Stories this week at Wake Forest University

WFU HOSTS PROGRAM FOR MINORITY HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS— More than 75 minority high school girls from across North Carolina will attend the Women of Courage and Valor program at Wake Forest on April 19. Speakers will include area business leaders and university faculty. Topics will include career planning, higher education, goal-setting and self-esteem. They will also speak about careers in which women are underrepresented. To arrange coverage, contact Vanessa Willis at willisv@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.

LOCAL CARDIAC PATIENTS BENEFIT FROM WALK/RUN— A dozen local cardiac patients have been able to participate in the Wake Forest Cardiac Rehabilitation Program thanks to money raised during last year’s Rev. Burton Rights Memorial Walk/Run. Approximately 160 people raised more than $10,000 at the 2001 event. This year’s event, the second annual Rights Memorial Walk/Run, will be held on April 20 at 9 a.m. Rights was pastor of Clemmons Moravian Church for 36 years and pastor of Messiah Moravian Church for five years. He also was an active participant in Wake Forest’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program for 19 years. “He was a true inspiration to fellow participants,” said Peter Brubaker, director of the program. The course for the 3.1-mile walk/run will begin at Reynolds Gym and loop through campus to Reynolda Gardens and back. To arrange coverage, contact the News Service.

STUDENTS USE ENVIRONMENT AS INSPIRATION IN FRESHMAN WRITING CLASS— Each spring on Earth Day, April 22, people are reminded to think about the importance of the environment, and the role nature plays in their daily lives. William Volker is one of 30 Wake Forest freshmen that have been thinking about that relationship this semester in a special course called “Writing the Natural World.” The students have read the works of naturalists like Thoreau and Emerson, and recently used T.C. Boyle’s novel “The Tortilla Curtain” to explore links between the environment and immigration. Volker, an avid outdoorsman from Colorado, says the class has inspired him to look more fully at the outdoor activities he loves. “I’m traveling to Cuba this summer and plan to keep a journal for the first time in my life,” he says. Dean Franco, assistant professor of English, says students like Volker helped inspire the creation of the class. “Students here at Wake Forest are very savvy to environmental matters,” he says. “They know that an environmental terrain is always open to oil drilling and are sensitive to that reality.” For more information on the class, contact Sarah Smith at manselss@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.

STUDENTS GET TOGETHER FOR CAMPUS SWEEP— Students will gather on the Magnolia Quad on the south end of campus today (April 18) at 4:15 p.m. for the annual Campus Sweep, in recognition of Earth Day. Wake Forest’s Student Environmental Action Committee (SEAC) organizes the event, which will feature student bands and a poetry reading by Edwin G. Wilson, senior vice president and professor of English. To arrange coverage of the campus sweep, contact the News Service.

CLASS OF 1962 WOMEN SPONSOR PROGRAM ON BALANCING PERSONAL, PROFESSIONAL LIFE— A group of women from the Wake Forest class of 1962 have had nearly 40 years to find the balance between their personal and professional lives. Now, they want to help younger generations explore that balance. The 19 women are sponsoring an April 23 panel discussion featuring Lynn Weber, a nationally known scholar of gender studies. The panel will consist of women from the community, current students and other members of the class of 1962. Cheryl Leggon, director of the Wake Forest women’s studies program, says all professionals—not just women—struggle with finding a balance between personal and professional lives. “This is a societal issue, not just a female issue,” she says. To arrange coverage of the event, contact the News Service.