It helps to be familiar with the services offered on campus that are provided to alleviate student anxiety. There are a large variety of products and services on Kent State’s campus to help students with all of their needs. Here are a few that every student should be aware of.

Supplemental Instruction

Supplemental Instruction provides peer-facilitated group study sessions for students enrolled in large, high-risk courses. The SI leaders are students who attend class along with the students they are tutoring, and they have previously earned an A or A- in the class.

These tutoring sessions provide students with study strategies, note taking and test taking skills and the opportunity to study with peers. Announcements about SI study sessions are made during class. It is a free service, and it is available on a drop-in basis.

The service offers tutoring in the following: accounting, art history, biology, chemistry, economics, geology, philosophy and psychology.

Students also earn FlashPerks for attending SI sessions.

Katie Shifferly, freshman managerial marketing major, said the Supplemental Instruction tutoring was very helpful, and said she noticed her test scores greatly improved over time.

The Tech Spot: Technology service and repair

Tech Spot is an on-site technology service center located in Tri-Towers Rotunda. Its team of employees is trained to provide quick and affordable service to students, faculty and staff, resolving issues with personal computers and mobile devices.

Some of the services provided are virus and spyware removal, hardware install and repair, and mobile device and iPad repair among many other services.

“I got a virus on my computer, and they cleaned up my computer and got rid of the virus, and it was relatively cheap,” said Katelyn Neff, senior early childhood education major. “They are always really nice and really helpful. They were really time efficient.”

Tech Spot staff members will have booths set up throughout campus the first week of fall semester to provide basic computer assistance to students free of charge.

Free lockers in the Student Center

The Student Center provides free lockers for commuter students or anyone who needs storage space on campus. The lockers are located in the basement of the Student Center. At the beginning of each school year, the lockers are labeled with tickets. Students wanting to rent a locker need to take a ticket off a locker, fill it out and submit it to the information desk on the first floor of the student center. Students need to provide their own lock and can use the locker for the entire school year, but they need to be emptied at the end of spring.

“The lockers at the Student Center have made commuting so much easier,” said Caleb Ference, junior electronic media major. “I don’t have a car, so without it, whatever I have on campus I’d have to carry with me or just not bring.”

FlashAlerts

FlashAlerts is Kent State’s emergency notification system. It warns students, faculty and staff of critical news and information. It is a subscriber-only system that enables users to receive urgent notifications on text-enabled mobile phones or devices. In the event of a university closing or emergency on campus, FlashAlerts will be sent to all subscribers.

To register, visit the FlashAlerts website.

Robbie Lierenz, junior political science major, said FlashAlerts is a very helpful service.

“It’s nice to have if school is canceled or if something is going on; you know about it pretty quickly,” Lierenz said.

Security Aides

The Security Aide program consists of 65 trained students employed by the Department of Residence Services. Security aides patrol residence halls and escort students who have requested their presence between the hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. seven days a week.

Security aides complete a 40-hour training program yearly. They are in direct contact with each other and campus police via two-way radios.

To request an escort contact the security aide dispatcher at 330-672-7004.

Evan Gildenblatt, executive director of Undergraduate Student Government, said he thinks the security service is vital and allows for an extra layer of protection and a feeling of safety on campus.

“It makes our campus a much better place and a much more comfortable atmosphere,” Gildenblatt said.

Post Office/Resource Center

Kent State’s U.S. Postal Service is located on the lower level of the Student Center and offers easy and convenient ways to ship both domestic and international packages without leaving campus.

The post office provides services such as standard shipping, flat rate priority mail and certified delivery confirmations, which provide the sender with a mailing receipt that includes the date, zip code and expected time of delivery, according to its website.

Students may also purchase money orders, send faxes, make copies and order balloons from the Resource Center, which shares the same location as the post office. In addition, students may rent pool tables and board games at no charge.

Cash and check are accepted for payments, but credit cards are not accepted at this time. Services are provided until 11 p.m. on Sundays and until 1:00 a.m. the remainder of the week.

Liz Lynch, a senior sports administration major, said she thinks it is very convenient for students to have a post office on campus because many students don’t know where the Kent post office is or do not have the means to get to it.

FlashPerks

FlashPerks is a rewards program at Kent State that allows students to earn points from attending campus events, which can later be redeemed for prizes. Students can sign up for the program on the FlashPerks website.

Points are earned when students swipe their FlashCards at a scanner station found in FlashPerks affiliated events. A calendar of designated events is featured on the website.

Students can monitor the points they collect online and redeem them from a catalogue on the website. Enrollment is free, but students must sign up to earn points.

Students also have opportunities to win prizes in a variety of other ways.

Event Prizes are awarded at pre-determined events, and students can win just by checking in at the FlashPerks station. These include prizes such as iPad2 and Kent State backpacks.

Automatic Prizes are given to students when they reach a certain level of points.

Biweekly Prizes are awarded to active participants. For every 100 points earned, students receive an entry into the drawing.

End of Year Prizes are drawn at the end of the year and include prizes such as travel vouchers, electronics and the grand prize of tuition for a year.

“I like FlashPerks,” said Dalton. “I got a KSU winter hat last year just for going to events I was going to go to anyway.”

Contact Amanda Crumm at [email protected].