Student Success Story

Anna Mika of Parma, Ohio, stands in Kent State University’s Experimental Archaeology Lab in Lowry Hall.

Sometimes it just takes a small spark to ignite a fire within you. For Anna Mika of Parma, Ohio, who started as a geology major her freshman year at Kent State University and switched to anthropology the following year, that spark came in 2017 while taking an anthropology course called North America’s Ice Aged Hunters, taught by Metin I. Eren, Ph.D., associate professor and director of archaeology in the College of Arts and Sciences. She said that course changed her perspective on everything.  

Kent State University student Mallory Woods, who is currently studying in Florence, Italy, has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Award. (Photo credit: Stefano Passerini)

In an impressive close to her undergraduate career, Kent State University Honors College senior Mallory Woods was recently awarded the prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Award (ETA). A native of Fairview, Pennsylvania, Woods is completing a major in translation with a Spanish concentration and minors in economics and Italian studies while also finishing a certificate program in teaching English as a foreign language. 

Division of University Communications and Marketing
Kent State University’s Class of 2025 form a K on campus.

Kent State’s Class of 2025 stands tall – more than 3,982 stories tall. Each of our new, first-year students offers a unique and engaging story.

Participants at Kent State University's 2019 I Am First campaign

Kent State University has been designated as a First-gen Forward Institution by the Center for First-generation Student Success for its commitment to improving the experiences and advancing outcomes of those who are first in their families to attend college.

Class of 2024 collage of Gwen, Divine and Heather

More than 21,200 people applied to be part of Kent State’s Class of 2024, and 3,819 can now consider themselves to be Golden Flashes.

Kenzie Alge and Alex Johnson

Kenzie Alge, a Kent State University certified flight instructor and 2019 graduate, and Alex Johnson, a Kent State junior flight technology student, make up the Kent State team competing in the 2019 Air Race Classic that starts June 18 in Jackson, Tennessee. 

Megan Schinker, a senior at Stow-Munroe Falls High School, participated in the College Credit Plus Science Experience Internship Program at Kent State University's Department of Geology.

Imagine being a 17-year-old high school student, and in your first semester of a geology research internship, your professor asks you to identify an extinct 300-million-year-old, tiny and unknown crustacean specimen. Megan Schinker, then an ambitious Stow-Munroe Falls High School junior, jumped right in. 

Mackenzie Bailey standing in front of a blue and gold wall

Like most students, Mackenzie Bailey faced the typical challenges during the start of her academic career, including choosing a major and getting good grades. But that all paled in comparison to the devastating news she received her freshman year: her father had terminal cancer.

“When I was home for winter break, he ended up passing away,” Ms. Bailey said.