One of the best things about going to school at Wake is that there’s almost always something fun to do. Sure, Winston-Salem doesn’t have much of a nightlife, but within the Wake bubble there’s always something planned for students. Some events many students look forward to include Shag on the Mag, a completely prepped-out night of South Carolina-style shag dancing on the quad, Project Pumpkin, a volunteer day where local kids trick-or-treat on campus, and Wake ‘n Shake, a newer fundraising 12-hour dance marathon for cancer research. Greek life aside, there are many clubs on campus that many students manage to get excited about. The Lilting Banshee’s, a comedy group on campus, perform for students every semester and are promoted during that time by ubiquitous yellow signs with hilarious sayings. In fact, one of the first things a new freshman might encounter could be a neon sign cautioning that “the Freshman 15 shouldn’t come out in 9 months with a name”. In addition, the extremely talented and numerous a capella groups always draw big crowds to their shows. We even have a secret society, called the Twenty-Threes, but the details about it are shrouded in secrecy. But for me, and many others on campus, Greek life dominates the social scene. If you want a party and can’t go to bars yet, you’ll have to find a fraternity house, hall, or lounge to go to. The party situation at Wake is complicated because, unlike many schools, we don’t have official frat houses. We do have halls and lounges in dorms, where sometimes the fraternities hold parties that almost always get busted. It’s easy though to get rides to off-campus parties, especially if you’re a freshman. For big parties, fraternity pledges will run shuttles and pick you up right at your door. The biggest party nights, besides the weekend, are Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesdays many fraternities rent out bars, where you shouldn’t have much trouble getting a drink, or house parties. Thursdays, however, are for the 21-and-up crowd at bars and sporting events with drink specials. On Saturdays, there’s almost always an opportunity to drink at a party during the day, which sounds like a recipe for disaster because it is. That being said, I’ve also had some of my craziest and most fun times at Wake during these day parties. Off-campus, a lot of students get involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters and mentor once a week with their little. I’ve gotten so much out of my time with my little, Cymone, who just started high school. I’ve enjoyed doing things with her that I often wished that I had an excuse to do, like put-put golfing, painting pottery, or just getting my nails done.