A Week at Wake: Friday

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The Grounds developers get an early start. Adam Parker (’10), Coleman Team (’09) and Jane Beasley Duncan (’07) don hardhats to survey the latest earth-moving at The Grounds, the 100-acre mixed-use development their firms are building next to Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium. 

Intended as a gathering place for Wake Foresters and the wider community, the plans include a 130,000-square-foot office building and 42,000-square feet of shops and restaurants along with road improvements, a walking trail and the restoration of parts of Silas Creek, which they take in from the stadium’s steps. Already, old businesses have been torn down, parking lots dug up, Deacon Boulevard rerouted and the creek uncovered.

The trio’s next stop this Friday: providing an update at a meeting on campus of the Parents’ Council — including details about their recently announced project, Creekside at The Grounds, a 229-unit furnished apartment complex for upperclassmen and graduate students, targeted to open in 2027. The amenity that wows parents and alumni most: a gleaming outdoor pool.

“This is the first time parents are coming into town, really, since we got started. I hope it doesn’t rain,” says Team, president and managing partner of Front Street Capital in Winston-Salem. He is developing the sports and entertainment district with Parker, a senior vice president with Atlanta-based Carter.

As Parker, Team and Duncan, Front Street’s director of marketing, gaze out at the newly uncovered Silas Creek, they spot a heron that has already discovered the shallow waters and protective, steep banks.

Later this morning, a line snakes out the door for lunch at the Pit, with greetings echoing around the room and hungry students piling their plates. 

Recent entrees include made-to-order pho and fajitas, tapas and focaccia. In the mood for pasta or a Mediterranean bowl? Build your own at the “Pastabilities” or “Lemon and Olive” stations.

One wall holds a microfarm — a glass display case that grows fresh produce year-round without soil, saving an estimated 13,458 gallons of water in the past year alone. The Pit uses the greens, which range from kale to mint, red-veined sorrel and bok choy. 

Alumni may find it hard to believe, but these days, the dining hall is so popular that students vie for “I Love the Pit” T-shirts. At the omelet station, William Young cracks eggs onto the hot griddle and adds spinach, tomato and peppers. “He’s really good at them. If I see that he’s over here, I’m coming,” says Briana Brewer (’15, MA ’22), director of player development on the football staff, while waiting in line.

As Young works, he talks with students about fantasy football strategy, and students give him advice on his game. “My pleasure, bro,” he says after a student thanks him for the food. “Have a good day, OK?” 

One station over, Harriet Lyons whips up deli sandwiches and desserts, wearing gold and black eyeshadow to show school spirit, she says. Her favorite part of her job is meeting students from all over the world and seeing “how excited they get when they see different foods.” She once introduced an African student to grits, a familiar food for Lyons, who grew up in North Carolina. She advised him: “Add butter and cheese.”

After lunch, parents start arriving in large numbers, with hugs, reunions and introductions to new friends and favorite spots. Soon, they flock to the Sutton Center for URECA Day, where rows and rows of posters come alive with students sharing their research.

Nearly two decades ago, Wake Forest established the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Center to create opportunities for students to do research with faculty guidance. Today, more than 100 students from 30 disciplines explain their work, from sustainability in art supplies and modeling erosion using math to the accessibility of mosques in London. 

Michael and Claudia Olivier brought flowers for their daughter, senior Neriah Olivier, who studied the racialization of queer intimacy in Herman Melville’s “Typee” — using both of her majors, English and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. 

“I have to admit that I only understand very little of what she is studying!” says
Michael Olivier, a professor of molecular and internal medicine. “I’ve learned so much from her.” 

Claudia Olivier, the medical school’s program director of training programs, says that watching her daughter take on this project has provided new insights into the student experience. “I’m so very proud of what she’s done,” she says.

For junior engineering major Julia Sullivan, researching ways to characterize damage in red blood cells using a process called dielectrophoresis is opening doors: She’s presenting her findings this fall in San Diego at the Biomedical Engineering Society’s annual meeting. She feels most proud of “just doing something new,” she says. “I had never really worked in a lab.”