June 24: Orientation and New Deac Week Schedule
Bottom Line Up Front:
- Upcoming key dates or action items for families
- Reminder of move-in dates
- New Deac Week Guidebook/Preview of tentative Parent and Family Orientation schedule August 20-21
- ICYMI: Housing Webinar Recording
Dear parents and families of incoming students,
Looking ahead to your Deacs’ arrival in August, we want to draw your attention to a few key items this week, then we will focus on a preview of the tentative Orientation and New Deac Week schedule.
Upcoming key dates or action items for families
Here’s what you should know this week.
- Students must upload their immunization and medical records by July 1: According to North Carolina state law, Wake Forest requires documentation of certain immunizations for students attending college. Forms must be completed by students in the Deacon Health Portal, and all documentation must be uploaded by Tuesday, July 1st. Please ensure your student allows sufficient time for their physician to provide the necessary paperwork and/or to schedule any needed vaccines.
- Note: Your student should be checking their Deacon Health portal regularly to see if they are compliant or what they are missing. Also, they can call 336-758-5218 or email deaconhealth@wfu.edu should they have questions.
Reminder of move-in dates
- As we look to move-in and Orientation, please keep the following dates in mind:
- Thursday, August 14 – Students accepted to Marching Band will move in
- Friday, August 15 – Students accepted to Wilderness to Wake will move in
- Saturday, August 16 – all other Pre-Orientation programs will move in.
- Your student will receive their official move-in date at their WFU email address from Residence Life and Housing. The specific start time for your student’s program will be communicated by their Pre-Orientation program.
- There will be an optional reception for families of students doing Pre-Orientation programs on Saturday, August 16 at 4 p.m. (see next section).
- Tuesday, August 19 – move-in for all new international students not participating in a Pre-Orientation program; check-in will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Wednesday, August 20 – move-in for students not participating in Pre-Orientation programs; check-in will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Move-In Assistance: Move-in assistance from campus partners will be available until 12 p.m.
- Students will receive a recommended move-in time slot with their housing assignments released by Wednesday, July 31st.
- Moving in can seem chaotic, with hundreds of students arriving on campus in just a few hours. Our recommended time slots help with traffic flow so you can settle into your new home as quickly and smoothly as possible.
- Students should arrive at the LJVM Coliseum no more than 15 minutes before their move-in time.
- For more on move-in and first-year housing, please visit rlh.wfu.edu/incoming.
Parent and Family Reception for Students attending Pre-Orientation
- All Parents and Families with students attending Pre-Orientation programs are cordially invited to connect with members of the campus community on Saturday, August 16th at 4 p.m. in the Wellbeing Center, Sutton Gym, C407 (21A on this map). This is an informal reception hosted by Orientation, Family Communications, and the Office of Family Engagement. There will be brief welcome remarks at 4:30 p.m. Dress is casual.
- Note that your students will be engaged in their own Pre-Orientation activities during this time, so your students should not be with you at this reception.
New Deac Week Guidebook/Preview of the tentative Parent and Family Orientation schedule August 20-21
- We have created a tentative Parent and Family Orientation schedule, which will be available on the Guidebook app.
- Sometime later today, you will receive an email inviting you to download the Orientation Guide on Guidebook. If you did not receive it by the end of the day, check your spam/junk mail folder.
- Once you have the Guidebook app for New Deac Week 2025 on your phone, follow these instructions to see the tentative Parent and Family Orientation Schedule:
- On any given day in the schedule, you can click on an event name to see more information about what that event covers.
- Note: to see the student schedules, you would select First Year or Transfer student in the 3rd screen above, as applicable.
- We also want to provide some context on the New Deac Week and Parent/Family Orientation schedule:
- Most of the activities for Orientation have parents and families attending one session, while their students go off in another direction. This is intentional, as it will help students connect to each other, rather than stay with their families the whole time. The sooner they meet and get to know their classmates, the easier the transition is likely to be when you leave.
- On Thursday, August 21st, there are multiple parent and family sessions happening. You are welcome to attend any that you like. Some two-member households opt to ‘divide and conquer’ and go to different sessions, doubling the number of sessions they can cover.
- We will share any slideshows/handouts (from presenters who provide them) the week or two after orientation.
- This is a DRAFT schedule; it is possible that some sessions could change, or additional ones added.
- While we hope our new families’ schedules will allow them to participate, please know that Parent and Family Orientation is not required.
- If you cannot attend, we strongly encourage you to subscribe to the Daily Deac blog, which will allow you to receive regular news and updates from Wake Forest.
There are a lot of tasks your students will need to attend to over the coming weeks. Continue letting your students take the lead on planning and completing all action items. Every bit of practice they get in self-management now will serve them well once the semester starts.
Parting Thoughts
We’ll be back next week with another message for P’29 families. In case you missed last week’s message, you can view our archive here.
With best wishes,
Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)
Executive Director of Family Communications