“JKC Creative Change,” a new club at the James Kerney Campus (JCK), held its first meeting on February 29 with 24 students in attendance. According to its leaders, the goal of the club is to bring awareness to the needs of the student body in MCCC’s Trenton location.
According to Melissa Santiago, adjunct Professor of English at JKC and faculty adviser to the club, some students reached out to her for support this past fall semester and expressed a desire for changes at the JKC campus.
One of the students who initiated the club’s creation was Catina Hartsfield, a first-year major in Funeral Service and now one of the Presidents of JKC Creative Change.
According to Hartsfield, when she started her fall semester at JKC, she noticed that students didn’t speak to one another. She says, “You would just walk past these people all day long and they would not know your name. I was just like, that is not me. I got a bubbly personality. So, that is when I told Professor Santiago we must do something because it looks like a prison here.”
Her co-leader, Diesel Barnes, a first-year Business major, gad the same impression. He says that he visited various colleges campuses and believes that the James Kerney Campus is not how a college should be.
Barnes says, “Every day I would come to class and feel like I was in a jail cell. I wondered where all the students were. Everyone just seemed to come and go, and the campus didn’t feel exciting.”
Barnes and Hartsfield saw an opportunity to be of service.
Hartsfield’s says of her goals, “If any of the students had a problem, I would like for them to open up to me or any of the other board members so that we can get that problem solved.”
For his part, Barnes says, “I want everyone to feel safe and comfortable while they spend time together, make new friends and connect with professors and staff.”
Prof. Santiago says, “The [club leaders] are incredible, dynamic individuals. They have a lot of ideas of what they would like to do to bring change down here. I am thrilled with what they are planning.”
As they formulated their plans, the students reached out to Marvin Carter, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at MCCC to seek his advice about starting a club at JKC.
Carter says, “They were interested in having their voice represented amongst the rest of the College. They took the option to start something that was unique by bringing recognition and representation of any issues and perspective to the JKC students.”
There is one area in particular that students want to focus on. Barnes says, “I would like to see more classes available at JKC.”
Currently JKC offers core undergraduate courses so to complete their degrees, most students must attend the West Windsor Campus at some point.
This year, according to Mercer’s Spring 2024 course catalog, JKC offered 26 courses while West Windsor had 306 available.
Latonya Ashford Ligon, Director of JKC Student Experience & Community Outreach, says JKC used to be a more active campus.
Ashford Ligon says, “There were always more bodies [on campus] because there were more students.”
In addition, Ligon says more faculty was present on JKC but now they’re mostly on the West Windsor Campus.
She continues, “They had office hours here in addition to office hours at West Windsor. So you had more access to the faculty because there were more staff.”
Keyanni Brown, a second-year Liberal Arts major, and co-president of the club says, “I want to spread the awareness of education in my community. I want people to know that with financial aid their college education can be free. That is what I appreciate the most about Mercer,” says Brown.
When asked what changes she would like to see, Brown says, “I want to see JKC treated better. The campus is not getting a lot of attention. I want to entice people to enroll at Mercer. I want the people in Trenton to see that this is a college. There is so much potential at this campus.”
The administrator who directly oversees the JKC campus is Dr. Gonzalo Perez, Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs, Workforce Education and Innovation.
He says, “I think Creative Change club will help have our pulse on the finger of what’s happening in the students’ minds and what their goals are, which would help us then to better communicate that creativity into our innovation plans.”
Dr. Perez says the school is working in the right direction adding, “I hope and trust and know that we’re going to continue to see improvement in the future, I would say in about a year.”
Marvin Carter says, “We want to make sure that whatever we offer at WWC (West Windsor Campus) is also being offered at JKC.” He adds, “There is support from the administration to provide more and to have more students on the campus.”
One of the events that JCK Creative Change is looking forward to helping plan is the Student First Festival, formerly known as Spring Day.
Brown says, “I want people to go to JKC and be proud. I want the JKC campus to be a part of Mercer. I want to feel that Mercer spirit when I walk in there.”
