For some it began at an early age, when aspirations of being a Cyclone brought Troy Davis jerseys under family Christmas trees. For others, it began on their first trip to campus, while some chose to follow their families’ legacy as Cyclones. Regardless of the reasons students choose Iowa State, enthusiasm for the university was evident with the release of the record-breaking enrollment for the 2010 fall semester.

As preliminary results indicated, Iowa State’s enrollment increased to a record-setting 28,682 students, compared to the previous record of 27,945 students, set last year. This feat was made possible because of successful recruiting methods and efforts focused toward student retention.

Recruiting efforts entail almost everything imaginable, said Marc Harding, assistant vice president of admissions. Facebook, visits to high schools and community colleges, campus visits, publications, phone calls and e-mails all play their own important parts in recruiting new members to the ISU community.

“Iowa State is unique,” Harding said. “We try, as the only land-grant university in Iowa, to visit every high school in the state, from Red Oak to Dubuque, talking about the educational opportunities for Iowans.”

Despite this fact, the number of Iowa residents enrolled at Iowa State decreased by 50 students since last year. The decrease came as no surprise to Harding, who actually found the slight decrease encouraging.

“The number of high school seniors is dropping, so we’re holding onto our numbers,” Harding said.

Out-of-state enrollment increased by 792 students, and international student enrollment is up 310 students since last year. These boosted numbers are the result of increased focus on out-of-state and international recruitment.

“We employ regional recruiters and utilize additional marketing and outreach efforts, like alumni presence and brand-name recognition to draw students to Iowa State,” Harding said. “Right now we’re targeting states like California, Colorado and Texas because of the alumni base that we have in those states.”

International students are reached by similar methods. A lot of academic departments have ties to different countries through academic programs, which bring students in from other countries. The recruitment program also has an international team that employs two recruiters who travel the globe.

“The biggest enrollment comes when the whole community is engaged in the well being of Iowa State University,” Harding said. “People that come to Iowa State are looking at everything, from restaurants to shops to education. Everything plays an important role in the recruitment process.”

Having only drawn in the second-largest freshman class in ISU history, the retention of students already at Iowa State played an important role in this year’s record-breaking enrollment.

One of the foundations of the retention efforts is the learning communities Iowa State offers students. While they’re not new, they’re important to students’ success, Englin said.

“The learning communities provided a baseline to prove that there are things that can be done to improve retention,” said Pete Englin, vice president of the Student Affairs Retention Committee. “So now we have programs like MapWorks, which assesses students’ transitions to Iowa State; the Hixson Scholarship program, which provides connections for the students involved; and the living, learning, leading model that all hall directors and [community advisers] are trained in to provide a positive example for students.”

These programs, along with events like Destination Iowa State and even move-in, provide students with ample opportunities to become involved with Iowa State and mesh students’ expectations of college to actually being here.

“Retention is all about creating connections for students,” Englin said. “Connections to their learning, faculty, fellow students, academic advisers, living community, support programs and services. Each student is more likely to see their education through to completion if they feel a part of the Iowa State family. The sooner that happens, the better. I believe we do an extraordinary job at helping that happen.”