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Happy FDOC

by Betsy Chapman

In this Issue:

  • Welcome to the Fall Semester message from President Wente
  • Wellbeing Center real time people counters (ZSR too)
  • For P’29s: a variety of things to share with you
    • Weekly Message for P’29 families
    • Orientation survey
    • Letters So Dear (new student message)
    • Orientation slide shows (to date)
  • Year in The Forest video – a must watch

Happy FDOC (First Day of Classes), Daily Deacdom! All the waiting is finally over and students are now getting down to business.

Typically the first day of each class is devoted to a careful read through of the course syllabus, which is a document written by the faculty member that contains all the requirements for their course, including assignments and when they are due, course policies (such as attendance), learning objectives, required textbooks or other materials. Students are held responsible for knowing what is in the syllabus and adhering to its requirements.

I would encourage your students to read every word of every syllabus, click all the links in it (if it is an electronic version, etc.) I had an Easter egg hidden in my syllabus the last two times I taught, and to my dismay none of my students found it.

Let’s get to today’s news…

Welcome to the Fall Semester message from President Wente

This morning, President Wente shared an Instagram video about the first day of classes, as well as an email message with our campus community. Here is an excerpt from that email:

“Happy new (school) year, Wake Forest! As we begin this semester together, our campus is once again alive with energy and possibility. Seeing our students and faculty head to classes today never fails to renew my spirit and remind me of our “why” – offering a transformational education to every Wake Forest student in this caring and personal environment….

As we launch the fall semester, our momentum is visible – tangible — in so many ways: 

Read Dr. Wente’s full message. Lots of exciting things happening!

Wellbeing Center real time people counters (ZSR too)

Now that the full complement of students is back on campus, the Wellbeing Center is probably going to be one of the busiest places on campus. So I want to share a couple of pro tips I got from my friends in Campus Rec and the Wellbeing Center:

First, the Wellbeing Center has realtime online people counters for all cardio and weight rooms, so students can check those out before they wander over (ZSR Library has them too). There are links to this information on the front page of both the Campus Recreation (look for Live Wellbeing Center button) and ZSR web page (look for the How Busy Is ZSR link).

Second, crowding at the Wellbeing Center will get better within a couple weeks: Fall intramural and club sports will start getting into full swing, and those will become many students’ physical outlet, and also, students will realize that the Wellbeing Center has plenty of equipment, particularly if you want to work out at times other than 3:00-6:00 p.m., which tend to be peak times.

Finally, our weather right now is unseasonably cool for August: this week is projected to have a high temperature of only 78-83 degrees, which is bonkers. So if your Deac was looking to do cardio machines indoors, they might be best served by taking advantage of our green spaces on campus and walk/jog/run outdoors. There will be time enough for ellipticals and treadmills and bikes when the weather turns colder :)

For P’29s: a variety of things to share with you

Weekly Message for P’29 families

While we are no longer emailing a special update to P’29 families every Tuesday as we did throughout the summer, we still do have a message each week of the fall semester that deals with a particular issue your new Deacs might be experiencing. I will always link those messages here in the Daily Deac, but you can also bookmark the website if you prefer. Today’s message is FDOC (First Day of Classes) is Here! and it provides a lot of broad general guidance on adjusting to college.

Orientation survey

We also sent an email with a link to an Orientation survey to all new families. You can read the message here and complete the survey here.

Letters So Dear (new student message)

You can also read this week’s Letters So Dear, which was sent to all new students this morning. ’29 students will get Letters So Dear every Monday during their first year at Wake.

Orientation slide shows (to date)

I have been collecting PFDs of the slide shows from the various Family Orientation sessions. Here is what I have so far:

Year in The Forest video – a must watch

Whether it is your Deac’s first year in The Forest or they will graduate next May (and anywhere inbetween those two milestones), I hope you will enjoy this look ahead at the year to come. A Year in The Forest shows some of the highlights of the 2024-25 year – and previews some of what your Deacs might experience in 2025-26. Enjoy!

It’s a good thing when classes start, because it helps get our students into a regular routine and a structure. Wishing all our Deacs a great first week!

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