Brittany Starts at Wake Forest University

This weekend we dropped off Brittany at Wake Forest University where she joined the class of 2018. 

Wake Forest is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Wake Forest is a fairly small private school with undergraduate enrollment of about 4,800.  In 2014 Wake Forest was ranked #23 by US News and World Report in their rankings of the best colleges in the United States.  Wake Forest has one of the country's best student-faculty ratios at 11 to 1.  About 60% of Wake Forest students study abroad during their time at Wake Forest.

Wake's athletics teams are the Demon Deacons and play in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) with Duke, University of North Carolina, Virginia, Syracuse, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, Miami, Florida State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Boston College and Virginia Tech.  It is likely the strongest college basketball conference in the country.  NBA stars Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Josh Howard, and Muggsy Bogues all played for Wake Forest.  Maybe the best golfer of all time - Arnold Palmer - also went to Wake.  This year the Wake Forest Freshman class has one of the top men's amateur golfers in Will Zalatoris and the best men amateur tennis player Noah Rubin. While the basketball team has struggled over the last 4 years, they recently hired legendary KU player - Danny Manning as their next basketball coach.  

Wake Forest was founded by the North Carolina Baptist State Convention.  Dr. Samuel Wait, a Baptist minister, was the first President of Wake Forest.  Originally, Wake Forest's athletic teams were known as the Fighting Baptists. However, in 1923, after a football team win against rival Trinity (later renamed Duke University), a newspaper reporter wrote that the Deacons "fought like Demons", giving rise to the current name, the Demon Deacons.

The Wake Forest campus has a reputation for being very beautiful and we certainly experienced that beauty today.  Below are a few pictures from the day.  You can also see some incredible pictures on the Wake Forest Tumblr photo blog which has pictures by Ken Bennett.  Ken has been the Wake Forest campus photographer since January 1997.

This is a view of the main quad from Reynolda Hall.

We were just starting to move Brittany in and the fire alarm was pulled.  Someone burned some food in the kitchen.  

All the students went flowing out of Babcock. 

Babcock, by the way, is where Chris Paul (LA Clippers) stayed during his time at Wake Forest.

Inside of Wait Chapel.

All the parents were invited to have a picnic lunch with their children on the lawn before the "Making of a Demon Deacon" ceremony.  

This is the entryway to Wake Forest.  Rather unimpressive given how beautiful the campus is.

The Wake Forest band played while people moved in.

The video below was made by Wake Forest chronicling 2014 move-in day for the Freshman.

See a bunch of move-in day photo by Ken Bennett HERE.

This is the group of students and parents during the "Making of a Demon Deacon" ceremony.  During the ceremony the students pinned each other with a metal Wake Forest pin and sang the Wake Forest alma mater.  The singing of the alma mater was led by a girls a cappella group - Minor Variation.  The ceremony was meant to be the time where the parents turn over the students to the Wake Forest community.

See a bunch of photos of the ceremony by Ken Bennett HERE.

Shawn Jr. and Triniti played ping-pong on the quad.

The students "rolled the quad" after the initiation ceremony.  

This is one of the sculptures on campus.

A group of Wake Forest students were playing "Mario Kart" on the quad.

This was the view of the quad after rolling the quad.  

This is the view of beautiful Wait Chapel at night.  

We went to a local Applebees that had walls covered with Wake Forest images.

This is a picture of the library.

Students had an orientation event with the Office of Personal and Career Development in Wait Chapel. The two pictures below were taken by Ken Bennett.  You can see all of his pictures from this event HERE.

This is a picture inside of Zick's - a nice hangout on the quad with a menu includes pizzas, wings, salads, sodas, wine and beer. The area features comfortable chairs, several large television screens, and pool and foosball tables.

During orientation they also had an event called - Pros vs. Joes where the Freshman played upper classman in different events around campus.  You can see pictures of this event taken by Ken Bennett HERE.

Brittany, her roommate Laura Miron and some other friends with the Demon Deacon.

This is a panoramic picture of the quad.

Noelle posted the following when we left Texas for Wake Forest.  A beautiful tribute to Brittany.  

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts started in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

On our way to North Carolina we stopped at Vanderbilt University to see Reese.  It was terrific to see him. Vanderbilt is also a beautiful campus.  

These were some of the pictures in Reese's room.  Fun to see some of the old pictures of Reese and Brittany.  

New Helms Family Addition - Deac

Last week we got a new addition to the Helms family.  A black female kitten who we named Deac. She is named after the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.  For those that are not aware - Wake Forest athletic teams are the Demon Deacons and play in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) with Duke, University of North Carolina, Virginia, Syracuse, Miami, Florida State, Boston College and others.

Her and Daisy (our dog) certainly are not friends - just yet.  We will see if that improves over time.   

Josh's 6th Birthday

On August 13 Josh turned 6.  Josh, our baby, is 6 years old.  That is crazy.  Misty and sad that we no longer have a child who has an age that can be counted on one hand.  

For Josh's birthday we took the entire family to a bowling and video game place called Shenaniganz.  We had a great dinner, bowled and played games all night.   It was a fun time.  

When it came time to sing happy birthday, Josh counted us down and then proceeded to blow out the candles - a little prematurely.  

He got it right the second time.  :)

Helms Family Trip to RoughRiders Game - Jake Thompson and Joey Gallo

Last week we went to see the RoughRiders play at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas.  The RoughRiders are the AA farm team of the Texas Rangers.  We went to see Jake Thompson pitch.  Jake graduated from Heath High School (where our kids go) 2 years ago and was formerly with the Tigers organization.   Recently the Rangers traded for Jake and he now plays in Frisco.  This was his second start in Frisco.  Jake pitched terrific with 8 strikeouts over 4 innings giving up only 1 run.   He is now a top Rangers pitching prospect.  

We also went to see the Rangers new wonder kid - Joey Gallo.  Joey has crazy power and is considered one of the top prospects in all of the minor leagues. Gallo looks to be a big star someday.