Wednesday Notes

In this Issue:

• First-year student/Class of 2027 pulse survey
• Family Weekend video: family interviews
• Airport shuttles at Fall Break
• WFU in the News, Sept. 18-23

So much for my talking yesterday about the great fall weather forecast: it has been an on-and-off, needle-fine rain all morning. Today is a pretty packed day of meetings for me, so we’ll get right to it.

First-year student/Class of 2027 pulse survey

P’27s, take note (and help us bump the response rate!): First-year students were emailed a brief, 16-question survey on Monday, Sept. 25, designed to provide insights into their first few weeks in The Forest. The data from this survey will help us to understand first-year students’ sense of belonging. Families of Class of 2027 Deacs, please urge your ’27s to check their Wake Forest email and take the survey, which will be open until Sunday, Oct. 8.

I can tell you from experience that administrators really do read surveys and take the data there and find things to act on. So P’27s, help your ’27 students understand that this survey matters and we want to hear from them!

Family Weekend video: family interviews

Some of my very intrepid colleagues who work with video creation talked to students and families during Family Weekend – the subject was ‘What do you miss most about your family?‘ [student question] or ‘What do you miss most about your Deac?‘ [family member question]. It’s a lovely series of reflections. Watch it here.

Airport shuttles at Fall Break

Some families have been asking about shuttle services to airports for Fall Break. Our Transportation and Parking Services offers shuttles to Charlotte (CLT) and Greensboro (GSO/PTI), and you can find information here. There are not shuttles to Raleigh (RDU), but there is information on that same webpage about a private car service families can look into if they wish. (Students also carpool, share Ubers, etc.)

FWIW, here is my take on airports: many families want to book to Raleigh or Charlotte because it is a direct flight, or a cheaper ticket, but ground transportation to 90ish miles away adds up. There are numerous flights each day from Raleigh or Charlotte to Greensboro, which is a much closer airport (and a cheaper ground transportation cost). So even if a student’s original flight is late and they miss their connection to Greensboro, there are normally lots of other departures to get them to Greensboro. That might save you a lot of money on ground transportation (as well as aggravation; Greensboro is a very easy airport to navigate).

WFU in the News, Sept. 18-23

Calling all news wonks (like me!): if you’d like to see highlights of recent University media coverage, check out the newest edition of WFU in the News Sept. 18-23. Some of the topics this week are work-life balance, guns, and even spilling hot coffee at McDonalds (that one is in Portuguese, but there is a translate button).