Community | Raleigh, NC

A group of Wake Foresters gathered over dinner in Raleigh, NC on February 7, 2019 to discuss Community.

Overview and highlights of our Call to Conversation:

• Our discussion of community led us to identify shared mission, consistency, return on investment, and the opportunity to be vulnerable as key indicators that a particular community is one that will make us feel valued.
• There is a social aspect to community that transcends place and/or experience. We do not have to be similarly located or similarly situated in life to feel connection.
• “We are all fed, figuratively and literally.”
• An unexpected takeaway came from our discussion; it is possible to recognize value in someone else’s version of community while having the self awareness to say “maybe that’s not for me.” Perhaps adopting this attitude will allow us to step back from the tendency toward feeling like we need to qualify or judge our own communities in conversation.
• Don’t ever take community for granted. Whether connecting with old friends over birthdays and mountain weekends, or making new ones over a mutual frustration of the Tribble Hall floor plan, Wake Forest has been and continues to be a special place that fosters community across age and experience.