The student experience at the Kent State Geauga and Twinsburg Academic Center campuses is about more than just attending classes. From academic workshops to game nights and regional campus contests, there are plenty of ways to get involved! I recently received the opportunity to speak with Academic Services Coordinator Brandie Blankenship and Student Activities Coordinator Jeremi Weidner to learn more about these events.
At KSUGTAC, students have access to a wide variety of academic workshops that cover topics such as adulting, study strategies, and time management — one of Ms. Blankenship’s personal favorites. Even though in-person events are temporarily unavailable, there are still several ways to access these workshops: while some are asynchronous and available for students through Blackboard under the course titled “Geauga Academic Workshops,” others are hosted live through Microsoft Teams. There is no formal registration process for in-person or Teams events. “Students can just show up,” Ms. Blankenship noted, “We want it to be as open as possible.”
Students can also participate in games and other events for fun, with some of the most popular offerings being virtual movie nights and trivia nights, along with Campus Feud, a weekly competition between KSUGTAC and another regional campus. These events are also currently being held online and are sometimes streamed on Facebook Live. To sign up, students can visit the online campus calendar or email Mr. Weidner at jweidner@kent.edu if stated in the event description. Though in-person activities will eventually resume, Mr. Weidner predicts that virtual events will continue to thrive even after the pandemic because this format gives students the freedom to “engage as much or as little as [they] want” and “be whoever [they] want” online. In addition to these events, clubs and organizations represent another opportunity for students to stay active in KSUGTAC’s friendly, tight-knit community.
To see a schedule of campus events, visit the KSUGTAC online calendar.