Students’ stances
Opinions on Akron’s current state vary among students at the University of Akron. Timothy Cole, a fifth-year secondary education major, plans on staying in Akron. “If I can get a job here, I’ll stay here,” says Cole, who has family members in Akron and a job coaching basketball in Springfield. Coaching is motivation for him to continue living in Akron. “If I weren’t coaching, it’d be highly unlikely I’d be here,” he says.

The job market is a big concern to Cole, though, who says, “Even if you’re a student who has been on the dean’s list for years, chances of finding a job are slim.”

Despite the fact that Cole believes the job market is relatively poor, he still sees a lot of good things within Akron — things that aren’t blatantly obvious. “I like it. It has tradition and a strong past rooted as an industrial town,” Cole says. “People can do so much here with such few resources.”

Renee Messenger, senior business and organizational communications major at the University of Akron, feels differently about the city.

Messenger was born and raised in Akron and loves the university, but she feels that moving away will help her in her quest to “experience a lot of things.” She plans to move to the South after graduation and questions Akron’s appeal. “ ‘Who wants to go to Akron to go out?’ Who says that? Nobody!” Messenger says with a smile and a chuckle.

On the move
Heather Houtz, who has been bartending at the Lime Spider for a year, has lived in many different cities, including Minneapolis, which she cites as a city Akron should attempt to emulate. “It’s more of a melting pot, a colorblind place where everybody gets along,” she says. “It has wonderful social services and a wonderful public school system compared to Ohio.”

Houtz says she feels the city does little to keep University of Akron graduates in the area after they graduate. “You can’t make Akron cool for 20- to 30-somethings without making jobs available,” she says.

Despite these shortcomings, Houtz sees potential for Akron. “There could be hope, but you’d have to be able to raise the education level and economic status in the city to make it attractive to other people,” she says. “Why would you come from a better place to a worse one?”

But for Malcolm Abram, a pop music reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal, coming to Akron did not mean moving to a worse place. Abram, who relocated for a job opportunity in the Rubber City, says, “This was the job I wanted, and this was the town that had it at the time. I’ve already lived in a place worse off than Akron, so, coming from there, this isn’t so bad.”

Ben Breier is a junior magazine journalism major. This is his first time writing for The Burr.