Article by Reeta Francis
Since the inception of the QUEST program in 1993, eighteen cohorts of students from different schools have come together to learn about quality enhancement, systems, and teams in a reality based environment. What originally started as a 5 year program sponsored by IBM has grown into a renowned undergraduate program that filters in a new crop of students each year from the Robert H. Smith School of Business, the James Clark School of Engineering, and now the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. A big reason that QUEST has been able to remain one of the most prestigious honors programs is its ability to attract the best and brightest students of these different schools to the program year after year. QUEST spends a considerable amount of time and effort reaching out to freshmen on campus to spread awareness about the program.
The QUEST Ambassadors student recruiting team, as we know it today, was started back in 2005. Kevin Schoonover and Adeline Heymann led the charge of increasing the visibility of the QUEST program, developing the concept of QUEST Ambassadors and running “open houses” for prospective QUESTers. This resulted in a record number of applicants from engineering, business, and CMPS.
- Kevin Schoonover in his QUEST Ambassador days
This group is still going strong in recruiting the best students on campus to QUEST. This year’s committee is led by Michele Fried, Alison Cowley, and Mitch Kochman. Under the guidance of these students and other QUEST ambassadors, the fall semester ended with a substantial number of interested applicants.
This year’s recruitment efforts began early on with the recruitment committee organizing and dispersing QUEST ambassadors all over campus. Members of the committee started with manning tables in Van Munching and handing out flyers for information sessions around common freshman classes for business, engineering, and CMNS students. Student turnout for the information sessions was excellent, with many students attending sessions held in the Kim building and Van Munching building. During the sessions, ambassadors provided background information and experiences to prospective members.
Melinda Song, cohort 18 member and new QUEST Ambassador described how QUEST Ambassadors helped with the recruitment effort. “As QUEST Ambassadors, we pique prospective students’ interests by sharing with them the fun and challenging activities we do as QUESTers and how the QUEST experience is extremely rewarding both academically and socially.”
Even with the current level of interest, the recruiting committee still has big plans ahead for the spring semester and with the help of the QUEST Ambassadors they hope to bring in the largest applicant pool yet.
Always an important member of the QUEST community, Kevin Schoonover comments, “I am so proud of what the recent QUEST Ambassador efforts have been and how we still continue to growth of the QUEST program. For the past few years, I have been on the selection board, and the talent of these applicants continues to astound me.”