New students looking to make friends and build relationships came at the right time of the year for the fall semester. Being a freshman on campus or a transfer student looking to meet new people can be challenging at first. However, for the extroverted people, maybe not so much.

There are many different ways students can get involved in the community and meet people. All students have been in the situation where they were new to college and didn’t know what to expect upon arriving. With QU’s campus being small and easy to locate buildings after visiting, it can be compared to as a repeated sequence of events as nothing is really changing throughout the school year.

During visitation, students can find themselves running into potential classmates, professors, and other faculty members on campus. While playing a sport, students will have a meet and greet with their teammates and coaches that usually kicks off within the first week of classes. Student-athletes are a huge part of the community as sports teams at QU fundraise to raise money for the season.

For example, the men’s basketball team would host a meet and greet at Culver’s usually between mid-September and early-October. This is a great time for new student-athletes to fellowship with one another, see what classes they are taking, and even find out a little bit about their backgrounds and where they come from.

“Coming all the way from Atlanta, Georgia to Quincy was a huge culture shock to me as in Atlanta, it’s very busy, loud, and a well-known city. Coming here to QU, I didn’t know how to adapt too well because I was the only member on the team from Atlanta. I attended the off-campus events that QU hosted at the bowling alley and go kart place where i was able to engage and meet new people,” Markus Lofton said.

Every student has something interesting about them that no one knows. The only way students would be able to connect if they had the opportunity to introduce themselves and share some similarities and differences.

“Joining organizations and attending campus events is what I had to do when I first got to QU. I could be shy at times especially around strangers so I just had to get out of my comfort zone and participate,” Taylor Temple said.

The main trait that students need to have when meeting people is friendliness. This is so important because no one wants to be friends with a person that is rude and doesn’t know how to approach someone.

Quincy is a quiet town and for the most part, there are a lot of friendly people. QU is the same way as it’s rare to see any problems or drama going on on campus.

“The basketball team receives a ton of love and support from the school and the town and while being a student and a member of the basketball team, that’s very beneficial for me,” Lofton said.

Everyone has a light inside of them that is ready to be shown, sometimes it just make take the right person to make it come out. Being friendly is the most important part.