Wingate Wiki

Wingate University 

Welcome to the Wingate Wiki
This wiki is related to all things about Wingate University and the Town of Wingate.

YoungLife
New to the Wingate University campus, YoungLife provides a place for students to come together to learn and talk about Jesus. This year is the inagural year for YoungLife at Wingate. Led by Eric and Devan Schafer, the group meeets on Thursday nights at 9:00 pm in the DPC.

YoungLife is different than many other religious youth groups becasue the focus of the meetings does not entirely revolve around talking about God. The high school branch of YoungLife, which is the main group, cannot be described as anything less than organized chaos. Led by college students and adults, the kids play crazy games, watch hilarious skits put on by the (shameless) leaders, sing along to their favorite songs, and most importantly, listen to the words of a leader at the end of this insane meeting. Each week at these gatherings, called "club," one leader will prepare a sermon of sorts to share with the kids. Rather than formatting this talk as a stiff retelling of stories from the Bible, leaders incorperate personal stories, examples from pop culture, and relatable examples to illustrate a specific verse or teaching from the Bible, allowing kids to hear the word of God without being intimidated by religion.

Being a YoungLife leader is an interesting experience. Porter Ridge High School leader, Drew Smith, says "being a YoungLife leader requires you to be willing to embarass yourself for the sake of your kids, be willing to spend hours hanging out with high school kids listening to their stories and drama, and most importantly be willing to share your love for Christ with them not by your words, but through your everyday actions. You have to be able to act as an older sibling, a friend, and a spiritual guide or any combonation of the three."

At Wingate, there is a college club that meets on Thursday nights to talk about life, school, God, and anything in betweeen. YoungLife is a place where college students can get together and just relax. It provides a place to meet new people who share a similar interest: growing their relationship with Christ. The opportunity to become a leader is also available as leaders are needed.

In addition to the existing campus ministries such as BREATHE, FCA, and the Campus Ministry, bringing YoungLife to Wingate's campus has provided another option for students to come together and worship in a college environment.

- Emma Hatfield

Admissions
Wingate University admissions is that gateway to the university. The admissions offices assist potentials students through the entire college application process. The office offers complementary tours to anyone who is the slightest bit interested in the University. The tours are led by informed students who choose to be ambassadors for the university that they love.

“I enjoy being a tour guide because I get to exemplify leadership traits that I learned in my major and show students the campus that I love,” said junior marketing major Preston Mangum.

Tour guides must go through a selective process to ensure that students are both knowledgeable and passionate as well as qualified for the job. The tour guides lead the potential students around campus. Once the tour is over the admissions offices offers the families the opportunity to meet with an enrolment officer. In this meeting families get a break down of payment, test scores, scholarship and answers to any other questions they may have.

If the student likes the campus the Wingate applications is online and is free! The admissions office has a policy of rolling admission which means there is no application deadline and students will be notified of their status within two weeks of application completion. Once a student is accepted the job of the admissions office is completed and it is up to the student as to whether or not they want to attend the university.

-Jasmine DeBerry

Intramural Sports
One of the more popular activities for Wingate students to participate in are intramural sports. Intramural sports are a fun way for students to get to interact together and meet new people. Intramural sports give the students who do not play a sport for the school a chance to participate to compete in a competive sports enviroment.

Each sport has its own season consisting of three to four games followed by playoffs. Each participant of the winning team at the end of each season recieves a Wingate t-shirt that has intramural champions embedded on it. There are a wide range of sports to play in at Wingate. These sports include: Flag Football, Basketball, Wuffle Ball, Floor Hockey, Volleyball, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Kickball, Disc Golf, and Ultimate Frisbee. Each sport has a Men's, Women's and Co-Rec league. Leagues are usually divided into several divisions.

To sign up to play an intramural sport at Wingate one has to sign up imleagues.com. Each team has a team captain that creates the team and comes up with a team name. Once a person has signed up at imleagues.com they can join the team they would like to play for. The captain has to accept the player on their team and that is how teams are created. Intramural sports give freinds a chance to bond togetther and do somehting as a group. The games are taken very seriously and are very competetive. Intramural sports are a fun way to give students who no longer play a sport for a team the chance to play again as well as providing a fun time for anyone with a team name.

