While the 2012 United States Olympic team inspired a nation, its swim team inspired one fun-loving Demon Deacon. The swim team’s video, a lip-synch parody of pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” went viral over the summer with more than 8 million views in a month. That gave Lindsay Chambers (’00) an idea. If the swim team could do it, what was stopping the Deacs?
When Chambers gathered her friends for an annual reunion in August, this time in Healdsburg, Calif., she had a surprise for them. It would not be the simple, relaxing afternoon in the wine country they had been expecting. They had to get their groove on for their own Deacon-style dancing routine and lip-synching to “Call Me Maybe.”
“Call Me Maybe” gang
Chambers’ crew, a conglomeration of fellow Pi Phi sorority sisters and their college boyfriends-turned husbands, has remained close for over a decade. From the class of 2000 they are Vincent Guido, Mike Capone, Shaine Orlowsky Capone, Katita Smith Palamar, Chase Palamar and Kristin Bell Brink. Also on hand were Melissa Vorselen (’01), Adam Brink, 1-year-old Luca Capone and the Palamar children, 2-year-old Bond and 4-year-old Mercer. The same quirky spunk that drew the friends together in Winston-Salem keeps them tethered across the miles. They have been known to throw goofy reunion theme parties, most recently a “Jersey Shore” soiree, featuring hair poofs and fist pumps galore. It came as no surprise then that when Chambers revealed her wine country plan, the gang was in.
On the day of the shoot, a Los Angeles-based videographer documented and filmed the afternoon’s festivities, which featured the alums, spouses and kids sporting their finest Demon Deacon apparel. Chambers choreographed a small dance routine for the adults — she’s the blonde who pops up in the vineyard — but it was the baby Deacs who stole the show with their cherubic faces and their parents’ cellphone in hand. The day was a true family affair. (See the video here.)
While the reunion was filled with comical moments like choreography gaffes, the scene was also an important reminder of the lasting relationships and strong alumni connections that make “Mother so Dear” the unique place that it is. When I asked Lindsay why she decided to make this personal event public on YouTube, she responded, “There was a debate among us whether to make our video public, but we ultimately decided we wanted to because it highlighted one of the greatest aspects about Wake Forest that we have heard time and time again. The friends you make at Wake Forest are friends for life.”
