Radford’s orientation program for new students welcomes increased numbers

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.”