Lucille Schneider, the Flash Activities Board (FAB) president for the 2024–25 academic year, is grateful for the opportunities she received at Kent State University.
Schneider is a Kent State senior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in visual communication design (VCD) and a minor in user experience design. In addition to her work at FAB, she is a graphic designer for Signum Multimedia in the Division of Student Life.
She is from Middle Bass Island, Ohio, and her interest in graphic design began as a junior in high school. She took a multimedia class and enjoyed working with Adobe Photoshop.
“I visited Kent’s campus the week before lockdown,” Schneider said. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is perfect. I love it here.’”
Her first position at the university was on Kent Interhall Council’s Residential Engagement Council as a marketing coordinator for Lake and Olson Halls, where she gained leadership experience. However, her first paid position was with Signum.
As a freshman at Kent State, Schneider met Emma Greathouse, a VCD senior who worked at Signum. Greathouse encouraged her to apply for a position with the multimedia team.
“I applied, and I really didn’t think anything was going to come of it because I was a freshman,” she said. “But I got hired, and it opened the door to everything for me.”
In her role with Signum, Schneider gained valuable experience in graphic design and working with clients. She learned more about her clients through the projects she was assigned, and projects for FAB’s programs caught her interest the most.
She soon found out that FAB was hiring and joined the board in her sophomore year.
“I applied, and it was one of those things where all sorts of little things came together to have me end up where I am,” Schneider said.
She joined FAB’s team as an event staff. She helped set up and tear down the events and plan the “Take and Make” events. After three semesters on the board, she became the director of midday programs, where she learned that she enjoys planning events.
“Becoming a director is what really made me want to become president,” she said. “It’s so heartwarming to see smiles brought to people’s faces by things you do.”
Schneider started to prepare for her new position in May 2024. She was excited to be more involved with planning FAB’s big events, such as Black Squirrel Festival, Fall Fest, FlashBash, and WinterBlast.
One of her favorite memories of her time with FAB was the FAB formal. She worked in the coat checkroom and enjoyed spending time with the other board members.
“It was so fun being all dressed up with all my friends, dancing in the coat checkroom to the music echoing out of the ballroom,” she said. “When you join FAB, you’re like joining a group of friends. It is amazing to be part of it.”
FAB has a new team this academic year, and Schneider enjoys seeing everyone bring new ideas to the board.
The student organization is not hiring, but FAB plans to start taking applications through Handshake in late February or early March. Some of the positions will include event staff and director roles.
“The opportunities I’ve had at the university have been such big character development for me,” Schneider said. “Being a leader, breaking out of my shell, it’s been such an amazing experience.”
Her experiences with FAB and Signum have prepared her for life after college. Schneider feels equipped to work with others as her work on the board improved her interpersonal communication and leadership skills. She knows she wants to work with graphic design, but her work on FAB helped her realize she can express her creativity in different ways.
Meanwhile, with the multimedia team, she learned that she likes to combine small hand-drawn illustrations with her digital designs.
Schneider’s favorite project while on Signum was creating the graphics for Fall Fest 2023. She created the social media graphics and the logo printed on the event’s mugs.
“It meant so much to me to be able to see my design printed on over 300 mugs,” she said. “It all came full circle this year because I was the one planning Fall Fest.”
Fall Fest is one of her favorite events that FAB hosts. She enjoyed working with vendors, planning the layout, and then seeing the happy faces of everyone attending. It was rewarding for her to go from designing mugs as a sophomore to overseeing the entire event in her senior year.
“While very different from each other, my jobs have been so beneficial to helping me feel ready for the world,” she said. “Both of my on-campus jobs have influenced what I want to do in the future.”