Students Head to Wake Forest for a Day with the Deacs

On Thursday Nov. 8 about 30 elementary and middle school students from 14 Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools headed to the campus of Wake Forest University for the annual Eat with the Deacs visit. 

The students who went were all part of the After School Tutorial and Conditioning Program sponsored by the City of Winston-Salem and the W. R. Anderson Center with assistance from the Next Level Youth Enrichment Program.

While on the Wake Forest campus the students watched the Deacons football team practice. Head coach Jim Grobe stopped to say hello and visit with the students. After that, the students headed to the Manchester Athletic Center where they met student volunteers and staff members who gave them a tour of the athletes’ training facility and various locker rooms. 

“The youngsters were impressed with the amount of time that college athletes must train and study in order to maintain their status as student athletes,” said Learmond “Buddy” Hayes, a senior coach with Next Level. “The Wake Forest group answered the questions that the elementary and middle school students had and gave them insight on a typical day in the life of a college student. The children were impressed and motivated by the first-hand accounts of personal stories the Wake Forest students shared with them.”

When all the touring and sightseeing was over, the university staff treated the group to an “all you can eat" pizza dinner. Once again, the children had an opportunity to speak with Wake Forest students about college. Before they left, each child got signed autographs from the Wake Forest students. 

"It was a good experience for my boys,” said Stephanie Alston, the mother of three boys in the Next Level program.

The schools represented included Walkertown Middle, Jefferson Middle School, Sedge Garden Elementary and Clemmons Elementary.