Wingate Greek Life
Wingate houses a total of eight Fraternity and Sororities; 4 fraternities, and 4 sororities. The fraternities include Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Delta Sigma Phi, Kappa Alpha Order, and Pi Kappa Phi. Three of which are part of the Interfraternity Council (ΔΣΦ, KA, ΠΚΦ), otherwise known as IFC. As well as three sororities which are part of the College Pan-Hellenic Council (ΑΞΔ, ΧΩ, ΣΣΣ), otherwise known as CPC. And two National Pan-Hellenic Council Organizations (ΦΒΣ and ΖΦΒ) internationally known as the NPHC.

                 These organizations pride themselves on individuality, while recognizing common values and principles. The brothers of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. follow the values of brotherhood, scholarship, and service, while the men of Delta Sigma Phi follow the principles of friendship and brotherhood among college men.

                 All of the organizations listed may have their own individual principles that they follow, they all serve a helping hand in making the campus better. As they all hold chairs or are active members of every club and registered student organization on campus. This list also includes the school’s student government association (SGA), with the president being a sister of Alpha Xi Delta and the vice president being a brother Kappa Alpha Order.

                 The Greek lettered organizations on this campus help prepare each and all members for their intended future, no matter what it may be, to better their lives as a student at Wingate University. The Greeks on this campus also do not condone any acts of hazing. Each GLO meets the standards of each individual national headquarters. No matter what color, creed, race, or religion, all of these organizations accept those interested following that they meet the Greek organizations GPA requirements and pay the required dues; different prices for each organization and other fees may apply.

Wingate University Swimming and Diving
The Wingate University Varsity swim and dive team is one of the most notable teams on the Wingate campus. Over the past six years Wingate Men’s swimming has won the last six BGMC conference team titles. The women’s team were runners up in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons they finished on top in the 2012-2013 season. Both the men’s and women’s teams are forces to be reckoned with in NCAA division II swimming, With both teams placing in the top 8 in the 2012-2013 season (women fifth, men sixth). The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hold all of Wingate’s 15 national champions, spanning from 2007-2012. The Wingate men’s team also houses an Olympian. Marko Blazveski of Macedonia just finished up his junior season. Blazveski was selected to compete for Macedonia in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Blazveski swam his pet event the 400IM, an event which he was the NCAA champion in 2011 and 2012 and runner up in 2013. There is a very diverse range of countries represented on the swim and dive team. Some of these countries include, Australia, Macedonia, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Germany. The team has a world class coaching staff consisting of Head Coach Kirk Sanocki and Assistant Coaches Kerry Smith and Maria Vlashencko. Year after year, Season after season, the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams have proved themselves to be one of, if not the best sporting teams on the Wingate Campus. Wingate's Black Student Union There is an organization on Wingate’s campus that sticks out among the rest. That organization is called the Black Student Union. It was founded over 6 years ago and since then, it has grown into the second biggest organization on campus. For starters, the members of the organization have a mission statement that they uphold. Before each body meeting begins, members are required to recite the statement, which is: BSU aims to encourage friendships with races, promote strong leadership, and build an environment that is also appealing to African-American culture. One of the great things about BSU is that the members of the organization don’t turn anyone away. Membership is open to anyone; not just African-Americans. Just this year alone, BSU saw the most diversity that it ever has seen in history. The purpose of the organization is to allow students to embrace the African-American culture, and to also bring exciting events to campus. Another thing that the BSU members are proud of is the topics that are discussed in their regularly scheduled body meetings that are held every Thursday night at 7 p.m. The topics that are discussed each week shed light on the issues that are going on in the world right now. Quite the trophy case has been built for BSU. At the end of the spring semester of last year, the organization was awarded Organization of the Year, Event of the Year, and had the President of the Year. These awards are just a testament to the hard work that is instilled in BSUs members. Everyone involved in BSU strives to make sure that the organization lives up to its potential.

