50 Student volunteers engaged in Community Engaged Learning’s annual Make a Difference Day, planned by Imani Reynolds, Coordinator of Community Engaged Learning, and Maggie Allphin, Graduate Assistant.

Students now have the opportunity to volunteer in-person together for 1.5 hours on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons through Community Engaged Learning’s new Service in a Flash program. Activities have included upcycling t-shirts to make tote bags for food pantries and cutting fabric to make face masks for all students in Kent local schools.

Many of our Flashes volunteer for Kent State’s Campus Kitchen, run by Community Engaged Learning, which raised over $25,000 in donations to fund a mobile food pantry, making operations more effective and impactful.

Helping those in need, Kent State’s Campus Kitchen provided 4,500 hours of service, 81,321 lbs. of food, and 28,294 lbs. of food pantry distribution to community members in need.

The I AM FIRST Celebration honored first generation students, staff, and faculty with a week of university-wide events. Attendees from all parts of the Kent State community enjoyed the week’s in-person and virtual events.

Our Flashes have continued providing community service virtually through the Kent State Together program provided by Community Engaged Learning. Over 700 student volunteers wrote 1,400 welcome notes to incoming KSU students and provided 500 United Way Literacy Kits for a local elementary school.

Our volunteers at Campus Kitchen have raised over $10K for their Giving Tuesday campaign, $20K for Campus Kitchen Renovations, and received $2K from the Portage Foundation’s Rapid Response Fund Grant.

1,278 Kent State students have contributed 9,080 hours of community service and raised $246,976 through Kent Community Services provided by Community Engaged Learning. 26% of these program participants were underrepresented students: nearly twice the percentage of underrepresented students in the entire student body.

214 students received more than $114,000 in tuition, book, course supply, and other aid from Academic Diversity Outreach.

More than 320 new students positioned themselves well, engaging in the “Start Strong to Finish” program by taking a reassessment of their placement tests with Judy Huber.