Mea Culpa

In this Issue:

• DESK photostory
• A Bed and a Book/Bed Race photostory
• For P’25s and ’28s

Yesterday was my favorite Daily Deac day of the year, April Fools. And I received a number of emails lastnight about my story of the lost Leonardo painting discovered on the Old Campus; looks like I fooled some folks 🙂

Thank you for taking it with good humor, Daily Deacdom. And you are officially on notice that I try to sneak something like this in every April 1st 🙂

Now to today’s news, just a couple of items to share.

DESK photostory

Yesterday was DESK, one of our signature service projects in the spring:

“DESK brings local elementary school children to campus each spring to create inspiring, colorful study spaces for students in their homes.

A longstanding campus tradition, DESK was started in 2004 in partnership with Old Town Elementary after two WFU students identified a lack of workspace in the homes of the children they were tutoring. Today it includes four participating schools – Old Town Elementary, Cook Literacy Model School, Kimberley Park Elementary, and North Hills Elementary. The event serves as a fundraiser for the Wake Forest University Freedom School, whose students are also encouraged to participate in this cherished campus tradition.”

My talented photographer colleague, Lyndsie Schlink, was out there to cover all the action and has shared this DESK photostory. There are lots of pictures of our students painting these colorful desks – perhaps you will see your own Deac!

And as a reminder, you can subscribe to photostories so they come straight to your inbox; see the subscription box at the bottom of the DESK photostory.

A Bed and A Book/Bed Race photostory

Not long before press time today, I got another photostory in my Inbox. We had two parallel events yesterday: a bed race, and a bed building project:

“As part of the Leadership Experience Action Project, Dr. Douglas Johnson’s Calloway Leadership Experience (BEM 318) class students partnered with Engineering students to design and build beds to race as part of BEM 318 & ACLC Community Bed Race: Awaken Greatness on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. Eleven teams from BEM 318 raced to raise awareness and financial support for A Bed and A Book.

Around 50 Wake Forest University faculty, staff, and students built 20 beds on the Farrell Hall Terrace alongside colleagues from Allegacy Federal Credit Union on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 for A Bed And A Book. The event was hosted by the Allegacy Center for Leadership and Character and the Staff Advisory Council.”

View the photostory here. This is a great example of Pro Humanitate at work!

For P’25s and ’28s

For families of first-year students and seniors, we would love your help in encouraging your Deacs to provide their feedback.

First-year students and seniors were emailed the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), at their WFU email on Monday, Mar. 31. The survey is an incredibly important measuring tool and student responses help us improve student engagement and satisfaction. Students who respond to the survey will earn a free small coffee at Smith’s Café plus a chance to win a $99 gift card to the Deacon Shop if they complete the survey by Friday, May 2.

It only takes about 15 minutes to complete. Encourage your Deacs to take a break from studying, scrolling TikTok or Instagram, etc. and use that time to help us learn about their experiences so we can help plan future strategies to benefit all students.

As one who struggled to get enough surveys for my own dissertation, I always feel obliged to help others get to that magic survey response rate so we have truly good and representative data. Thanks for any encouragement you can provide!