For new college students everywhere and their families, “move-in day” can be lots
of things – exciting and stressful, triumphant and frustrating, heartwarming and heart-rending
all at the same time.
Over the past three decades, however, Radford has offered incoming Highlanders and
their relatives an easy, early way to relieve the pressures of such an important and
auspicious occasion.
That would be Quest – Radford’s summertime orientation program, during which students
meet academic advisors and establish course schedules, get their IDs, learn about
the various services and available options and interact with student leaders, faculty
and other new Highlanders.
Family members, meanwhile, attend informational sessions with officials from public
safety, university services, and the financial aid and bursar’s offices – covering
everything from how the meal plans work to campus security and the various parking
zones – and can find the answers to any questions they have.
During the visit, everyone also tours campus and becomes familiar, firsthand, with
the dormitories and classrooms, the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, the post
office and library, the dining hall and food courts and other key locations.
Across this summer’s dozen Quest sessions, which ran June 10 to July 16, Radford welcomed
2,101 incoming students and 2,727 family members.
The bulk of those were freshmen or transfers who came to the main campus, while some
116 students toured the Radford University Carilion site, and another 256 attended
virtual sessions.
“That’s the biggest incoming class we’ve had since COVID,” said Jason Lucas, interim
director of Student Connection Programs. “It’s actually above and beyond all the goals
and what everybody had planned.”
Lucas has coordinated Quest since 2015, and despite the increased head count this
year, he remains undaunted.
“It’s very exciting that we have such a huge freshman class coming in,” he said, adding
that his daughter is attending Radford this year as a freshman, and she, too, attended
Quest this summer.
Quest, Lucas said, “is really to get everybody ready for school to start in August,
and to not overwhelm them and to let families know that, hey, we’ve got your student.
They’re part of our family now, and we’ll treat them like that.”
Another function is to help new Highlanders make a successful transition to higher
education and connect with each other and the campus, faculty and staff.
“The number one student concerns are: ‘Will I have friends? And where do I live? Where
do I eat? How do I find my classes? And how will I not look like I don’t know what
I’m doing.’ This takes care of all that,” Lucas explained.
Tours are specifically designed to allow students to bond with other students, with
groups of only about 15 to 20, which he believes creates an optimal communal experience.
“If the group is like … 50 students, that can be too big, and if you’re in a group
with five students, it can be awkward,” Lucas said. ”So, 15 to 20, that’s the perfect
amount.”
While Quest is primarily a daylong event, there’s also “pre-Quest,” which gives students
and families the option to arrive the day before and spend a night in the dorms –
residing in private rooms with separate baths – now at no extra cost.
“We want families to come to Quest, so there’s no charge,” Lucas said.
Quest is very complex in its structure, often with multiple groups of visitors following
separate schedules simultaneously, and between the officials, faculty members and
facilities personnel, scores of Radford employees are involved in it.
Its core staff, however, are the program’s 40 student leaders: They take part in activities
like the flash mob that opens the day, and they act as university representatives
and show students and families around campus.
“I had 200 apply for those 40 positions,” Lucas said. “Quest has a great reputation
for creating student leaders, and it’s a great retention effort as well. Ninety-nine
percent of students who work Quest, they become connected to the university and the
faculty. They get involved in SGA [Student Government Association] and other leadership
opportunities.”
In the process of helping others, he said, they benefit, too.
“It’s really rewarding to see the students go through Quest from the beginning of
the summer to the end of the summer and to see where they are. That’s probably the
best part of the job because it’s just so rewarding to see those students grow. It’s
the best job in the world.”