For Nathan Smith, the first lesson came before he met Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. Ask.
Smith, a junior business management and finance major in Kent State University’s Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship and the newly elected president of the university’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG), had set a goal shortly after taking office: connect with as many government leaders as possible.
So, in May, he reached out to DeWine’s office.
No response.
He followed up a couple of months later after returning from a student government conference in Washington, D.C.
A few days later, an email arrived inviting Smith to meet with DeWine at the Ohio State Fair.
He expected, perhaps, 30 minutes. An hour at most.
Instead, on Aug. 3, Smith spent approximately three hours alongside the governor — walking through the fair, discussing leadership and government, sitting in on an executive leadership meeting and attending an Ohio State Parks event.
It was amazing when I went down there, Smith said. I was completely supported by his team.
The experience gave Smith something he hadn't expected: a firsthand look not simply at the governor, but at how a leader operates when the stakes are high, the schedule is packed and every minute matters.
And perhaps most importantly, it reinforced a lesson Smith has been learning since he arrived at Kent State two years ago: He belongs in the room.
From a 30-minute meeting to three hours
For the first hour of the meeting, Smith and DeWine walked around the fair with members of the governor's team. Smith talked about his work at Kent State, including projects underway in USG and issues he hopes to improve for students.
He also told DeWine about his meetings with state Sen. Kristina Roegner and state Rep. Heidi Workman and local City of Kent officials.
Then came an unexpected invitation. DeWine asked Smith to sit in on an executive leadership meeting.
Smith was initially unsure whether he belonged there.
“I was just standing in the back looking around,” Smith recalled. “The assistant's like, ‘Take a seat.’ I'm like, ‘Are you sure? I don't want to intrude.’”
Smith took a seat, and that meeting became the most valuable part of the day.
“I learned more about meeting structure and how to lead people in an effective but respectful way,” Smith said.
He watched as members of the governor's team came prepared and worked through a carefully structured agenda.
That experience immediately connected with Smith's own work in student government.
“An issue I've seen with past student governments is people are coming to meetings and they're not prepared. They haven't read over things,” Smith said. “And that's not how it works with the governor.”
For Smith, the lesson was simple: preparation matters. So does leadership.
Making time for people
Smith also noticed something else.
While he walked through the fair with the governor, people constantly approached DeWine for photographs.
The governor stopped.
Every time.
“He never rejected them,” Smith said.
Smith saw that not as a distraction, but as an important part of leadership.
“It takes 10 seconds out of his day to take a picture that someone would remember potentially for the rest of their life,” he said.
That observation may prove particularly useful for Smith this year.
As USG president, he and Vice President Ridwan Olayiwola are trying to make student government more visible and accessible across campus.
Their plans include working more closely with student organizations, increasing USG's presence around campus and creating a public relations director position focused on communication and engagement.
Smith's goal is to make students feel that their representatives are accessible.
That lesson from the governor's day at the fair — make time for people — fits directly into that mission.
Learning how to handle the criticism
There was another lesson Smith took away from the day, one that had less to do with meetings and more to do with leadership itself.
At one point, someone made a negative comment as the governor and Smith were walking by.
DeWine showed no visible reaction.
For Smith, it was a reminder of something he'll need to learn as he leads Kent State’s undergraduate students.
“I'm going to have to kind of develop that tough skin in this coming semester,” Smith said. “Because no matter what I do, people are going to dislike it or like it or whatever, and I'll have to kind of roll with the punches there.”
It was perhaps one of the most practical lessons of the day.
Leadership means listening to people.
It means making time for people.
It means being prepared.
It means accepting that not everyone will agree with you.
The Kent State foundation
Smith's willingness to reach out to the governor didn't happen overnight.
It started during his first days at Kent State.
A year before enrolling, Smith wasn't even sure he would attend college.
Because his mother is a professor at Kent State's Stark Campus, he had the opportunity to attend Kent State with free tuition. But he initially worried that choosing a university so close to home would feel like taking the easy route.
He even considered joining the military, following in the footsteps of both of his grandfathers.
Then came Destination Kent State (DKS).
I met a bunch of great people at DKS who I made, of course, friends with still today, Smith said. I was able to talk to a bunch of people at the resource fair and things like that. So that's really when I felt like this is really the place I'm meant to be. It really did feel like home.
Soon after arriving on campus, Smith received an email inviting him to apply to become a first-year intern in Undergraduate Student Government.
He applied.
That decision became the beginning of a leadership journey that, two years later, would put him beside the governor of Ohio.
Smith spent his first year as a USG intern and his second as the senator representing Crawford College. Along the way, he became involved in business organizations, served as president of the Business Professionals’ Roundtable and took on additional campus leadership roles.
Kent State's student leadership opportunities also gave Smith access to mentors.
He credits past USG presidents and vice presidents, upperclassmen in the business college, Deborah Spake, Dean of Crawford College, and Michelle “Mickey” McGregor with helping him grow.
“They have been incredibly helpful to my leadership journey at Kent, just working with them and them challenging me in certain areas to improve,” Smith said.
The experience extended beyond student organizations.
Smith said his USG advisors have consistently challenged him to think differently and develop new ways to engage students.
He also pointed to support from Kent State's administration, including Nick Ciofani, the university's executive director, governmental and community relations.
Smith said that relationship has involved texts, emails, meetings and calls.
And, importantly, it hasn't been about telling him exactly what to say.
“A lot of times I don't need a guide of what to say or how to say it,” Smith said. “More of like a, you're doing a good job sort of thing. Or we appreciate where you're doing it.”
That kind of support, Smith said, has mattered.
The confidence to make the ask
When asked directly whether Kent State gave him the confidence to reach out to the governor, Smith didn't hesitate.
“100%.”
He said the combination of support from university administration, his USG advisors and the leadership opportunities he has had on campus gave him more than confidence.
They gave him the willingness to try.
Due to the support from the higher administration here and my advisors inside USG and with all of the other kind of roles that I've had the pleasure of being a part of, I gained, I wouldn't even say not only the confidence, but also the determination and drive to even try to get a meeting with the governor, Smith said.
That distinction matters to Smith.
It would have been easy, he said, to focus only on the responsibilities directly in front of him.
“But it's another level to say, ‘Hey, I want to meet with the governor and these other people,’” he said.
So, he asked.
And when the answer finally came, he showed up prepared.
What's next
Smith's meeting with DeWine isn't something he sees as the culmination of his leadership experience at Kent State.
It's another step.
As USG president, he and Olayiwola have spent much of the summer working on initiatives designed to increase student engagement and visibility.
They are working on a Kent State Votes bus wrap, a branded USG golf cart and a commemorative plaque recognizing past USG presidents, vice presidents and chiefs of staff.
They are also developing ways for students to more easily identify their representatives and expanding collaboration between USG and student organizations.
Smith is also thinking about what comes after Kent State.
His immediate career goal is to enter banking, potentially spending his first several years in the field, before considering a future in politics.
For now, however, he is focused on making the most of his junior year.
And perhaps the biggest takeaway from his day at the Ohio State Fair is one that applies well beyond politics.
Opportunities don't always arrive on their own.
Sometimes, you have to ask.
Two years after arriving at Kent State uncertain about whether college was even the right path for him, Smith spent three hours walking alongside Ohio's governor.
The meeting started with an email.
But the confidence to send it started at Kent State.
