109 FRESHMEN JOIN OCCE FOR PRE-ORIENTATION
Each fall, the OCCE hosts two pre-orientation programs for first-year students: Deacon Camp, which provides students a behind-the-scenes experience of the story of Wake Forest, and SPARC (Students Promoting Action and Responsibility in the Community), which allows students the opportunity to volunteer with various community organizations and learn about the issues impacting Winston-Salem.
Each program provides incoming students the opportunity to experience core aspects of the Wake Forest experience: leadership, tradition, community, and of course, Pro Humanitate. This fall, the OCCE hosted 109 incoming students, with the help of 39 student leaders throughout the three-day program.
HIT THE BRICKS RAISES $242,934.03, BREAKS FUNDRAISING RECORD FOR THIRD-STRAIGHT YEAR
On Thursday, October 6, Wake Forest students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends gathered on Hearn Plaza for the 19th annual Hit The Bricks. For nearly two decades, this tradition has brought members from across the Wake Forest community together for an eight-hour relay event to raise money for the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund.
This year, participants broke both the participation record (1,770) and the fundraising record ($242,934.03) for the second- and third-straight year, respectively. In all, 1,486 undergraduate students participated in the event, representing 27% of the total undergraduate population. Faculty, staff, graduate students, alumni, and community sponsors also participated.
Founded by WFU students in 1980, the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund honors the memory of 1965 Wake Forest graduate and Chicago Bears football star Brian Piccolo. Since its inception, through Hit the Bricks and other student-led initiatives across campus, the WFU community has raised over $5 million to support cancer research initiatives and improve patient care.
PROJECT PUMPKIN RETURNS TO REYNOLDA CAMPUS FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2019
Following a canceled event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and an off-campus event in 2021 in partnership with the City of Winston-Salem, the annual fall festival made its return to the Reynolda Campus on Tuesday, October 25. Together, 219 WFU volunteers contributed 351 hours of direct service as they welcomed over 600 local children from 15 different community agencies to campus for trick-or-treating and fun-filled activities and games around Hearn Plaza.
Following the on-campus event, Project Pumpkin hosted Fall Festivals in partnership with the City of Winston-Salem at five different community recreation centers on October 27.
In addition, Project Pumpkin raised $2,032.18 to benefit the WFU Freedom School. Open to local K-8th grade students in Winston Salem, Freedom School is a free, literacy-based summer enrichment program hosted by the WFU Department of Education.
public health AMERICcorps members begin service
In March 2022, Wake Forest was awarded a grant for over $214,000 by AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to serve as an inaugural host site for Public Health AmeriCorps, which aims to train the next generation of public health leaders.
Fifteen individuals were selected to participate in the program, including 14 Wake Forest undergraduate students and 1 Wake Forest alumna. To date, members have completed over 775 hours of direct service at six community health centers.
The inaugural cohort of Public Health AmeriCorps members at Wake Forest includes:
- Rosa Almonte ('24), Crisis Control Ministries
- Tripp Causby ('22), Community Care Center
- Charles Fisher ('24), Community Care Center
- Safa Jan ('25), Forsyth County Department of Public Health
- Danielle Jefferson ('23), Twin City Harm Reduction Collective
- Sneha Kannan ('23), The Shalom Project
- Autumn Brianne Knight ('23), Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
- Rachael Nyankson ('25), Community Care Center
- Lily Pursall Berger ('23), Forsyth County Department of Public Health
- Mariam Raja ('25), Crisis Control Ministries
- Emily Reeves ('23), Cancer Services
- Adriana Riera ('24), Community Care Center
- Adaiah Stevens ('24), Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
- Katherina Tsai ('25), Forsyth County Department of Public Health
- Theresa Urquhart ('16), The Shalom Project
DEACS DECIDE IN 2022 MIDTERMS
Following the 2020 presidential election, in which 78.2% of Wake Forest students voted, Deacs Decide returned for the 2022 midterm elections to ensure student participation and engagement. Led by a team of Deacs Decide Fellows, voter engagement efforts included securing an early polling location less than a mile from campus; organizing a "March to the Polls" event during the last week of the One-Stop Early Voting Period; and developing non-partisan guides to voting.
In all, Deacs Decide registered or updated voter registration for 193 Wake Forest students through on-campus voter registration drives. Additionally, students had the opportunity to both register and update their voter registration during One-Stop Early Voting in Forsyth County.
This work would not be possible without the help of Tarak Duggal and Drew Skilton, both Campus Vote Project Fellows, and our Deacs Decide Fellows: Anna Beim, Cat Carpenter, James Watson, Natalie Borsuk, Elizabeth MacDonald, Celeste Lynch, Charlotte Armstrong, Daneilla Coeppicus, and Mimi Wolk.
WFU RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY FOR COMMITMENT TO STUDENT VOTING
Prior to the 2022 midterm elections, Wake Forest was recognized nationally by two different organizations for its commitment to increasing nonpartisan democratic engagement.
The university was awarded a "Highly Established Action Plan Seal" from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. WFU was one of 82 colleges and universities recognized. The seal is awarded to campuses that have worked to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and graduate engaged voters by building a strong nonpartisan action plan.
For the third-straight year, Wake Forest was included in Washington Monthly’s “2022 Best Colleges for Student Voting Honor Roll”. The Deacs first made the list in 2020 and again in 2021. The university joined 10 other schools from the state of North Carolina and was one of 230 schools selected from across the Country.
