University of Akron students are getting an education about the city’s downtown.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation joined with the University of Akron and Akron Life Magazine to launch a city guide for students.
The pamphlet introduces students to downtown Akron by listing what’s available in the area — everything from eateries to entertainment.
The eight-page pamphlet was distributed to students at the Student Union on Tuesday. More are scheduled to be passed out Wednesday for a total of 5,000 copies.
The campus guide also appears in this month’s edition of Akron Life Magazine.
The cover of the guide reads: “A new school year, a new city, a new adventure — This guide will help you make the memories of a lifetime. Turn the page and get started.”
“It’s really helpful,” said first-year UA law student Jenette Morell, 21, of Youngstown. “I like the map. I think at a commuter school, putting something like this out is good. That way, if you aren’t from the area, you know all your options.”
She said she hasn’t had time to explore the area since arriving at the university a week ago.
Fellow Youngstown resident Matt McCormick, 25, a graduate student in applied politics, said he especially likes the map.
“It even marks the one-way streets. I turned down a one-way street on my first day here, and it was a nightmare,” McCormick said. “The map helps me a lot because I get lost easily. I got lost in the Student Union.”
McCormick said he did manage to get to Blossom Music Center over the weekend to hear the Cleveland Orchestra, but he had to search the internet to find that entertainment option.
McCormick said he loves gyros, so he was glad to see on the map that there’s a place near the university where he can get them.
The pamphlet also gives information about the Metro bus, cites adventure areas such as Towpath Trail, the RubberDucks at Canal Park and the Akron Northside Station as well as entertainment areas, including Lock 3 Park and the Nightlight Cinema.
“There is also a list of some internships, which is nice because I have to do an internship for my program, so here are a few places I can look into in the future,” McCormick said.
The many coffee shops impressed Morell.
“As graduate students, we don’t always want to be in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the undergraduate students, so it would be nice to know the options that are just a short walk away downtown to find more quiet areas so we can have study groups,” she said.
The combined effort is part of a campaign to get to know Akron and brag about what’s available.
“It’s an exceptional thing tying the University of Akron students to the community,” said interim President Matthew Wilson, who helped pass out the pamphlets. “Oftentimes, we would get students outside of the community who don’t necessarily know the ins and outs of the city, and they don’t have a good understanding of where the good restaurants might be and some of the cultural sites, so if we can turn their attention to downtown, then it will be better for the merchants and for the university to come together as one.”
Morell said she will keep the pamphlet in her book bag.
“If we ever want to go for a walk and stretch our legs,” she said, “we can pull it out and find things quickly by just looking at the map to see if something’s close or what street it’s on or what it’s by — so that’s a good resource to have.”
Kyle Kutuchief, the Akron program director of the Knight Foundation, said the pamphlet distribution “is the first piece in a renewed effort to University of Akron students to view the city around them as an asset, morning, noon and night.”
The Knight Foundation paid $7,000 to publish the guide in Akron Life Magazine and $1,250 to print the copies to distribute on campus, he said.
The foundation also hosted the #LoveUAkron campaign in July. People wrote the reasons they love UA on index cards then hung the cards on clotheslines strung among the trees on campus.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.