QUEST students with Dr. Bailey at the QUESTSocial Masquerade Picnic on April 24th
In addition to the professional and academic opportunities, one of the great things about QUEST is the community aspect. The Masquerade Picnic, hosted by QUESTSocial, gave many students the opportunity to reconnect with people they hadn’t seen in over a year!
The picnic was on Saturday, April 24th on McKeldin Mall from 3-6 p.m. Beforehand, students RSVP’d for one hour of the picnic that corresponded with their cohort. One major perk of the picnic was the free food! Students had the option of receiving either Qdoba or Chick-Fil-A catering.
Typically, each spring, QUEST Social hosts a formal for all QUEST students. Due to COVID, they needed to figure out a way to adapt and bring students together in a safe way. When speaking with Grace Zhang (Cohort 31), one of the QUEST Social co-leads, she explained, “The biggest challenge was how unforeseeable things were.” Specifically, the potential of rain was a risk, and they needed to book multiple rooms as a backup. Considering all of that, she said that she was “really thankful and proud of QUEST Social for pulling everything off.” Grace explained that they knew how uncertain everything would be, and everyone had to take on a lot more responsibilities. Her favorite part about the picnic was playing frisbee in the great weather, and additionally, seeing Dr. Bailey towards the end.
As someone who was able to attend the picnic myself, it felt so great to see everyone together after so long. Specifically, it was awesome to see my 190H team members from last spring. I even got to meet members of the newest cohorts: 37 and 38! Reana Mahbub (Cohort 38) said, “Going to the picnic was super fun, especially because I could really feel the sense of community, which I’ve really missed since the pandemic started!” Additionally, Reana explained, “Everyone was super nice, and I also loved how it was a mix of cohorts. It felt good to see how I fit into the whole QUEST program and not just Cohort 38.”
Thank you to QUEST Social for planning such an amazing event!
QUEST Students at the picnic