned in the email – until the official start time in late January. Second key point: students will need to submit proof of a negative COVID test before being allowed to return in January. Details about that will be sent later in December and will include options about testing providers. Stay tuned for more info once we have it.
Students got their Your Corona Chronicle yesterday; you can read it here. In it are some tips for keeping the holidays safe, which might be helpful to the Daily Deacdom as you contemplate Thanksgiving. Much as I hate to say it, we decided to cancel plans with family in another part of the state, and given the recent uptick in cases, we even canceled plans for our local quarantine pod to eat together. The risk just didn’t outweigh the reward for our families. So for a lot of us, Thanksgiving will be different this year. In the Your Corona Chronicle, your Deacs were encouraged to take pics of your creatively safe Thanksgiving and share them with #WFU so we can have the ultimate Wake Forest virtual #Deacsgiving – and we invite you to share too!
There was an article in the Winston-Salem Journal about some planned work that will be done in Reynolda Gardens to replace the old weeping cherry trees – which have reached the end of their maturity and are starting to decline – with 44 new ones. Reynolda Gardens is one of the most beautiful places not just on campus, but in all of Winston-Salem. If you haven’t had the pleasure of visiting the gardens, which are gorgeous in any season, here are some pictures of its glory. I know the holidays are just around the corner, but frankly I am ready for springtime.
Program note for next week: the Call Center will be open Monday-Wednesday from 10 am – 3 pm (336.758.7500), but closed Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Make it a great weekend, Deac families (and students). Be safe.
