When students are initially immersed into the academic and social community of their program, they are more likely to succeed than if left to navigate graduate school on their own. As such, well-crafted onboarding initiatives are among the highest impact retention practices and key to enhancing the graduate student experience. While George Mason University pivoted substantial instructional activities over the past 17 months, one of the most impactful and highly regarded has been the College of Education and Human Development's (CEHD) Graduate Prelude. This onboarding event was re-envisioned as an asynchronous Blackboard course and developed using varied and high-quality learning technologies.