Project Pumpkin coming soon

In this Issue:

• Project Pumpkin – a great activity for your Deacs
• National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

It feels like Actual Fall today: temps are in the low to mid 70s through Friday. But any good feelings this weather might normally bring feel misplaced given the concern that we all have for those in Florida awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Milton. We have many Wake Foresters in Florida. May you all be safe.

Today we talk about Project Pumpkin, one of our most cherished campus traditions, and how to stay safe in a world full of cyberscams.

Project Pumpkin – a great activity for your Deacs

One of my favorite fall days is coming up soon: Project Pumpkin!

“Since its inception more than 30 years ago, Wake Forest students, faculty and staff have partnered with multiple local schools and agencies to bring children to the Reynolda Campus and create a fall festival that includes trick-or-treating, entertainment, and educational activities. Around 800 children from local schools and after-school programs attend Project Pumpkin each year.”

This year, Project Pumpkin will be held on campus on Tuesday October 29 from 3-6 p.m. (and at various off campus locations on October 24 from 6-8 p.m.). This year’s theme is Wild Adventures, and the organizers are looking for students to create booths and activities for our visiting children. Students can register to create a booth here. Booth registration closes October 16, so urge your Deacs to act quickly.

Project Pumpkin is always a wonderful day. It’s a time that our students dress up in costume and host fun activities all over the Quad, to the delight of our tiny guests who come to trick or treat and enjoy the festive, carnival atmosphere.

You can watch a short video from last year’s Project Pumpkin.

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and yesterday the campus community received this message about it. There will be additional information and resources shared throughout the month.

This is a timely and important topic. Phishing scams and spoofed emails are on the rise and are becoming increasingly sophisticated. The Cybersecurity Month message has tips to help students spot a spoofed email address – but I am sharing here because these could help families too:

• Don’t Click:
  • If you open the email you suspect is spoofed, do not click any link in the email body. Read for indicators that feel “off” such as typos, requests for money, or odd phrasings. 
• View Email Headers:
  • Find the option to view the email headers. This is usually under options like “more,” “details,” or “show original” depending on your email provider. Look for suspicious headings or typos. 
• Locate the “From” Field:
  • In the headers, look for the “From” field. This shows the displayed sender address. Often, spoofed emails or emails attempting to phish will have a strange “From” email. 
• Hover Over the Sender’s Email Address:
  • Note the actual email address. Compare it to the displayed name. If they don’t match, it could be spoofed.
• Look for Phishing Signs:
  • Check for unusual requests or language, poor grammar, or suspicious links.
• Report & Delete
  • If the email in question meets any or all of these concerns, assume the email is spoofed. Forward the email to the Information Security team at infosec, then delete the email. 

We encourage all our students to be attentive to cybersecurity to protect themselves, and remember that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.