Our project proposal tackles the issues with the current state of Blackboard classrooms. We noticed professors’ Blackboard pages were difficult to navigate. Creating stress and anxiety for students and faculty alike. Our hope is that by creating templates for each class, we can give easier access to classroom materials and aides. Our Canvas templates will be made with influence from students and faculty, giving them the ease, access, and an organized of an online classroom experience. Overall, we are trying to address the issues that Blackboard has presented to both faculty and students. We propose creating a template through Canvas that allows an easier and more accessible online classroom for both students and faculty. In conclusion, our project will improve the online learning experience by creating an easy and accessible learning platform.

Our goal is to improve campus tours to make them more engaging and informative for prospective students. Many current Kent State students who have gone on tours in the past have had negative experiences compared to other college tours. Our project will focus on creating major-specific and interactive events. We will work with Emily Hervol, director of campus tours, to help gather additional ideas and insight for our project. Our ideas include adding photo/tye-dye booths, raffling off items, and giving out Kent State merchandise. We would also work with campus tour guides to ensure they are creating a positive and engaging experience for future students. Overall, implementing these features will help to increase student enrollment, increase school spirit,
and set apart Kent State from competitors.

Kent State University has always taken pride in being a friendly and welcoming place for international and domestic students. Something we have noticed is that there appears to be a disconnect between domestic and international students. We believe that if domestic students are given the opportunity to connect with international students, it will help build long-lasting relationships on campus. We think that creating a program that connects international and domestic students once the international student is admitted will create a welcoming environment for them. To do this, we will be working closely with Dr. Eron Memaj, the International Student Affairs Director. We hope by pioneering this project, Kent State University will be an overall stronger, welcoming, and
inclusive campus for all students.

Many college students struggle with food insecurities. Without having a proper meal, students are not able to focus on their studies or engage in daily activities. Around 32 percent of Kent State students have experienced food insecurity. Acknowledging the waste created on campus from throwing away food at the end of the night, our goal is to help eradicate the overwhelming amount of students that face food insecurity by making our campus more sustainable and economically aware. Our project is designed to help our university and community by increasing the composting spaces available and incorporating Food Waste Apps into our food services. Creating a community-first mindset providing meals for students and the Kent community. We hope to make a lasting impact by implementing these changes.

Food in a Flash is an inclusive project designed to make food readily available across campus. By partnering with an established app, adding delivery will be effortless. Adding said delivery service will appeal to students and faculty alike. The program is in a ‘for students by students’ design. Students would aid the dining hall to deliver the food to students. Food would be easier to access as a whole. Now, students with physical or mental health concerns have an easier time getting food. We as students want more options for food delivery so that we may, as well as other students and faculty, have opportunities to get the food we need in any situation that was delivered to students by students.

Kent State offers a multitude of mental health resources; however, a majority of students are not aware of them. We propose a bridge to this gap by implementing a communication and outreach platform where students can easily locate different mental health services. This tool would be embedded into the pre-existing KSU Mobile app. It would offer links and contact information for various offices and departments, an anonymous bulletin where students can engage in discussion regarding their struggles with mental health, and a communiqué about stigmatized topics such as group therapy, suicide awareness, and reaching out for help. We believe this would allow students, staff, and faculty to easily find resources designed to help them overcome battles, as well as
breakdown the stain on mental wellbeing.

Food insecurity is a challenge for many Americans. In 2019, 10.5% of people living in the U.S. experienced food insecurity at some point during the year, and the number reached as high as 23% in 2020 as millions lost their jobs during the pandemic. Locally, most research on food insecurity provides information at the county scale. Our research examines the geography of food insecurity in Portage County at the neighborhood scale. We identify the contrast between food pantries and grocery stores that provide food assistance programs such as SNAP with food deserts where access to fresh produce is
lackluster. We also specifically examined the needs of students at Kent State University, identifying a location for a second campus food pantry.

SRVSS is not getting enough recognition. During research, we found events by the office to include everyone, but it is not enough. SRVSS needs to be well known across campus. We will accomplish this by advertising the office in many ways. When implemented, we want to see a lot more conversation. It does not end there though. Word of mouth will carry this the furthest, and we hope to have a constant conversation about the office and its services. In the end, we want to see this topic and office as a social norm, not something that only caters to the audience of people that have been directly affected. It needs to be a thing that everyone talks about.

In order to limit the number of dangerous instances that Kent State students experience, we want to provide safe solutions by increasing outdoor lighting and evaluating parking spots, as well as providing resources regarding sexual assault and harassment. To take action, we will determine dark areas on campus by contacting the departments that conduct the lighting safety walk. Additionally, allowing students to use parking spots closer to their residence halls reduces their risk while returning from their vehicles. We will also encourage the use of mobile safety apps to protect students as they walk. The goal of this project is to provide resources and effectively utilize areas around Kent State to further the security of students and ensure that safety is a top priority.

There have been many students and faculty having issues finding jobs or internships and finding students to fulfill positions using the current platform at Kent State, Handshake. We want to find a way to expand the platform to make jobs and internships more available and help get more students involved with the program. We will be developing marketing strategies to publicize Handshake on campus. We will also be researching Handshake itself to see if it is possible to make changes or whether an alternative system needs to be developed. Handshake or whichever platform we move forward with will be more accessible across campus for students to make use of. Student involvement will improve throughout campus with more available jobs and internships.