Tuesday Thoughts

In this Issue:

• Thoughts following Chapel Hill
• Campus safety alert today (all clear now)
• Wake Safe Sno Ball event
• Hurricane map perspective
• Five Senses of FDOC

It’s the second day of classes. Still grey outside and it looks like it might rain any minute, or it might just stay gloomy. Take heart, Deac families: prettier days are to come.

Today I have a smattering of things, and then a Five Senses post. I know for some of you, Five Senses is a favorite, others notsomuch. Read or skip as you see fit!

Thoughts following Chapel Hill

We continue to send our thoughts to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who had a shooting on their campus yesterday. President Wente shared a post on her Facebook page in solidarity with UNC, which you can read here.

Yesterday’s tragic situation is a good reminder to review emergency procedures before you need them. Please urge your students to download our WakeSafe mobile app and enable notifications. Families should do this too if you want to receive campus safety alerts. One of the Wake Safe buttons is Wake Alert, which will show you the procedures for a variety of emergencies.

Campus safety alert (all clear now)

We had a brief time today where we had a campus safety alert. The Winston-Salem Police Department was responding to an attempted robbery in a parking lot nearby at Wake Downtown (aka Innovation Quarter), but it is all clear now.

I got the campus safety alert via the Wake Safe app, since I downloaded the app to receive notifications, which is the process all parents/families should use. (If you did not download the Wake Safe app and enable notifications, instructions are here).

Interesting note to app notifications: I have the NC State version of Wake Safe installed on my phone so I know what is going on at my student’s college. I was surprised that there were two NC State alerts that I did not get, despite having enabled notifications. I did a little digging lastnight, and in my iPhone settings, I have ‘Do Not Disturb’ turned on as of 10 p.m., and these alerts came after that time (so my phone did not buzz). I found out you can allow certain apps to notify you even after your Do Not Disturb hours, but you have to specify which ones. That may be something to check on your phones. If you have Do Not Disturb on, make sure you get your setting right to allow Wake Safe to break into your focus time/do not disturb.

Wake Safe Sno Ball event

Speaking of Wake Safe, University Police is sponsoring a fun event (with food!) that I hope your students will attend. On August 30 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Manchester Plaza (aka Mag Quad), they will have Pelican’s Sno’ Balls and will be talking to students about the new Wake Safe app (and encouraging them to download it if they have not already). You can see more at the flyer below.

Hurricane map perspective

I am thinking good thoughts for folks in Florida and along the coast who will be impacted by Hurricane Idalia. I hope that the storm doesn’t impact y’all in a terrible way.

I also want to reassure families that Winston-Salem is very much inland from the coast. It’s 3-4 hours away to the closest beach. Maps to Wilmington, NC and Charleston, SC are below so you can get a sense of the scope. You can click the pictures to enlarge.

In my 30+ years of living in Winston-Salem/working at WFU, there have only really been a couple of hurricanes that took a wonky turn north after making landfall and impacted Winston-Salem. And by “impacted,” what I really mean is it rained for a couple of days and was windier than normal. (Once a hurricane has to travel 3-4 hours over land, it pretty much peters out into just a wind and rain event.)

Hope that helps add some perspective to where we are and reduces any anxiety one might feel.

Five Senses of FDOC (First Day of Class)

Yesterday was FDOC, and I thought it would be fun to wander around campus right around noon and observe what was going on, Five Senses style. I did not stay put in one place, but made the full loop of campus and wandered into a few buildings. Here’s what I observed.

I see…

• A Chick-fil-A mobile delivery car as I drive onto campus. There’s also a Frios (gourmet popsicles?) food truck driving onto campus.
• Beautiful pink flowers at the Reynolda Road entrance.
• A visiting family, presumably a father and daughter, walking into the Byrum Welcome Center for admissions.
• Storm clouds in the sky. It’s gonna rain at some point.
• A male student in shorts and a t-shirt with a big backpack on. The fashion outlook is that shorts for men are short again. All of those baggy, knee length shorts appear to be gone. These are more like tennis short length (or what our Deac dads likely wore in the late 80s/early 90s). 
• A female student in a nice cute summer dress for the first day of classes. Actually as time passed, I saw a lot of young women in dresses today. A smaller number were in jeans and short sleeve or sleeveless shirts. 
• AirPods in a lot of our students’ ears, particularly if they are walking solo.  
• Many students with no visible sign of raingear with them, despite the grey cloudy skies that will bring rain in the near term.
• A personlized license plate with a decidedly WF feel to it (for privacy, I won’t say what it says, but it is apropos of WFU).
• Students walking back towards Babcock residence hall. They are walking in twos and threes. Unlike my first year here, when Babcock was female students only, I see both young men and young women heading into the building.
• A bunch of crows on the ground: three in a group, another duo, and a solo crow.
• Two young women walking together past Tribble Hall, carrying what almost certainly are care packages or Amazon purchases; one of them dropped their bag on the way.
• Some students are opting not to carry their books and laptop in a backpack, but in a big tote bag. Style points.
• A student on the sidewalk back from the Pit or Benson carrying to-go sushi.
• Probably 15 or 20 people under the tent on the Mag Quad (aka Manchester Plaza)
• Three groups of students in Adirondack chairs. A couple of them are eating lunch together; one is under the shade of the magnolia tree, laptop open.
• Some students at the green café tables on the little stage on the Mag Quad level closest to the Pit. They all have laptops open. 
• A long line of students waiting to be swiped into the Pit
• One student with long hair running excitedly towards another; they hug each other tightly. Apparently they were waiting to go to the Pit together. They look very excited, as if today was the first time they saw each other since they moved in.
• Two people walking out of Benson with what looks like leftovers from Milkshake Monday [where our VP for Campus Life, Shea Kidd Brown, hands out tiny milkshakes to students and chats with them]. I suspect some of the nearby students are about to discover that Milkshake Monday is happening and will go grab some.
• A student with extremely colorful hair (looks good on them).
• Standing room only in the Benson food court. It is prime lunch time and it is pretty packed. Some students seem to be hovering near tables hoping to grab them once the current occupants finish the last bites of their meal.
• Students sitting in the atrium right outside the food court; there are tables of 1-4 people. Lots of animated chatter.
• One student waiting at the shuttle hub as I make my way past the Quad towards Farrell Hall.
• An administrator I know who is coming out of Farrell Hall as I am going in. We stop and have a quick chat about a student we both know.
• A big line in front of a table picking up business school t-shirts. The t-shirts are actually kind of retro looking; I think they are cool.
• Most of the tables in Farrell are taken.
• Students who look like they are trying to figure out where their class is in Farrell. Some are looking at a sign on the wall.
• A student with a broken leg or foot who is on a knee scooter. Bless them, they are navigating the crowded Farrell living room well, and they have planned ahead for the rainy weather by putting plastic over their cast. 10 points to Gryffindor!
• A student with an adorable umbrella that looks like it might be a poppy print.
• Great big, black clouds in the sky as I walk from Farrell to North Dining Hall. It’s really interesting: there is a very distinct line in the sky between black clouds and white ones.
• Only a couple of people in Village juice, which is weird because I thought there would be more students there.
• A student riding a bicycle, which is not something you see a ton of, oddly enough.
• Two young men walking together: one in a baseball cap, both with backpacks on. Hat guy is wildly gesticulating with his hands while he talks, and I’m dying to know what it is he’s talking about.
• Yellowing leaves on some of the trees behind Efird and Taylor residence halls. I am surprised any of the leaves are turning already.
• The rain making tiny polka dots on the sidewalk as it falls.
• Students pulling hoodies and jackets over their heads as the rain picks up.
• A young woman who just put an umbrella up. Good for you for having one in your backpack!

