New Student Programs, Residence Life and Recreation Services have teamed up to launch Camp Redhawk, what they hope will become Southeast Missouri State University's newest tradition.

Camp Redhawk is a summer leadership camp offered to students preparing to spend their first semester on campus. The main goal is to provide additional opportunities for students to become connected with campus before arriving on move-in day.

"We get a lot of questions from students who come to First Step Orientation, and they're like 'Well what can I do next?'" assistant director of admissions for new student programs Katie Krodinger said. "They're so excited to be on campus, and we don't provide a real opportunity for them to come back until August when they move in, so it's going to serve as that bridging point."

There are four available sessions offered during the summer that new students can sign up for, and sessions last four days. The fee for the entire camp is $160, and each camp can accommodate about 75 students. They will then be divided at random into "nests" or small groups in which they will participate in different activities. Each nest will be led by a current student who will act as a resident assistant, and all students will stay in Henderson Hall and eat on campus.

Krodinger hopes to provide a fun atmosphere through various workshops and competitions that campers will participate in for points.

"Each nest will be competing against each other for points, so there's a competition within the camp itself," Krodinger said. "That's a really great way, I think, when you have a unified reason to work together to get students to meet each other."

Though students will spend most of their time within their nests, they will also be taking several personality profiles in order to identify with other students outside of their nest with similar leadership styles. They will be able to find students who have complementary traits and students who gravitate toward similar types of activities as them.

"We're doing things that students might think of as fun and not necessarily structured get-to-know-you types of activities. They'll just be forming bonds with like-minded students," Krodinger said.

Students who choose to attend the camp will get the opportunity to see much more than the average student.

"They'll be experiencing some things at the River Campus, get to do a behind-the-scenes tour of athletic facilities and get to see places that normal first-year students wouldn't necessarily go on their own," Krodinger said.

The students will meet admissions counselors, hall directors, people from Recreation Services, Residence Life, Athletics and Campus Life and Events Services and make connections with faculty and staff before they actually start attending the university.

"We're really marketing this to students at First Step and telling them 'You don't want to miss out on this' and 'Get the insider scoop on all things Southeast,' and we've had a really great response so far," Krodinger said.

Krodinger not only hopes that the students will make connections with each other and with faculty and staff members, but that the camp will promote school spirit and encourage students to go to athletic events and join organizations.

"This is an awesome experience for students to get to know each other and the school before even getting here because I arrived on campus without knowing anyone and not much about the school, so this camp would have been very helpful to me," Southeast student Tori Bockstruck said.