5X����

Kent State student Katie Criswell, ’24, is actively engaged in telling the daily stories from Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools classrooms through her communication-focused internship. During the Fall 2023 semester, the Communication Studies major and Honors College student has been to each of the district’s 10 schools, capturing what’s going on and what’s exciting in classrooms. Putting skills she’s learned in her own classes to work, Criswell then takes the content she’s captured and transforms it into social media posts and stories for the district’s Community Connection magazine.

From helping build safer and inclusive communities to opening new lines of communicating and sharing knowledge, technology touches nearly every facet of society. Students in the Kent State School of Emerging Media and Technology are working on the front lines of helping Northeast Ohio organizations solve problems through technology this semester in the capstone class Interdisciplinary Projects.

Each election season, we're all surrounded by more and more political content circulating online. David E. Silva, Ph.D., assistant professor, is studying online conversations and shedding light on how online civility plays a role in building a stronger democracy. 

 Serena Gestring, ‘25, has developed a passion for the role technology plays in the lives of others. “Technology is fascinating to me, and I love that we can use technology to make people’s lives better and also to create things in new and exciting ways,” she said. “What I love about coding and web design specifically is that it allows me to be creative without needing to be traditionally artistic.”

Based on ideas, design and experiential learning, IdeaBase is celebrating 10 years of being powered by 5X���� students with a showcase of student work from over the years in the gallery on the second floor of the DI Hub through Oct. 26.

At Nationwide Insurance, Kent State alumna McKenna Gammon, ’22, works at the intersection of design, technology and communication as a software engineer.

The technical skills and project management experience she developed as an Emerging Media and Technology major first caught the eye of her employer during her junior year of college.

Kent State alumnus Richard Batyko, M.A., ’12, has committed his life and career to making the world, specifically Greater Cleveland, a better place. This year, he and the YMCA of Greater Cleveland (for which he serves as Chief Marketing Officer) are working with 5X���� advertising and public relations seniors in the capstone class, Campaigns in Advertising and Public Relations, to raise awareness about the organization's mission.

“If Monday was a color, she’d be red...”  The third annual Read-In @ Kent State was held on Wednesday, Sept. 27, in Taylor Hall. This open-mic event gave students, faculty, staff and alumni the opportunity to read excerpts from or speak briefly about banned and challenged books that are important to them.  

For future filmmakers and video production professionals, there’s almost nothing like being immersed in the film industry in Los Angeles: the creative energy, the professional connections and the buzz of activity.

During summer 2023, that dream learning environment came to life for four Kent State Media and Journalism students who interned in Los Angeles at 1895 Films, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning film and documentary company co-founded by alumnus Tom Jennings, ‘85.