Recess, a music and ideas festival, is coming to Kent State and will bring speakers, free prizes and the band The Chainsmokers to campus.

Recess is divided into three parts: study hall, the playground and the field trip.

The “study hall” portion of the event included speeches from entrepreneurs and was intended to help inspire students. Tom Montgomery, CEO and founder of Chubbies Shorts, and Jake Schneider, partner at Madison House, spoke to students about challenges in starting a business on April 22 in room 310 of the Student Center.

The “playground” part of the competition will bring small and local businesses to campus. These businesses will bring free giveaways and prizes, and some have job opportunities. Companies on the tour include Uber, Kind Healthy Snacks and Looksharp. The playground part of the tour will be in Risman Plaza on April 23 at 4:30 p.m.

The “field trip” was the pitch competition. Different student entrepreneurs at Kent State presented to a panel of five judges. The winner of the competition will be flown to Los Angeles this summer, all expenses paid, to present for seed money and to meet different mentors and entrepreneurs. The pitch competition was hosted in room 310 of the Student Center on April 22 at 5 p.m.

“Everyone needs to start somewhere and everyone needs an opportunity and this is right in students faces,” said Kevin Otubu, director of programming for Undergraduate Student Government. “Many just need seed money, and this is a good way to get that.”

The Chainsmokers come with the tour as a free concert and will perform at FlashFest on Thursday.    

Contact Ellie Enselein at [email protected].