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�鶹��ѡ is celebrating another five years of federal funding for its TRIO Student Support Services program that helps propel first-generation college students, students from limited-income backgrounds and students with disabilities to academic success.

“This is huge,” said Adam Cinderich, director of TRIO Student Support Services, which is housed in University College. “Our program has existed at �鶹��ѡwith continuous funding since the late 1970s. We’re one of the legacy programs. This funding means we can continue supporting 300 students every year for the next five years.”

Student Support Services is one of four federally-funded college opportunity programs at �鶹��ѡ[along with Upward Bound (classic, math/science, public health), the Educational Opportunity Center and McNair Scholars] known as TRIO that motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds in their pursuit of a college degree.

TRIO Student Support Services offers students one-on-one tutoring to help them academically. Cinderich said staff also serve as success advocates for the students, helping them to navigate the university system, including how to schedule classes, and connect with different departments and resources on campus.

The program offers professional and personal development, including campus workshops, day trips, and immersive travel experiences during fall and spring breaks aimed at helping the students grow professionally and become career-ready, he said.

Development programs include financial literacy, time management and study skills workshops. The program also offers advocacy and support for students who fall into academic probation or are experiencing issues of homelessness or food insecurity, Cinderich added.

Students served by TRIO Student Support Services become a tight-knit group who bond over their roles as trailblazers in their families. As first-generation college students, they must learn the ropes of university life without being able to rely on family members who have been through the college experience.
 

Through the program, they get the extra support they need, and program participants become like a family – their own community within the greater �鶹��ѡcommunity.

Helping first-generation students navigate the system also means they are more likely to continue their education and earn their degrees, Cinderich said. Continued funding year-over-year from the U.S. Department of Education is based on retention, good academic standing and graduation rates for the students in the program.

Cinderich credits his team members and their hard work, who propel students to success.

“Consistently, if you look at our students compared to a representative sample of eligible students who we don’t serve, our students outperform in all of those areas,” Cinderich said. “We really do move the needle. The program really helps the university’s retention and graduation rates.”

Those graduation rates also translate into program participants filling much-needed roles in Ohio’s growing workforce, and in some cases staying in Ohio rather than returning to their home states.

Here are just a few recent TRIO Student Support Services success stories:

Richard Gibson, BA’21, Psychology and Pan-African Studies/Executive Director, Students With a Goal, Akron, Ohio

Growing up in low-income housing in Akron, Ohio, Richard Gibson never imagined he would one day earn a college degree, let alone lead a nonprofit agency.

“I never thought I would be in this position,” Gibson said, “Truthfully, during my upbringing, I didn’t know anyone who was.” 

Gibson, who graduated from �鶹��ѡin 2021, credits much of his success to TRIO programs. “TRIO taught me that as a first-generation college student, it’s OK to be the trailblazer, it’s OK to lay the path,” he said.

Gibson initially chose �鶹��ѡfor its strong chemistry program and was planning to study pathology.

“By my sophomore year, I ended up switching from chemistry to psychology and Pan-African Studies, two passions that aligned with my growing commitment to community impact,” he said.

On his first day, Gibson’s advisor encouraged him to connect with TRIO Student Support Services at the Center for Undergraduate Excellence, known on campus as the “CUE.” The welcoming environment made an immediate impression.

“The openness, the happiness – it stood out,” he recalled.

Soon after, he began working at the reception desk, volunteering at every TRIO event, speaking at first-generation student weekends and ultimately meeting his future wife through the program.

Beyond TRIO, Gibson was active in Black United Students and the Student Diversity Action Council. He founded The Reality of Our True Selves, a nonprofit that provided food and feminine hygiene products to students and those experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After graduating, Gibson worked in Kent State’s Office of Outreach and Engagement, later using his psychology degree as a behavioral health specialist in Northeast Ohio,

In 2023, Gibson joined Students With a Goal, (SWAG) a nonprofit that works to reduce youth violence, where he is now executive director. Based at the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority headquarters, the organization partners with �鶹��ѡfor academic tutoring and mentorship, building a pipeline for students to follow his footsteps.

“�鶹��ѡis home,” Gibson said, noting that one of his students recently earned a full scholarship to attend the Kent State’s College of Nursing for the 2025 Fall Semester.

