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Students can now attend educational, volunteer, and activism events through a new series called Weeks of Change organized by Community Engaged Learning where one week every month will be dedicated to a particular social issue.

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 ÐÔ¸£ÎåÔÂÌì’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, ÐÔ¸£ÎåÔÂÌì’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 ÐÔ¸£ÎåÔÂÌì community enjoyed the week’s in-person and virtual events.

Our Flashes have continued providing community service virtually through the ÐÔ¸£ÎåÔÂÌì 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 ÐÔ¸£ÎåÔÂÌì 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.