Dean Thompson

Wingate's golf program
The men’s and women’s Wingate golf team is one of the best teams in the South Atlantic Conference. Wingate’s 2014-2015 men’s golf team is currently ranked number 15 in the nation and is going to play regionals this year. The team finished second in this years SAC championship as they missed the title by one shot. The men’s golf team consists of a total of 10 players originating from five different countries as well as Graduate Assistant Garrett Dahms and Head Coach Corey Iacofano, who is leading the team in his fourth year and was awarded SAC’s Coach of the year in 2015. One of the team’s highlights was when graduate student Benedict Gebhardt was ranked number one in the nation in the fall of 2014.

After winning the conference championship in 2014, the Wingate women’s golf team placed third in this years SAC tournament. Although neither the men’s nor the women’s team won the championship, both finished first in the ranking throughout the year and had four players mentioned in SAC’s All-conference first and second team. The women’s golf team consists of eight players from five different countries and is coached for the first year by Erin Thorne. Thorne played DI golf as an undergraduate at Western Michigan, turned professional in 2007, and competed in professional golf tournaments for six years. Until last year Wingate women’s Head Coach was Dr. Jerry Surratt, who used to be a history Professor at Wingate and then coached the golf team for 10 years. In the season 2015-2016 Wingate has the honor to host the SAC championship for women’s golf at the Monroe Country Club.

Wingate Volleyball Program
The Wingate University volleyball team is one of the best Division II programs in the southeast. They play in the South Atlantic Conference with teams such as Anderson, Tusculum, Catawba, and Lenior Rhyne, and they have been crowned SAC regular season champions as well as SAC tournament champions for the past nine consecutive seasons. They have dominated conference play winning 179 out of the last 182 matches against conference opponents. They are also the only team to ever earn an AVCA Top 25 ranking, making their first appearance in 2009. The Bulldogs reached their highest ever ranking of seventh in 2014. Wingate leads the nation with a .935 winning percentage.

The Bulldogs have not only recently dominated conference play, but they have also been one of the top teams in the South East region since they became the first SAC team to ever win a regional title in 2010. They have hosted the regional tournament six of the past seven years, reaching the championship match in every year they hosted. They have won the regional title four of the past five years, granting them a bid to the Elite 8 tournament.

The volleyball team is coached by Shelton Collier, who came to Wingate via Georgia Tech. In 13 seasons with the Bulldogs, he is 371-64, compiling a .853 winning percentage. Collier has coached with the USA Youth National teams as well as assisted on the 1988 Women’s Olympic team in Seoul, South Korea. He was named the 2013 AVCA Coach of the Year, and has coached eight AVCA All-Americans in his tenure at Wingate. Assistant Coach Abbi Hayes joined the coaching staff in 2013 after coaching at fellow SAC school Tusculum and most recently UNC Greensboro. Hayes played right side hitter at the University of Alabama.

Tyler Smith

Wingate Student Traditions
If you’ve ever attended a Wingate University commencement program, you may have noticed graduates heading to the front of the Burris academic building to take a picture standing on the Wingate University seal once the ceremony ended. This spot is a common cap and gown photo location because of the long-standing tradition of avoiding walking on the seal during a student’s time at Wingate. The university’s folklore claims that anyone who steps on the seal before they graduate won’t complete their program on time, so once graduates accomplish getting their degrees, they finish their time at Wingate by standing on the seal. Standing on the seal is just one of many traditions that Wingate University students participate in.



Other Wingate University traditions include covering the academic quad with toilet paper during homecoming week; students grab tissue from their dorms, apartments, and academic buildings and come together in the academic quad to signify that homecoming is officially beginning. Sophomore students have a tradition of their own which includes camping out in tents and sleeping bags all day for a chance to sign up for their “W’International” trip. W’International is a friendly competition and everyone at Wingate agrees that the campout is an important part of the experience. Another Wingate tradition that students love is Refuel Week. Refuel occurs at the end of each semester during finals and combines a much-needed study break with a college student’s favorite thing: free food. Wingate students form lines in the cafeteria, student center, food trucks, and on the promenade to get their study snacks provided by the Office of Residence Life. Refuel provides a great opportunity to take a break from the books and catch up with friends before they get back to studying and writing papers.

 Wingate University is rich with history and a lot of it has to do with the students and the experiences they create on the campus. Each student’s experience is a unique one, but the variety of traditions to take part in help to make the undergrad experience a memorable one.

 Neeka Lewis 

