5 Weeks or So

In this Issue:

• Important: if your Deacs don’t take care of their onboarding tasks in Workday and meet with their advisor, they will not be able to register for classes
• The remaining time in the semester and things your Deac might be thinking about

I feel like we somehow jumped from January to almost April in the blink of an eye. The reality is that classes end on May 1st, and finals run May 3-10. So in 5-6 weeks’ time, the semester will be over.

Important: if your Deacs don’t take care of their onboarding tasks in Workday and meet with their advisor, they will not be able to register for classes

Registration begins next week. This is important: students who have not completed their onboarding tasks in Workday, as well as those who have not met with their advisors to have their advising hold removed, will not be able to register.

Please remind your students to take care of these important tasks as soon as possible.

The remaining time in the semester and things your Deac might be thinking about

Our Deacs are going to be multitasking on a variety of fronts in the coming weeks:

Academics – our students still have their regular classes, homework, tests, papers, projects. But with a month or so left to go, they will also be thinking about the remaining work to be done, plus finals looming. As April progresses, that may cause some stress and/or test anxiety.

Social – particularly if you have a ’24 who is graduating, they may be really feeling the ‘oh my gosh, all my friends are going to be leaving soon’ panic (even if they know some friends who will be going to the same city/town they’ll be in after graduation). For our ’25s-’27s, they might be thinking about what their social life will look like this summer: are their any Wake friends in their hometown they can hang out with? What about high school friendships, are those still active? Regardless of their year, many of our students might feel a particular push to get in a lot of socializing now while they still can, balancing with schoolwork of course.

Job/internship search – many of our Deacs are actively looking for jobs and internships right now. If they haven’t gotten any offers yet, tell them to take heart and heed the advice of the OPCD (Office of Personal and Career Development): “The more opportunities you apply for, the higher your chances of getting an interview.” And remember that the OPCD is here to help: your student can request an appointment with their career coach if they need help getting started and support.

Lining everything up for academic year 24-25 – our current students (i.e., ’24s-27s) just went through the housing selection process for next year, and fall class registration for current students begins next week (running April 1-5). So our Deacs are trying to figure out their course plans, as well as learning our new registration system, Workday Student.

Making a plan for move-out – at some point they will all have to pack their things, figure out if they will store them in W-S, ship them home, etc. That will also take time and mental energy. The Office of Residence Life and Housing has this website that prompts students to think ahead about the 3 critical Ps: Plan, Pack, and Place.

All told, it is a lot to balance.

How best to support your student with all these things going on in the mix? A lot of our normal advice applies:

Listen to your students vent when needed, and understand that their venting doesn’t necessarily mean they want advice or your involvement; they may just want to be heard by a safe and loving person. A great tip is to ask “what do you need from me right now? are you just venting and need me to listen? or do you want any input from me?” That way no one is getting frustrated.

Remind them that they have balanced a lot of responsibility before, and they can do it again, or that they have taken finals successfully before and can do it again, etc. – whatever the thing is they are worried about. Sometimes just being reminded that you believe in them and believe they’ll handle things properly is the boost they need.

Let them make their plans (even if they might be doing it a little differently than you would). All problem-solving, logistics-planning, and skill-building that your Deacs can do will serve them well later.

Remind your students to keep it all in balance: do their academics, but take care of themselves physically and mentally, and do things that bring them joy. The semester will be over all too soon, so grab the fun that you can.

Finally, for all who are observing Good Friday and Easter, wishing you a meaningful weekend.