Claudia Kovach, ’03, M.A. ’09, has been part of her family business, City Machine Technologies, Inc since 2006. Her time and dedication to the company has proven successful, as Claudia was recently named the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Champion of Ohio. The Small Business Champion award is given out each year to an individual who dedicates their time and resources to small business causes.   Claudia earned the award for not only exceling in her job, but also for creating the National Skilled Trades Day to show appreciation for those who work in trade car...

Hours before they will do battle on the gridiron in the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, Kent State’s football players and other students paused to spend time with kids facing tough battles of their own.   Football players joined cheerleaders and dance team members to visit Children's Medical Center Plano where they spent the morning raising the spirits of patients in the oncology ward and others facing illnesses or surgeries.   “Experience was great,” said William Kuduk, sophomore offensive tackle. “Felt like the most fulfilling thing I did this whole week.”   Fla...

  The only thing more fierce than Dominic Hill’s ability to bust through an offensive line to make tackles might be his smile.   The Golden Flashes’ easy-going nose tackle has been smiling a lot from the moment he learned of the team's berth in the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl.   “That was a surreal feeling. They have video of my reaction as I was sitting there in shock and awe,” Hill said. “What better way to finish out your career than coming back home?”   Hill grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, about an hour from Toyota Stadium. As the only Kent State p...

At the same time that Kent State University is competing in a bowl game, as many as 1,000 kids in Texas will be eating a meal that the Golden Flashes helped provide.   Team members joined fellow football players from Utah State University to help pack meals as part of Frisco Fastpacs to ensure that no child in Frisco, Texas, has to endure hunger when school is not in session.    The program provides seven small meals in bags that are distributed each Friday to underserved youth in Frisco to make sure they have meals over the weekend.    The first of the seven mea...

All Kent State University athletes are accustomed to being surrounded by blue. Blue and gold usually, and lots of it.   On Tuesday, the Kent State Golden Flashes were embracing a different shade of blue. One with a deep, winning football tradition – the blue-draped practice home to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.   Kent State worked out Tuesday at the Cowboys’ training facility – Ford Center at the Star – for the first of three workouts ahead of Friday’s Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl against Utah State. The team’s other two workouts will take place on practice fields at ...