The term “FLASHperks” is heard and seen all over Kent State campus, but it turns out most students do not know the ins and outs of the program.

Kristan Dolan, the manager of FLASHperks, runs the program while working in the Center for Student Involvement.

FLASHperks is a student reward program that started with athletic programing as a way to get students to attend athletic events, Dolan said.

She said after the success of the program in athletics, the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) decided to apply the program to all types of Kent State events.

“FLASHperks is like the Chuck E. Cheese for college,” Dolan said. “Except it’s better because you don’t even lose your points when you collect the prizes.”

Most students on campus know that the program offers free prizes but they don’t know how the point system works or how to actually receive the prizes.  

Kevin Heller, a senior conservation major, considers himself an avid FLASHperks participant.

“I think you do have to do a little investigating to find how the points add up and how it works,” Heller said. 

When a student attends any event that is a FLASHperks event, they swipe their FlashCard with a FLASHperks event staff member and receive a designated amount of points. Once a student acquires enough points to reach one of the nine levels, they are eligible to receive that level’s prize.

The amount of points an event is worth is decided by how frequently the event takes place.

“If it is an event that is deemed academic, like supplemental instruction or tutoring we will typically double the point worth,” Dolan said.

Every time a student swipes at any FLASHperks event, they are automatically entered into the year-end random drawings for the big prizes.

The end of year prizes for 2015 include a year of free pizza, a $500 bookstore gift card, a $500 Under Armour gift card, and free tuition for a year.

FLASHperks has given out free tuition for a year to six students so far.

A common problem with the program is that students are unaware they have points in their account. Students swipe and receive points even without creating the account.

The points are not counted in the system for them until they long onto the FLASHperks website and create an account.

Alex Tracy, a freshman aeronautics major, said that he shows up at events and they just happen to be FLASHperks events.

“I mostly just look for the people with the FLASHperks shirts on if go to an event,” Tracy said.

FLASHperks has a Twitter and Facebook account that are used to promote events. Once subscribed, weekly emails are sent out with a schedule of the week’s events.

An event can be made a FLASHperks event by going to the website and clicking on the “events” tab. Any event that is open to all students and is on campus is eligible to become a FLASHperks event.

FlashPerks from Weslee Clyde on Vimeo.

Contact Weslee Clyde at [email protected].