Service, community and university appreciation are the three words Brittni Cortright uses when describing the Kent Student Ambassador organization.

“To me, Kent Student Ambassadors is an organization about giving back to the university,” said Cortright, a senior psychology major and three-year Kent Student Ambassador member. “It’s about showing your appreciation through service to Kent State, its alumni and its prospective students.”

The Kent Student Ambassador organization was created in 1983 by Anita D. Herington, a Kent State alumna. As a branch of the Kent Alumni Association, KSA consists of students ranging from freshmen to seniors, all participating in on-campus and community service events.

“Student Ambassadors really allows students to help with organizations on campus,” said KSA faculty adviser LeAnn Starlin Galea. “It also allows students to network themselves.”

In order to become a part of the KSA, students must turn in a written application to the Williamson Alumni Center during the upcoming fall semester.

If the applicant is accepted, he or she is asked to go through an interview process, where the Alumni Association selects the best candidates for the organization.

“Through KSA-related events, I have experienced new service opportunities while meeting a lot of great people who care about this campus and value student involvement,” Cortright said.

Each KSA member must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher and attend a certain amount of events.

During the fall semester, they must participate in four events, and in the spring semester, they must participate in three events. In addition to these seven occasions, KSA members must attend Homecoming in the fall, along with Relay For Life in the spring. While these are the minimum requirements, members are encouraged to attend more. If a member does not maintain the grades or attend the events, they will no longer be in KSA.

While on-campus events are stressed, KSA members are very involved in charity work as well as community service affairs.

“The KSA recently did a community service event called ‘Teens for Jeans’ where jeans were donated to Haiti through the store Aeropostale,” Galea said. “Members have also done walks for specific causes, such as ‘The March Of Dimes.’”

Members will help the university with campus tours and campus-wide departmental events, and, every now and then, they get the honor of sitting in the President’s loge for home football and basketball games.

Every other Monday at 9 p.m., KSA meets at the Williamson Alumni Center to discuss upcoming events and community service projects.

“Being a student ambassador has largely expanded my knowledge of KSU: the history of our campus, the educational mission and the opportunities it has to offer students,” Cortright said.

Contact graduate affairs reporter Megan Dunick at [email protected].