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Kent State Today will be following a group of Golden Flashes for the 2023-2024 academic year chronicling their efforts and successes during the fall and spring semesters. The group includes students, faculty and administrators who are at different places on their 5X���� journeys. 

Since Don’Marie Reid of Akron became a Golden Flash, she has experienced immense support from the Kent State community, but the CommUNITY Lab is her home away from home where she and many other students receive unconditional support. 

“Hey Don’Marie, how did your physics test go,” said a student who Reid usually mentors as a lab leader. 

“It was quite interesting,” said Reid, a senior biology/pre-medicine major who is a lifelong participant in the LeBron James Family Foundation I Promise program. 

Here is Reid speaking with Kent State Today about the LeBron James Family Foundation and CommUNITY Lab. 

CommUNITY lab is an undergraduate cohort program housed in Community Engaged Learning in University College that offers members a network of coordinated care resources at Kent State while removing financial, academic and social-emotional barriers to success. 

Members of the I Promise program and students who are involved in several other programs, such as the District of Columbia College Access Program and Say Yes Cleveland, have access to mentorship and the hands-on learning and development of CommUNITY Lab. 

Reid, a second-year lab leader, fits her job mentoring other students around a rigorous schedule of organic chemistry, cell biology, physics, a zombie outbreak course and her favorite course Zumba. She also has worked as a student assistant in the Office of the Provost since her first year. 

Despite her busy schedule, Reid always has a kind word, a hug or a word of encouragement for the students she engages with at CommUNITY Lab.

“I answer questions about scheduling or how to make appointments,” Reid said. “Or sometimes we just chat if that is what is needed.”