TURKEYPALOOZA FEEDS 600 COMMUNITY MEMBERS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
Each November, the Campus Kitchen at Wake Forest University celebrates TurkeyPalooza by preparing scratch-made turkey dinners for its community partners in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
This year, 152 students and staff contributed 218 hours of direct service throughout the week to make and deliver 400 scratch-made Thanksgiving meals for 9 different community partners in Winston-Salem, including Anthony's Plot, Azalea Terrace, Hope to Thrive, Latino Community Services, NC Faith Health, Parenting Path, Ronald McDonald House and The Shalom Project. The menu consisted of roasted turkey, sweet potato casserole, baked green beans, autumn stuffing, pumpkin cookies, and cranberry sauce.
For the second-straight year, Harvest Table Culinary Group, the University's on-campus food service provider, assisted with the effort, preparing an additional 200 meals, that were delivered in partnership with Campus Kitchen volunteers.
VIRTUAL TUTORING CONTINUES TO PROVIDE INVALUABLE SERVICE TO LOCAL CHILDREN
The WFU Virtual Tutoring Program, which began as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to offer complimentary, weekly one-hour tutoring sessions to local K-12 children by Wake Forest University students.
This fall, 127 Wake Forest students tutored 151 local K-12 school children from 55 different schools, 16 of which classify as Title I schools. In all, 924 hours of tutoring services were provided at no cost to families.
Students were represented across all grades and subjects throughout the school system.
DEACS EMBODY PRO HUMANITATE SPIRIT THROUGH DAY(S) OF SERVICE
Following reduced in-person service due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the OCCE worked to re-introduce students to face-to-face service opportunities with various community partners during the Fall semester.
On August 19th, 160 L1 students from the Wake Forest School of Law joined the OCCE for a Day of Service during Law School Foundations Week. Together, they volunteered with 12 different community partners, including the Forsyth Humane Society, The City of Winston-Salem, Kaleidium North, and more, to record 411 hours of direct service
The OCCE hosted a separate Day of Service - open to the entire WFU community - on September 9th, where 73 Deacs devoted their afternoon to helping various local community partners. They contributed 179 hours of direct service through different tasks, including beautifying the outdoor spaces at Kaleideum North, assisting with construction through Habitat for Humanity, sorting food and perishable items at Second Harvest Food Bank NWNC, and helping Latino Community Services prepare for the start of their after-school programs.
On September 22, 15 volunteers from the OCCE, Harvest Table, and the United Way of Forsyth County celebrated the Aramark Day of Service with Latino Community Services. Volunteers worked alongside local families to build bookshelves for their homes and entertained children by making bookmarks. Harvest Table provided a delicious, hot meal for all families, staff, and volunteers to enjoy during and after service contributions.
OCCE WELCOMES THREE NEW STAFF MEMBERS
Since July of this year, the Office of Civic & Community Engagement has welcomed three new staff members: Amanda Alston, Charmaine Carrillo-Angino, and Cazandra Rebollar.
Carrillo-Angino, serves as the Director of Community Partnerships where she identifies and develops strategic community partnerships between WFU and local, regional, and national community-based organizations. She also oversees the Academic Community Engagement (ACE) Fellowship to support faculty as they design community-based teaching and research projects. With more than 25 years of community partnership experience in Los Angeles and Winston-Salem, she comes to WFU from the United Way of Forsyth County, where she served as Senior Director of Community Planning and Investment.
Alston joins the OCCE team as Assistant Director of Community Partnerships and Co-Director of the Winston-Salem Community Action Coalition. In her role, she manages National Service programs through the Office of Civic & Community Engagement, including the AmeriCorps*VISTA project, the Summer Nonprofit Immersion Program (SNIP), and the Public Health AmeriCorps program.
A 2017 graduate of Wake Forest, Rebollar returns to the Reynolda campus as the Assistant Director of Civic Engagement where she oversees Project Pumpkin and DESK, leads the Civic Scholars Program, and advises student service organizations. She also develops volunteer opportunities for students in the Winston-Salem community and provides support for GivePulse, our volunteer management system.
MARIANNE MAGJUKA, ED.D., RECOGNIZED BY WINSTON UNDER 40
Each year, Winston Under 40 recognizes the talents and contributions of Winston-Salem's young professionals. This year, Executive Director of the Office of Civic & Community Engagement and Assistant Dean of Students, Marianne Magjuka was honored during the annual celebration on November 9 at Salem Academy & College Elberson Fine Arts Center.
As the founding executive director of the OCCE, Magjuka provides strategic leadership to institutionalize civic engagement at Wake Forest. She has established and advanced many of the University’s foundational programs related to social justice, civic learning, and democratic engagement. In addition, she established the Winston-Salem Community Action Coalition, the largest AmeriCorps*VISTA project in North Carolina, focused on capacity-building, education and economic development.
THIS SPRING WITH THE OCCE
January 21: Martin Luther King Jr. Read-In. Sign up to volunteer!
January 31: Virtual Tutoring Spring 2023 sessions begin
March 4-12: Wake Alternative Break
March 25: Wake 'N Shake 2023
April 6: OCCE End-of-Year Celebration
April 19: D.E.S.K.
*All dates are subject to change.