The Big Question
In this Issue:
- The big question: will we get snow? ice? nothing?
- Family Weekend date is not set yet
- Bracing for – or embracing! – the new
Our brutal cold continues in WS. I had meetings both yesterday and today in Reynolda Hall and the walk across campus was biting. If your Deacs are already here, I hope they are bundling up. Let’s get straight to today’s news.
The big question: will we get snow? ice? nothing?
After yesterday’s Daily Deac referencing the fact that the Office of Residence Life and Housing changed the opening date of the residential communities in anticipation of winter weather, many of you have emailed me to ask what the forecast is. At this point, it looks like we could get some snow on Friday, but the real questions are when, and how much?
That is the million dollar question.
There are four area television station websites (WXII, WGHP, WFMY and Spectrum News 14) that you might want to keep an eye on. I am a WXII girl myself, but some people like to review all the forecasts and compare and contrast.
The forecast I watched this morning indicated it is still a bit early to predict what will happen Friday, as conditions could change, but they do think we will get some snow starting later on Friday and into Saturday.
I suspect the picture will become clearer later today or tomorrow. For now, just be aware of the local weather resources you can check so that if your Deacs are traveling here this weekend, they can make the travel plans that feel best for them.
Family Weekend date is not set yet
The other popular question that has been hitting my inbox this week is about the date for Family Weekend 2025. The short answer is the date has not been chosen yet.
The longer answer is the date for Family Weekend will probably not be available until late January-early February after the football schedule is released. Normally we hold Family Weekend in conjunction with a football game weekend. Even after we learn the football schedule, it takes a few days or more for the event planners to vet hotel space, see if there are other conflicts that would make a particular date difficult, etc. So know there will be a brief wait between the football schedule coming out and the announcement of a date.
I promise to share the Family Weekend date as soon as I have it.
Once the dates are announced, we encourage families to consider making their lodging arrangements. For a list of local hotels, check visitwinstonsalem.com. Please also consider Airbnbs, VRBOs, etc. as well as hotels outside the immediate near-campus/downtown Winston-Salem vicinity; there are some great hotels in Greensboro and High Point (about a 30ish minute drive from campus).
Bracing for – or embracing! – the new
We are at the cusp of a new semester, which means new classes, a different schedule than your Deacs had in the fall, perhaps new subjects to learn, and a new set of professors for whom students will have to learn their expectations, preferred writing style, test style, etc.
Your Deacs may experience new social options. Some of these might come from affiliation with a Greek organization following recruitment. But other social changes might be that the friends your Deac ate lunch with every Tuesday & Thursday in the fall semester now have class at a time your Deac doesn’t, so they may need some new dining partners. People will join (or leave) student organizations and the groups’ compositions will change.
For our students who are returning from abroad/away, they will be reacclimating too. They will be coming back to a familiar campus, but adjusting to a new normal, with a different worldview. No longer can our formerly-abroad Deacs just hop a train and be in a foreign country in a couple of hours, nor will they have the same museums, historical sites, culture, and food options from the fall. Most – maybe all? – of our students who go abroad/away come back with a different perspective or outlook. For my own return from the Dijon, France program, there was a lot of happiness about coming back, but a certain amount of wistfulness, and longing to be with other students who’d been abroad and would understand.
So for all of our Deacs, there is going to be a whole lot of new in the next couple of weeks. New can sometimes be uncomfortable. New requires adjustment. New is growth. And sometimes growth is hard, but it is also good for all of us.
How to handle the new?
Encourage your Deacs to embrace the new (or at least brace for it!) That may be resolving to meet new people, being open to new ideas, being willing to try something they hadn’t thought of before. Encourage them to join that student organization, invite a hallmate/classmate/acquaintance to lunch or dinner, talk to someone they don’t know. Volunteer. Take a long walk. Whatever suits your Deac.
Very soon they will find their groove. You must trust me about this 🙂
I know that many of you live in places where there is already a lot of snow, and others of you are waiting for storms to arrive. And for our Deac families in the Los Angeles area, the coverage I am seeing of the fires you are experiencing is just horrible. Be safe, all.