Kent State Student to Bring Mental Health Resources to The College of Architecture and Environmental Design
Countless hours spent in the studio, designing and creating, all while being surrounded by hundreds of students striving for one goal — a degree. These long, stressful hours spent in studio seem to be the average day in the life of architecture and interior design students at Kent State University.
The Senator for The College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Aidan Crossey, hopes to implement change among the college within his next two and half years on the Undergraduate Student Government board. Undergraduate Student Government, also known as USG, has been on Kent State’s campus since 1924.
Aidan Crossey is a junior at Kent State University with a major in architecture and a minor in sustainability. Aidan experienced a setback when it came to starting his journey in the architecture program his freshman year. He was unable to start his architecture degree when he first came to Kent due to low SAT scores. He now plans to graduate in five years and that hasn’t stopped him from wanting to give back to his college.
Aidan plans to hold his senator position in USG until he graduates. He is striving to bring new programs to aid students on their journey through the architecture and interior design programs.
“I’m trying to bring a lot of mental health resources to the college of architecture because with the demanding workload accompanied by the time kids spend there and the stress of other classes I see it as pretty portent”
- Aidan Crossey, Senator for The College of Architecture and Environmental Design
Stress, cram, no sleep and anxiety are just a few of the words students think of when their final production week comes around. At the end of every semester, architecture and interior design students tend to go into a full panic mode when they hear the words “final production”. This is when the student’s final projects of the semester are due. These projects are so demanding that some students spend up to 30 hours in the studio the night before to complete them. After realizing the words “final production” had a negative connotation, Aidan knew he needed to bring change to the program.
I definitely think [mental health resources] would be beneficial because it would be a nice break from our work to go talk to someone just to vent and take a break.
-Susie George, Interior Design Student
Students in The College of Architecture and Environmental design hope to have access to these resources in the near future. Students feel like they need someone there to talk to who has been through the same stress they are going through now.
Aidan Crossey also described how he wants to create undergraduate research programs by producing different workshops. He also wants to create other workshops that will allow students and faculty to collaborate on different projects. He thinks that collaboration between students and faculty could be beneficial to all participants.
After graduation, Aidan hopes to work for a company that focuses on sustainability efforts in the urban environment in a city such as Chicago.
“Especially with our generation and the way the population is spiking more and more people are moving to cities and we’re seeing more megacities arise over the world and that will be where there will be a need for the most change in terms of the urban effect,”
- Aidan Crossey, Senator for The College of Architecture and Environmental Design