For Gibson, the message to future students is clear: no matter what your background, success is possible. Kent State’s programs will make sure of it.

“They taught me that there are people out there who want to see you succeed,” he said. Your past doesn’t define you. It’s about what you are doing now and where you want to go.” 

Nya Hairston, BS’18, Journalism/Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, Columbus, Ohio

Nya Hairston knew she wanted to be a journalist, and she knew that �鶹��ѡhad one of the top-rated journalism programs in the country, so selecting a college for her studies was a pretty simple decision.

“I knew as soon as I visited that this was where I wanted to go; there were no ifs, ands or buts about it,” she recalled.

A native of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, Hairston came to �鶹��ѡin 2014 and graduated in 2018 with her journalism degree.

As a first-generation college student, she quickly learned that Student Support Services was there for students like her. She used their tutoring first when taking microeconomics.

“It was not my favorite class, to say the least, and that was the first time I used their services, getting tutored for that class, and it was a big help,” she said.

After that, Hairston was a regular at the CUE, where she found a supportive, family-like environment. 

“I was there quite often, whether it was for tutoring or to get advice on what moves I needed to make regarding classes, internships and things like that,” she said. “Everybody knew everybody, and you could genuinely feel the love and their willingness to invest in the students and their futures.”

Hairston said Cinderich was a great mentor and help. “He was never too busy to speak to students about any topic,” she said.

At Kent State, Hairston was active at TV2, [now known as KentStaterTV], where the experience she gained led to her landing her first job.

Hairston was attending a bootcamp program sponsored by the National Association of Black Journalists, where one of the exercises was for the students to produce a newscast using a studio at Greensboro, N.C., station WFMY. The assistant news director was observing the students, saw Hairston in action, and offered her a job.

“Literally, two-and-a-half weeks after graduation, I packed up my bags and moved to North Carolina,” she said.

That job resulted in a move to WFMY’s sister station in Columbus, Ohio, before Hairston decided to leave journalism for a job in public relations, first working for the Columbus City Council before moving to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office, where she is director of communications and public affairs for elected county Prosecutor Shayla Favor.

Favor is the first woman prosecutor and the first person of color to hold the office in the county’s 222-year history, and since she took office, Hairston has been busy building the communications office from the ground up.

During her time in broadcast journalism, Hairston won an Emmy and an Ohio Associated Press award for the newscasts she produced. She was also the inaugural recipient of the Student Support Services First Generation Alumni Award.

Hairston enjoys living in the state capital with her husband, Isaiah, whom she met at Kent State, and their dog. She is proud to call herself an Ohioan.

“I have no plans to return home to Pennsylvania,” she said. “We love Columbus a lot and have been able to put roots down here.”

She is currently studying for her master’s in public administration.

Lataisha Jones, BS’19, Zoology/Wild Animal Keeper, Akron Zoo, Akron, Ohio

Lataisha Jones is living her dream, working as a zookeeper at the Akron Zoo.

The Barberton, Ohio, native graduated from Barberton High School in 2015 and took part in Kent State’s Upward Bound Program for high school students to expose them to college and the opportunities it can provide.

A motivated student, who knew from an early age that she wanted to work with animals or in science, Jones was equally determined to be the first in her family to attend college. Having the existing connection to �鶹��ѡmade the choice an easy one.

“I always did very well in school and did the things I was supposed to do. I wanted to make sure I followed a plan because I wanted to succeed in life,” she said. “I was already familiar with the Kent campus because I did the summer programs with Upward Bound. I knew the campus like the back of my hand by my senior year in high school, so why wouldn’t I go to Kent State? This is my home at this point.”

Once on campus, Jones got involved in Student Support Services, taking part in the many workshops and travel opportunities the program offered, and engaging in philanthropic work such as neighborhood cleanups or delivering meals to shut-ins.

The program is where Jones met most of her closest friends, relationships that sustain her to this day. “We really built a community for ourselves. We’re all just like a family,” she said.

Jones originally began studying biology, but eventually switched majors to zoology because she wanted to work with animals. She served an internship at the Akron Zoo before graduating magna cum laude in four years with zero student loan debt – a feat that still makes her proud. She credits Student Support Services staff and Upward Bound for that, too, because they encouraged her to apply for grants and scholarships she otherwise would not have known about.

