Congratulations and welcome to the Missouri S&T Miner family.  I hope this communication finds you and your family safe and well. We are actively planning for your student’s arrival this Fall.

The health and welfare of our campus community is our top priority, and we have developed a comprehensive plan to provide a safe and healthy residential campus experience with numerous, exceptional learning and co-curricular experiences for your student. We know attending college is an important achievement and an exciting time of transition with new opportunities for personal growth.

As parents, we want to partner with you to ensure this transition promotes well-being and success for your student. Based on research, conversations parents have with students allow them to know what to do when faced with new decisions or challenging situations. Talking with your student about things like alcohol, drugs, and mental well-being is important, even if they do not experience them directly. Your conversation may help prepare them if a friend, roommate, or acquaintance experiences challenges and needs help.

Research also suggests that there is an association between college-student alcohol use and depression, suicide, and high-risk sexual behavior.  Because your student’s well-being is our top priority, we encourage you to review and discuss the resources located at wellbeing.mst.edu with your student. Although it may be difficult to conceptualize now, the decisions students make today can affect their future.

We also ask that you complete the Parental Notification Module to learn more about policies, your options, and resources for student support.  The parental notification policy allows for collaboration with parent(s) or legal guardian(s) about alcohol or controlled substance policy violations.

Your student should be receiving an email asking them to complete the following items before arriving on campus to support their well-being, success, and a safe and healthy S&T campus community.

1. Visit the Student Health website and complete the requirements in their Patient Portal. If your student has been vaccinated, we ask that they upload a copy of their COVID vaccine information into their Patient Portal. Our goal is to attain an 85% vaccination rate across campus by fall; for updated information about fall plans visit mst.edu.

1. Complete Ask. Listen. Refer. a statewide suicide prevention online training program to gain a greater understanding of how to recognize the risk factors and warning signs of suicide.
2. Participate in the Year 1 College Behavior Profile (Y1CBP), an online education program for incoming, first-year students, designed to enhance awareness of alcohol and marijuana’s effect on the mind and body. Your student will be receiving a University email on how to complete Y1CBP.
3. Provide updated emergency contact information through JoeSS by navigating to the Student Center-> Demographic Data -> Emergency Contact Information.
   
   
4. Ensure your student has adequate health insurance coverage. Missouri S&T offers Anthem Student Advantage and information to help you select the best option for your student.

We ask you to discuss these important issues with your student to reinforce making positive, informed choices and to help them become familiar with campus support resources.  We look forward to welcoming your student to campus this Fall.

Best regards,

 ‌
Dr. Debra Robinson
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

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