15th annual D.E.S.K. event defines pro-humanitate
Over 500 Wake students participated
Last week, approximately 500 Wake Forest students teamed up with 51 Old Town Elementary School students, ranging from Kindergarten to 4th grade, to help them design and decorate desks to take home. D.E.S.K. (Discovering Education through Student Knowledge) is a student-run event.
Various clubs, teams, and Greek organizations worked together to design and paint desks. The students, who ranged from ages four to nine, and Wake Foresters worked together for the entire afternoon, playing games and eating pizza.
This was the 15th annual D.E.S.K. event.
In the spirit of “pro humanitate,” Wake Forest organizes this event every year, and it is one of the most loved traditions, which was established in 2001.
Ashton Caudle (’17), the event co-chair, explained “preparation [for DESK] begins right when the event ends by choosing new co-chairs. We get in touch with Jan Morgan, the parent coordinator at Old town. We pick a date with her, choose committee co-chairs December, and select committee members in January.
“We then have weekly meetings, collect desks from all over (habitat, goodwill, local vendors, individuals), and [organize storage units to house the desks].”
Caudle added: “We reach out to local businesses for donations, go buy paint supplies, get all of the children’s’ names together, and start team registration.”
Students working together to paint desks.
The other co-chair, senior Lauren Formica, said her favorite thing about “the event is the interaction between the elementary school child and the college students.”
She added: “Watching these two groups of students interact, play games, and just enjoy each others company is the most rewarding aspect of the event.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEef90KgoZY/?taken-by=wfu_desk
D.E.S.K. “taught me how a few committed students can pull off a large, successful event that pulls from all over the university.” Wake Forest is extremely supportive of students’ desires to help the community and serve others in the spirit of “pro humanitate.”
I participated in the event this year with my sorority and helped paint this desk.