“It’s challenging when your parents didn’t go to college and you are 17,18 years old, on your own, and going in blind. It’s a huge world to navigate,” she said.

After several years of working various jobs at animal rescues to gain experience and volunteering at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and the Akron Zoo, Jones finally landed her dream job as a full-time zookeeper.

“I work primarily with the primates, but also occasionally work with the hoofstock, birds and bats,” Jones said, “Primates are really, really smart animals that always keep us on our toes. They are super cool to work with.”

Aside from feeding and cleaning, Jones said the work involves making sure the animals stay physically and mentally stimulated, so her job may involve challenging the animals with puzzles or foraging enrichment, as well as training, keeping records, maintaining their habitats, and helping to care for any babies that arrive as part of the breeding programs.

Currently, her work focuses on lemurs, but the primate residents at the zoo also include lorises, gibbons and tamarins. The zoo’s goal is to eventually acquire several more primate species, as part of the zoo’s efforts to help breed critically endangered species.

Jones said she hopes to continue her career at the zoo and one day rise up into a leadership or managerial role on an animal care team.

“I love working with the animals and this is where I want to stay,” she said."Thank you, �鶹��ѡStudent Support Services, for guiding me to find my passion and the path to achieve my dreams."

MaKayla Rogers, BS ’21 Education, MS ’24, Education/Teacher of the deaf, Hudson City Schools, Hudson, Ohio

MaKayla Rogers doesn’t hesitate to admit that she grew up in poverty.

A native of Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, which sits on the West Virginia border, Rogers' parents barely finished high school. Her father worked as a garbage collector and truck driver, while her mother was a homemaker, for the family of seven, which includes Rogers and four siblings.

“Education wasn’t a big thing for them, and then I came along and changed that game,” she said.

While at Waynesburg Central High School in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Rogers took part in the high school Upward Bound program, and one of her teachers stressed the importance of attending a university that offered the TRIO programs, so Rogers would have the resources she needed to succeed.

That’s how Rogers found her way to �鶹��ѡ’s College of Education, Health and Human Services in 2017, where TRIO programs have been active since the 1970s.

“I needed that support,” she said.

Rogers knew that she wanted to study sign language after attending a high school Upward Bound conference where she saw a woman signing and was taken by the language.

“It was like a God moment,” Rogers recalled. “I was like, `That’s it, that’s what I want to do.’ I just knew.”

At Kent State, Rogers found Student Support Services and used the program for tutoring, particularly for math courses.  The CUS became her second home. 

“I was there all the time. I would just hang out there. They say you find a home when you go to college. That was my home,” Rogers said. “I did my homework there. I did my tutoring there.”

She also found a friend and mentor in Cinderich, who convinced her to stay after her first semester when she was homesick, and nothing was going well.

“It was Adam who sat me down and said, `You’re not leaving,’” Rogers remembers.

Cinderich helped Rogers connect with additional financial aid, and by the time she was a sophomore, she was working at Student Support Services.

The tutoring and hard work paid off as Rogers graduated in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic with a 3.65 GPA with a degree in education with a concentration in deaf education and had her choice of several job offers.

When she returned in 2022 for her master’s degree, Rogers finished two years later with a 4.0 GPA, while working full-time for Hudson City Schools as a teacher for deaf students.

The job in Hudson, she said, was exactly what she had hoped for.  “I love my job, I can’t say enough about it,” Rogers said.

She teaches students from grades pre-kindergarten through grade 21, which is a term used for students past the age of high school, who still require schooling due to significant disabilities.

In addition to her master’s degree from Kent, Rogers was awarded a grant to attend a program at Shawnee State University to become certified to teach blind students, and this year, Rogers had her first deaf-blind pupil, a challenge she is meeting head-on.

As she prepares to get married later this year, Rogers is awed by how far she has come but notes that the struggle was real. At one point, she was working three jobs to make ends meet and actually had to give up her plan of earning a double major in deaf education and American Sign Language due to the cost.

In the end, she is happy with the direction her career has taken, and says she owes her success to student support services and the staff who mentored her along the way.

“I love my family, but I couldn’t lean on them,” she said. “I would not be who I am, I would not have met my husband, without Student Support Services.”