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Two students paused in the middle of a high five – and stayed like that for five minutes.

Nearby students asked, “What the hell are they doing? I want to run up to them and see if they move.”

When more than 50 students and Kent Internal Council’s squirrel “Kic” freeze in Risman Plaza, it causes confusion.

Kent State public relations students organized a flash mob yesterday at 2:15 p.m. where students froze for five minutes in Risman Plaza for the Do It Now Challenge. It is a statewide competition between 13 colleges and universities sponsored by Donate Life Ohio to register organ donors.

A flash mob is when a group of students gather in a public place and perform an unusual act and then disperse. The goal of the flash mob was to cause confusion and draw attention to its cause.

The flash mob kicks off a series of events the group will participate in for National Donate Life Month. Throughout the month, students involved in the Do It Now Challenge will have classroom presentations, set up booths at local YMCAs, the Student Recreation and Wellness Center and churches.

Kent State has registered 7,429 donors. The competition ends in May, and the winning team receives a monetary prize, internship interviews and reference letters.

Lyndsay Elliott, a junior public relations major and a member of the Do It Now Team, said this was an event to raise awareness about organ donation.

After the flash mob, members of the Do It Now Team stood at a booth to answer all questions about organ donation and the concerns one might have about signing up.

If students signed up to be organ donors at the event, they received a T-shirt or a green band that said “Donate life.”

Elliott said some of the reasons people do not sign up to be organ donors is because they do not think a doctor will try to save their lives. She countered by saying that this was false because doctors are required by law to save lives.

“Some people are also not aware that you do not have to donate all of your organs,” Elliott said. “You can choose what you want to donate.”

Aaron Fletcher, a sophomore communications major, decided to sign up to be an organ donor at the booth.

“It is not something I just did,” Fletcher said. “It is something that I have thought about since I got my driver’s license. When I got my license, I didn’t sign up because I didn’t want people digging in my body. Now my outlook has changed.”

Brittany Wasko, a sophomore public relations major, participated in the event and was one of the students who froze. She found out about the event when she attended a Public Relations Student Society of America meeting.

“I think it is a good cause and a different way to get attention for organ donation,” Wasko said.

Students froze while giving each other high fives or while they were holding up signs.

During the flash mob, one student held up a sign that read, “18 people die each day waiting on an organ transplant.”

Do It Now is registering donors in Cuyahoga, Geauga and Portage counties. To become an organ donor, residents of Ohio can sign up while renewing their driver’s licenses or by visiting PRKent’s Do It Now Web site at www.doitnowohio.org/kent.

Contact the College of Communication and Information reporter Brittany Senary at [email protected].