I hear…

• Two students walking by and one of them was talking to the other. I overheard “Generally, I think…” and then she trailed off and I couldn’t hear.
• The slamming of car doors as people park.
• Two students in conversation. One is saying “the thing, I think, it is, is…” but I didn’t catch the rest.
• High pitched, loud female laughter coming from the patio outside of the Benson Center.
• A student telling another “I’m going to the library.” 
• Someone speaking a language that I assume is Mandarin (or Cantonese?)
• Laughter.
• Students talking about Spain; likely it is about friends abroad in Barcelona or Salamanca..?
• The crackly paper of food wrappers being opened in the Benson Center. 
• The metallic clink clink of Benson’s bathroom door latches as students open and close the door.
• A student saying a loud “happy birthday!” and screaming to a friend approching. The little group they are with start the opening lines of the happy birthday song.
• A young woman talking to friends outside Tribble Hall saying to her group “I have a class in Tribble and I’m scared to go in” [Tribble has a well-earned reputation as being a labyrinth that is hard to navigate].
• Loud female laughter from the Shorty’s patio tables.
• More Mandarin or Cantonese as a group passes me.
• A student is talking to a group of friends about their the 8 a.m. foreign language class that they took last year. I can’t tell if they didn’t like the language, or the time of day (or both).
• A gently booming baseline from a car at the stop sign near the shuttle hub. The windows are open and there is a low, rumbly R&B sounding song on the radio.
• One student talking about a side hustle that they have, selling something out of their residential community (I don’t want to name it here lest I out the student, but the product is totally legal).
• Female students walking together saying “No really, we need to tell them that we just really wanted to come...” and then they all trailed off. Sounds like they were talking about a party they did not go to.
• A lot of caw caw caw -ing from a crow sitting on top of the first level of Wait Chapel’s – what’s the right word? it’s either pediment or cornice maybe?
• A student debating the merits of taking a pass/fail class.
• A very animated “How was your day?!?!?!” from one student to another.
• More student laughter.

I smell…

• Fried food. The Benson Center is clearly cranking out a lot of Chick-fil-A right now.
• Freshly popped popcorn. I ran into a faculty member I know who had a little box of popcorn with them.
• Burned smelling bagel in the Farrell living room. Someone toasted too long, or there are crumbs caught in the toaster.
• A faint whiff of sugar as I pass the business school table (there are t-shirts and cupcakes).
• The distinct smell of a lot of Starbucks coffee when I walk into North Dining Hall.
• Something absolutely delicious and fruity. There is a group of three young women walking in front of me and one of them has either a body wash or perfume that smells amazing.
• More fried food smell as I pass Benson on the way back to my car.

I feel…

• Our students’ sense of impatience. The Chick-fil-A line is long.
• A little bit of concern when I see a table outdoors that has no students at it, but there is an unattended backpack. I always worry about students leaving things unattended; anyone could walk away with it.
• Impressed by the students texting/scrolling their phones while walking and yet they don’t trip (I can’t do that without stumbling).
• Proud of someone’s daughter. She held the door open for me not once but twice and was very kind as I hurried to reach it. Thank you for raising kind people!
• Sort of damp all over because it’s incredibly humid. 
• A welcome blast of very cold air conditioning as I walk into North Dining Hall.
• A pang of envy as I walk past a big jug of water for the students eating at North Dining upstairs. The glass jug is full of pineapple slices and other fruit and I bet it tastes great.
• The first drop of rain as I walk. It hits me square on the nose.

I taste…

• Nothing food-wise (though that greasy Chick Fil A smelled real good to me), but I did taste some nervousness in the air from new students who were near the first-year student communities, as well as some excitement in the air because the fall semester represents a new start for everyone.

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Hope that gave you a little taste of what our FDOC felt like!