A Big Week
Our beautiful spring weather continues. Yesterday it was sunny and 70, and the sky was super clear; today is high 60s and sunny. Days like this remind me of one of our campus’ spring service projects, D.E.S.K. (Discovering Education Through Student Knowledge). D.E.S.K. is a wonderful afternoon where students paint desks for local elementary school students. You can get a sense from past photos below.
This year’s D.E.S.K. will take place on Wednesday, April 20th from 3-6:30 pm (rain date: Thursday, April 21). Your Deac can get involved with D.E.S.K at this link.
Yesterday, a message was sent to families of graduating students about Commencement tickets; read it here. As a reminder, students must order tickets for their guests and distribute them. You can see more at the Commencement website.
For our incoming families (P’26s): a message went out Friday to your ’26 students; there was also a version sent to P’26 families.
For our P’25 families: your ’25 students got their weekly issue of Letters So Dear yesterday.
This is a big week in the life of Wake Forest, as we prepare for the Inauguration of President Wente. Dr. Wente is only the 14th president since Wake Forest’s founding in 1834, which in and of itself is quite remarkable; she is also our first female president.
Given that inaugurations do not happen very often in the life of a college campus, I really do encourage your Deacs to participate in as many of the Inauguration events as their schedule allows. There are several that might be of special interest to students:
Wednesday, 3/23 between 9 am-6:30 pm – Campus Community Service Projects (various times). Students can participate in service projects as part of Inauguration week; see this website for details.
Thursday 3/24 at 6:30 pm in Wait Chapel – Face to Face: Radical Collaboration. Students will have the chance to hear from Trustee and WF parent Larry Culp (P ’17, P ’19, P ’23), the CEO of General Electric, and Gene Woods, CEO of Atrium Health. They will be discussing radical collaboration in a moderated conversation with Marybeth Torbet Hays (’90, MBA ’94).
Friday, 3/25 from 8:30-10:30 am on Manchester Plaza – Community Breakfast. This is a chance for students to enjoy a free breakfast with our campus community. (Free food! Need I say more???)
Friday 3/25 at 3:30 pm in Wait Chapel – Inauguration of Dr. Wente. Tickets are required; students can pick up a ticket (first come, first served) at the Hospitality Center in the Green Room of Reynolda Hall between 9 am and 4 pm Thursday or 9 am and 1:30 pm on Friday. This is where all the pomp and circumstance happen! Academic processional, delegates from other institutions, speeches, and more. This has only happened *14* times since our founding, so it is a rare gift for students to have the chance to attend an inauguration.
Friday 3/25 from 10 pm-1 am at the LJVM Coliseum – Inauguration Ball. Enjoy live music, drinks and hors d’oeuvres and dancing with your fellow Deacs. Tickets are free, but must be requested in advance; details at go.wfu.edu/prezball.
This is truly a week for our Deacs to take as many bites out of the Wake smorgasbord as they can!
— by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)