One morning last March I found myself riding up the Red Chair at Whistler, reviewing my options on an epic powder day. Since the top of the Whistler Peak was shrouded in a thick vapour of the pea soup variety I figured I'd take the Peak Chair and just motor around the back to the less vertigo inducing expanses of the Bagel Bowl. Then again, playing on the front side of Harmony Ridge for awhile until the fog lifted looked like an equally appealing alternative.
As it turned out the two lads sitting next to me on the chair were discussing the same existential conundrum that was bouncing around the interior of my noggin. I quickly struck up a conversation with my fellow travelers, given that we were already on a similar wavelength. The usual segue, "Where are you guys from?" was greeted with a vigorous, "We're from Squamish." My curiosity thus piqued, I asked what line of work they were in. "We're students at Quest University," they announced. "So what's that like?" I asked. "The place really rocks," was the response, with an added head shake for emphasis. So, ever more inquisitive, I enquired why they would use that particular expression.
The reply to my query was a reverential tribute to our most recent foray into the knowledge based industry sector. Location, location, location, really small classes, a great curriculum, enthusiastic teachers...on it went.
And this was not an isolated incident fuelled by the euphoria of a pending powder experience. Subsequent encounters with Quest students have resulted in similar positive responses.
It is no surprise then that Quest came out on top in the National Survey of Student Engagement, blowing away many far more prestigious institutions. The NSSE measures a comprehensive assortment of factors related to overall student success, ranging from academic practices to spiritual health.
These promising results are especially reassuring because less than two years ago Maclean's reported that Quest was "an experiment that is not going well. Students aren't flocking to the place. Enrolment is far below expectations. The university's leadership has been a revolving door, its mission at times confused. The school's financial health may be shaky."
In some ways, as we head into a new school year, there are still some serious challenges. The high end real estate development bonanza tailored to fund the operation seems to have stagnated. And with an enrolment of 220 the student body is considerably shy of the 600 mark envisioned by David Strangway, Quest's founder and first president.
David Marshall, president of Mount Royal College in Calgary, believes the Quest concept "is to some extent already available elsewhere in Canada, and at a fraction of the price, including University of the Fraser Valley, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and Vancouver Island University."
As much as that may be true, Quest's star is on the rise and the NSSE ranking will go a long way towards bridging the enrolment shortfall. Quest continues to be a work in progress, a daring educational venture to embrace with pride.
