University President Ted Carter Jr. cuts the ribbon at the grand opening of the Monda Student Resource Center Friday. Credit: Sandra Fu | Photo Editor
Thanks to a new on-campus resource center, Ohio State students can now access both professional attire and groceries all in one place.
Over 200 students, faculty and staff gathered in the Younkin Success Center to celebrate the grand opening of the Monda Student Resource Center Friday, which aims to provide various resources and holistic support to meet students’ needs in a “one-stop shop,” said university spokesperson Dave Isaacs in an email.
The center will include the Reid Family Career Closet — which collects professional clothing donations — and the Buckeye Food Alliance pantry — which helps combat student food insecurity — as well as other resources and services to help support the wider campus community, Isaacs said.
“Supporting students’ essential needs has a direct impact on their academic and long-term success,” Isaacs said.
To thrive personally and academically, a student must have access to the basic needs of not just food, but also housing, clothing and more, said Vishva Bhavsar, vice president of Buckeye Food Alliance and a third-year in neuroscience.
“One of the barriers that students can face when accessing these resources is having to tell their story repeatedly,” Bhavsar said. “It can be demoralizing to describe over and over why you need a resource or service that you really do not want to need.”
Melissa Shivers, senior vice president for the Office of Student Life, said she took her first steps toward breaking down these barriers to student success April 4, 2020, only four months into her tenure at Ohio State.
In the initial throes of the pandemic, Shivers said she and the Office of Student Life were “literally working around the clock” to assist students who were unable to leave campus and quarantine in their homes by figuring out new ways to offer services and support them virtually.
“It was a very scary and uncertain time, but it also prompted us to begin thinking about students’ essential needs in a much different way,” Shivers said.
At the same time, Shivers said students were expressing a need for increased accessibility to a wide range of university and community resources.
“So, we started thinking, ‘This actually may not be something that is isolated to the pandemic,’” Shivers said. “‘What if we could create one space where any Buckeye can come to get help meeting all of their essential needs?’”
Shivers said she is aware of the everyday struggles some students face, from food insecurity to unstable housing to the lack of basic clothing, all of which can “quietly derail their academic journey.”
“The Monda Student Resource Center exists to interrupt that cycle,” Shivers said. “It says to our students, ‘We see you, we support you and we’re going to walk with you.’”
University President Ted Carter Jr. echoed those sentiments at Friday’s grand opening, emphasizing how important it is to increase access to necessities for students.
“The Monda Center is proof that we’re stronger when we work together,” Carter said. “This new resource will help level the playing field for every Buckeye.”
For students like Lindsey Long, a fourth-year in public health, leveling the playing field by addressing essential needs for her peers has been a key action item in her academic and personal journey.
From working at an agritourism nonprofit supporting less than 2% of Black farmers in her home state of Kentucky, leading Buckeye Public Health and working in local government, Long said she has been “deeply committed to health equity.”
Through her position in the Extension Public Health AmeriCorps program, Long was “dedicated to ensuring that every student has the access to the resources they need to thrive,” through more than 300 hours of service with Buckeye Food Alliance, following the progress of the Monda Student Resource Center along the way.
“Seeing the Monda Student Resource Center come to life today is truly incredible,” Long said. “This space represents real and lasting change. I am excited for the impact that this center will continue to leave on our campus, helping to contribute to the success of all at Ohio State.”
The ribbon cutting not only symbolizes the grand opening of the new resource, but also a new chapter for Bhavsar and Long’s undergraduate careers.
Bhavsar said she is working on adding more dietary inclusive and ethnic foods in the Buckeye Food Alliance’s pantry, and Long wants to bring graduation-specific attire to the Career Closet.
“Even though I’m about to graduate, I really want to try to implement a gown donation program or loaner program for students to access because graduation attire is very expensive,” Long said. “I don’t want that to deter anyone from being able to go to graduation or celebrate their accomplishments in that way.”
